Archived Oh good god. They are finally turning us in to Best Buy with this one!

[StateofTarget]

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/01/06/apple-bringing-store-within-a-store-concept-to-target/

I am sorry, but I honestly believe moves like this will kill the company off in the long run. (just like it is doing to best buy)

So now in addition to the annoying radio shack guys running around, we are going to have a bunch of Apple high pressure sales people running around.

As an electronics TL, I have never gotten over the radio shack guys. Honestly, they annoy the hell out of me. I feel like they don't belong, and even though I have tried to accept them, everytime I see them I just get this feeling like "why are you here? all you do is annoy my guests". At least at my store, they never sell a damn thing. They refuse to help. Sit there and talk on their phone. One of them is a complete slob and often comes in with food stains on his shirt. Sometimes I am in the middle of something with a guest, and they come over and interrupt with some BS. Our ETL's act like they are basically untuchable, and are held to zero standards.

Pretty soon half the store won't even be target anymore if this keeps up.

 

[go ahead]

This won't be in every store only those stores in areas that can't support an actual Apple store.
I cannot imagine how it could look in a Target store versus a Best Buy where they have room for a table of computers and stuff. Target has aisles and shelves. Whatever, it's just a test, and I don't see this in many stores beyond that. I don't see why Apple wants to associate themselves with a "discount" retailer anyway.

 

[TargetOldTimer]

Dang, I would be jazzed to have a "genius" in our store to ask all the questions I have, without having to make an appointment.

 

[StaticSun]

Greatland stores which have photo labs located in MMB could theoretically be transformed into this "Apple Area".

Hmm...

 

[LG421]

Our ETL's act like they are basically untuchable, and are held to zero standards.

Because they basically are. Management has to go through the partner business(Radio Shack) to get anything done. There isn't much Target staff can do discipline-wise.

 

[Serri330]

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/01/06/apple-bringing-store-within-a-store-concept-to-target/

I am sorry, but I honestly believe moves like this will kill the company off in the long run. (just like it is doing to best buy)

So now in addition to the annoying radio shack guys running around, we are going to have a bunch of Apple high pressure sales people running around.

As an electronics TL, I have never gotten over the radio shack guys. Honestly, they annoy the hell out of me. I feel like they don't belong, and even though I have tried to accept them, everytime I see them I just get this feeling like "why are you here? all you do is annoy my guests". At least at my store, they never sell a damn thing. They refuse to help. Sit there and talk on their phone. One of them is a complete slob and often comes in with food stains on his shirt. Sometimes I am in the middle of something with a guest, and they come over and interrupt with some BS. Our ETL's act like they are basically untuchable, and are held to zero standards.

Pretty soon half the store won't even be target anymore if this keeps up.

Do all stores feel this way about Mobile Solutions? The guys we have at my store are awesome. Always answering guests' question, helping us call for backup, letting us know if a guest needs help, even grabbing items for guests, or helping some of the girls in the department pull big tvs. I guess we must be lucky because I only ever see people complain about them on here. I couldn't imagine going a day without our awesome Kiosk guys. We consider them a part of our team!

 

[redeye58]

Depends on the individual. Some are great at partnering w/TMs & lending a hand, some areas described as above.
One got yanked from our store after he was caught pocketing guests' giftcards.

 

[TargetOldTimer]

Only had 1 problem with one of them that tried to bully me into leaving a Standee on the floor.... I won.

 

[Megaparsec]

Do all stores feel this way about Mobile Solutions? The guys we have at my store are awesome. Always answering guests' question, helping us call for backup, letting us know if a guest needs help, even grabbing items for guests, or helping some of the girls in the department pull big tvs. I guess we must be lucky because I only ever see people complain about them on here. I couldn't imagine going a day without our awesome Kiosk guys. We consider them a part of our team!

Ours are pretty great too. They're always offering to grab games for guests and ring em up.

 

[RednTacky]

Depends on the individual. Some are great at partnering w/TMs & lending a hand, some areas described as above.
One got yanked from our store after he was caught pocketing guests' giftcards.

How does this happen? Don't the guests notice they didn't get a gift card?

 

[mrknownothing]

How does this happen? Don't the guests notice they didn't get a gift card?

If they're anything like the guests at my store, no, they probably didn't notice. They're probably the kind of guests who only "know" that they get a gift card when they don't even have the right items. A cashier at my store took advantage of this and got fired for pocketing promo gift cards.

 

[wilwum]

Ours are pretty great too. They're always offering to grab games for guests and ring em up.

Same here. Tonight, I was shifted over to Electronics after a call out. I've previously only covered breaks and never really worked a full shift over there before. If it weren't for our Target Mobile guy helping me out and telling me to breathe, I would have never survived.

 

[talan123]

Quote of the day from that thread.

Nobody here has picked up on the fact that the guy who Apple brought in to start the Apple retail initiative (Ron Johnson, now CEO of JC Penny) was VP of Merchandising at Target.

 

[SomeBodysSlave]

Pretty soon half the store won't even be target anymore if this keeps up.

When do the cows and chickens move in

Like the old Farmer's Market

Actually I kind of like the idea

Arts and Craft's on one side of the parking lot and a Auto Swap-meet on the other

 

[Electronics Man]

This is all actually true. I just read this on Workbench this morning. If you go under the Electronics section in Workbench there is a link on the right hand side. I didn't get to read too in depth cause I was the only electronics TM on the floor today, but yeah it's only certain stores that are doing this test pilot. I don't see my store doing it though, we wouldn't have the room I don't think, not unless we knocked out part of entertainment or something o_0

As far as the Mobile guys go, the ones in my store are awesome! The Kiosk manager is cool, and we have all the mobile people trained on register so then they can help us out ring people while we can attend to other guests. Dunno what I'd do without my mobile guys.

 

[Rock Lobster]

Our mobile guys are terrible... They barely help guests, hit the addl asst button to call for a TM to help guests, stand by the computer all day either staring into space or texting on their phones... They are always late and always leave early... Complete waste of man power and I would give ANYTHING to get a decent crew of them into our store...

 

[Varking]

The ones at my store started out bad but are now better than some of our Electronics Team Members. They used to show up late, leave early, text or be on the computer all day and when they came back from breaks or lunches they used to always bring a small bag of chips or a drink with them. Now they are awesome.

 

[StaticSun]

According to Workbench, it's only 2 stores that have it. I'm going to go out on a limb and say they're probably both in California.

 

[talan123]

According to Workbench, it's only 2 stores that have it. I'm going to go out on a limb and say they're probably both in California.

I can tell you that when the Kindle was being tested, it wasn't the stores that were near the company head quarters (Amazon's).

 

[Darikona]

This is all actually true. I just read this on Workbench this morning. If you go under the Electronics section in Workbench there is a link on the right hand side. I didn't get to read too in depth cause I was the only electronics TM on the floor today, but yeah it's only certain stores that are doing this test pilot. I don't see my store doing it though, we wouldn't have the room I don't think, not unless we knocked out part of entertainment or something o_0

As far as the Mobile guys go, the ones in my store are awesome! The Kiosk manager is cool, and we have all the mobile people trained on register so then they can help us out ring people while we can attend to other guests. Dunno what I'd do without my mobile guys.

I'm very confused, because our target mobile cannot use the registers as they are not officially target employees but contracted employees through radio shack. So how are they using the registers at your stores unless you're just logging in and leaving it for them.

 

[Electronics Man]

I'm very confused, because our target mobile cannot use the registers as they are not officially target employees but contracted employees through radio shack. So how are they using the registers at your stores unless you're just logging in and leaving it for them.

They were trained on registers and given team member numbers and discount cards.

 

[StateofTarget]

They were trained on registers and given team member numbers and discount cards.

Wow, whatever ETL did that is getting termed once someone above that store finds out. Mobile employees are not allowed to have access to any target system for any reason. That was made crystal clear when they rolled them out. Giving them access to registers is literally a term'able offense.

 

[Jeremy1818]

Wow, whatever ETL did that is getting termed once someone above that store finds out. Mobile employees are not allowed to have access to any target system for any reason. That was made crystal clear when they rolled them out. Giving them access to registers is literally a term'able offense.

When Target Mobile rolled out to my district last year, our packet of materials said they are to be register trained and they will have a tm number and discount card.

 

[Jeremy1818]

I'm very confused, because our target mobile cannot use the registers as they are not officially target employees but contracted employees through radio shack. So how are they using the registers at your stores unless you're just logging in and leaving it for them.

They are contracted through Radio Shack, but in their contract with Target, mobile employees get perks such as a tm number to have a discount card

 

[StateofTarget]

When Target Mobile rolled out to my district last year, our packet of materials said they are to be register trained and they will have a tm number and discount card.

Pretty strange.... I am the electronics TL at my store, and it has been made clear to me by several ETLs that they are not supposed to even touch a regular register. (just like we are not supposed to touch anything of theirs) Our ETL-AP even follows them when he is around and sees them go in the backroom. To hear about stores that treat them like TMs is just totally bizarre.