Archived Stock - Is anybody getting anything for electronics?

[talan123]

We have received a total of two camera's since Christmas. I find it sad that out of all the camcorders I have, I have one in stock. The

SD card area is so bare that we are putting one card on each peg-hook to make it fill in better (doesn't work because people just buy one and you have to redo the entire area).

Our Wii section is now completely bare (I'm assuming it has something to do with the Wii U) We have run out of controllers and nun-chucks. 3DS games, especially SMB, are just one or two in stock.

360 games are not showing up (except MW3 and Battlefield 3), though we do have a monstrous amount of 360's.

iPods and iPads are now completely bare, as in we have no iPod's except the 32GB touch and larger more than 2/3 of the iPod covers are now out of stock.

While the amazon fire is a hot seller, they aren't sending us any covers, shields, or really anything for it. I get the tablets in but then I have nothing to add-on except those Amazon cards and even those are flying out of the shelves as soon as they come in. They keep hounding us about those attachments but we just don't have anything to sell them with.

 

[SeniorAP]

I was wondering if other stores had a lack of iPods.. we are completely out of each one. I remember we had a couple hundred going into Christmas week, and now we have nothing. Usually the stock gets replenished quickly, but we've been bare for a couple weeks now. Hmm...

 

[Serri330]

It definitely seems like it's taken a lot longer this year to get replenished. We've gotten a handful of 32 and 64 GB iPod Touches since Christmas, but no 8 GB. Haven't seen any Kindle Fires since the week before Christmas. No Wii remotes or nunchucks. No cameras. Finally got some more Amazon gift cards and Fire cases.

Guests are starting to get pissed that we haven't gotten anything restocked. When they get snippy with me, I just tell them I don't have any control over shipments, and if they have a problem with it, they need to take it up with the manufacturer.

 

[RednTacky]

I've wondered if it has anything to do with the Thailand floods. I know computer hard drive prices have skyrocketed, it wouldn't surprise me if other electronics are affected as well.

 

[Darikona]

CES just started so Target may be holding off on replenishing stock for models since newer models will be announced, same with a lot of other major electronics. Actual accessories may also be changing.

As far as other things like the Kindle Fire and ipod, I'm sure Christmas has wiped out the distribution stock so it's hard to get any in. We just started getting them in, same with the ipads.

 

[tgtfla]

probably lots to do with the end of our financial year coming up,in feb we will have more money,we hope.

 

[Electronics Man]

It took us two weeks before we even STARTED to get any camera's back in. We finally have memory cards back. Those Skylander figures never came back in yet. As one guest put it, "if they don't start coming back in kids will stop playing and forget all about them by the time they do come back in".

We have NO Wii Remotes whatsoever, not first party anyways. No Super Mario 3D Land (good thing I bought my copy on release). We did get Kindle cases back in, but they are quickly depleting.

OH and here's a good one for ya. So we have been out of the white 8 GB iPod touch for a while. I JUST so happened to take a look in itemsearch today because I was looking for another store's availability, and lo and behold 16 of them were just sitting in the back room not pushed out or anything! Dunno how long they had been sitting there but it just floored me because usually flow team puts them out the night before or the Auto system would at least have kicked them out. Buit in the system it said On Hand 0 but 16 located in the back room. oi vey!

 

[ele1]

My store has also been out of a few items since Christmas week. We are schedualed to get ipods and ipads back instock next week. The only cameras we have left are the Cannon and Nikon dslrs. We haven't seen a problem with games or accessories. But has anyone received any TVs in since Black Friday? My store hasn't, I understand that with CES here we don't want to stock up on old models but come on I have to turn at least five guests away a week.

 

[StateofTarget]

Guys, the fact is that the economy is starting to get better. (keyword *starting*) Retailers sold a hell of a lot more this year than what they were expecting and had done last year. Manufacturers were still in "oh sh** it's a recession!" mode. Therefore, they were not prepared to produce enough goods.

Take a look at other retailers such as Best Buy and even online sites like Amazon. If you look really carefully, you will notice they are having instock issues too on lots of items.

Take a look at news reports - the unemployment rate *has* been going down. No, it isn't all sunshine any lollypops yet, but by this time next year the recession will be mostly over. It is going to take time for the logistics process to catch up.

Does anyone remember when the recession started? Being the TL over toys, I sure as he** do! Basically we got a sh** load of toys pushed to us for that 4th quarter. At the time, no one knew the recession had started. We literally were not selling anything at my store. Backroom was literally so full of unsold product that we had to just leave it on the floor. (no, I am not kidding. Every location was maxed out in the backroom. Toys were even backstocked in the consumables backroom shelves) We had to put toys on clearance two weeks before christmas it got so bad, and we ended up having about 20 aisles full of toy clearance that hardly sold even at 50% off.

Why did we get so damn much product? Because manufacturers where in high gear expecting the same kind of sales as every other year.

Now we are in the exact opposite situation - the recession is coming to an end, and we are experiencing shortages of product instead of overflows when it began.

So just give at a few months for manufacturers/retailers to get the correct "feel" of things again. Eventually instocks will stabilize.

 

[TMOfTheCentury]

No cameras after Christmas is pretty much a yearly thing. I'm not surprised.

 

[jjman114]

Wow, I'm so glad to see it's not just our local area stores with these replenishment problems. It's gotten so bad with our cameras being out of stock that I now just look below at the showcase and tell the guest off the bat which cameras they can pick from and most of the time lately, it's not many. Our tv replenishment and wii accessories are pretty consistent but I haven't seen a Kindle Fire since Christmas and our system is still showing 0 at the dc and no z-date and guests are calling and today one actually said, "What do you mean you still don't have any in?! It's been a month since you last had any!!" As far Skylanders go we have been getting some this week via Fedex DSDs which is pleasantly surprising because going into this week our characters peghooks were bare and it just looked sad. Thanks for this forum and the ability for us to vent to each other and share our experiences.

 

[CrazyTarget]

We got three boxes of skylanders (single piece), and one of three piece pack today.... its going to be gone by tomorrow morning, I am sure of it. We are still low of cameras and kindle. cases.

 

[Serri330]

My store also got a large shipment of Skylanders today. Two boxes of the three packs and six of the single packs.

We've finally gotten steady shipments of iPod Touches. Got our first shipment of Kindles Fires in since before Christmas. Still no cameras, though, and tvs also seem to be out of stock often, which concerns me, considering Superbowl weekend is coming up...

 

[Electronics Man]

We are FINALLY starting to get regular shipments of Skylanders. We started getting that stuff back in last Sunday, and they sell out every time we get them back. Last night one of the local game store owners stopped in and bought a ton cause we had some stuff he didn't, though he was nice enough not to clean me completely out.

We finally have cameras, AND TV's. I feel confident for next week's sale. Oh we started getting Kindle Fire's back in too! Though they are still selling really good.

 

[Uberalles83]

For the electronics you are out of, have any of you wrote down the DPCIs and gave them to your TL? There is a way to have the replenishment division check on why stores aren't getting items. A few times it's helped me get large, high dollar items back in (such as the bose cinemate)