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In lugnet.market.shopping, Steve Demlow wrote:
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From what I’ve seen, this year is a prime example of how things keep changing.
For the last few years the pattern at Target seemed to be to start clearancing
Lego at about 25% off even a few days before Christmas, then drop to 50%ish a
week or so after Christmas and to 75%ish a week or two after that. This year
so far they seem to have put only a handful of sets at 30%ish off - nowhere
near the same quantity of model numbers as in the past (as Bruce observed, the
“obvious” clearance stuff is still sitting there at full price).
A similar pattern has taken place at other retailers. Last year Meijers had
clearance stuff before Christmas and immediately cut most of it again after
Christmas. This year they had only a handful of junk on clearance before
Christmas and it just continued to sit there at the same discount afterwards.
Wal-mart put their stuff at 25-30% off and AFAIK it’s been sitting at that
ever since.
At least here in the Minneapolis metro area, I’ve seen only a minimal amount
of Lego clearance items. Either they didn’t have the set quantities left to
discount (inventory control is getting better?), the e-bay resellers are
buying in quantity at the 25-30% off level instead of waiting for 50-75%
(unlikely), or the stores are just pushing the clearances later. At any rate,
it’s been a really lousy year for clearance Lego so far. I hope the rest of
you have had better luck. :)
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I think it is their improving inventory control. They probably realized they
have to tighten up in order to be competitive with Walmart, which I understand
has a running inventory update and automatic reordering as items go through the
checkstand. The Targets near me have updated their price scanners in recent
years to also indicate whether there are any more of an item not out on the
shelves. If they are keeping track of that, they must be keeping a running
tally of individual items and adjusting their inventories so they aren’t stuck
with an excess of an item.
The only exceptions I’ve seen are the limited edition
which they probably had to order in quantity because it was a Target exclusive.
And the small Clikits sets
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7504 Friendship Frame or Mirror
15 elements, 0 figures, US$4, 2004
LEGO > Clikits
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and canisters
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4026 Create Your Dreams {Canister, blue top}
100 elements, 0 figures, US$3.50, 2003
LEGO > Creator
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the Napa Targets always seem to have tons of chocolate left over after holidays.
:-)
But I do think the days of finding cartloads of LEGO at 75% off are over. :-(
Maggie C.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Target sales
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| (...) I think you're right. And I think it's partly my fault! (1) Retailers are getting much better at supplier management, inventory management, just in time replenishment, and most importantly, sales prediction, thanks to increased integration (...) (20 years ago, 12-Jan-05, to lugnet.market.shopping, lugnet.market.theory, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Target sales
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| (...) All my comments are based on my own observations; YMMV of course! I don't have as much time as I used to to check out the clearance aisles. From what I've seen, this year is a prime example of how things keep changing. For the last few years (...) (20 years ago, 12-Jan-05, to lugnet.market.shopping)
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