Archived Tips for Owning Toys?

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HLN13

Hardlines TM
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May 29, 2017
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Hey everyone, with the new OPs model I will be moving from Flex’s to owning Toys. I will be working with ~35 hours a week and will be responsible for freight, stray, zoning, sales plans and price change. Obviously this is a lot and I will be given help at those times, but I’m wondering how you all would prioritize everything so that I can get the maximum amount done? (Ex: obviously I need to do a quick zone each morning, because actually deep zoning toys would take an entire day).

I’m not sure whether to go for a quick zone everyday and a deeper zone once a week, or do a medium zone everyday? Obviously zone and pulls first (required), after that would you jump into freight or price change?

I just want to get a routine set because I’m able to work much quicker if I have a plan for each day. What are your thoughts? If you own a department (especially toys), what do you priortize? Do you have a set schedule? Toys is definitely the hardest department in the store to own but looking forward to the challenge!
 
I would tell you to indeed start out with a quick touch up zone. Just see what aisles or sections need some love. I wouldn’t take more than 15 minutes.

Then move on to strays for a bit. If you don’t have that much, try to come clean ASAP. If not, at least try to catch up a comfortable amount. I always try to knock them out as quick as I can, but I do some light zoning when I’m putting items back. Helps maintain the zone throughout the day when you collect more strays to put back.

I would definitely say that the priority after this is freight. Having product on your shelves will (likely) directly increase sales and that reflects well on you because of the whole DBO thing. I would also do some light zoning during that. After that is when I’d step into price change or audit. If you have salesplans that need to be set, do that after. Of course, you’re gonna have to pause certain tasks to take care of guests or deal with strays, but the whole rationale for me at least is to constantly maintain.

This is just off the top of my head, but no two days are the same, so things in your routine can always be in flux. You can get all the examples you want, but I would say to you as a DBO—do what addresses the needs of the “business”.
 
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Thanks for reaching out.

Setting a "routine" is something to strive for absolutely. I'm glad you have your head in the game. TOYS is a difficult department to "maintain" if you're mid-high volume as it's always being demolished by guests. Particularly children lol.

I will give some advice, follow up with your GM TL as much as you can first off and see what SPL and PRICE CHANGE might be coming up. Do you have any PTM to flex? Do you have any DCODE from the back that would need flexed int he next few days or week? See what they have in store for you, plans etc. They probably know a lot of answers to your specific questions. We can give general advice but they will truly know what to tell you in regards to running the business WITH them. When this rolled out, that was the precedence I set with TMs and their areas. Youre running a shop, in partnership with your GM TL.

Ill just get straight to it though.

First thing, every morning check your area and dont spend more than 10 minutes doing so. Youve got a lot of learning to do and youve got to learn how to do it fast. Check your ENDCAPS, make sure your ENDCAPS are FILLED. They SELL like hotcakes! :) Depending on how your TL has structured your day, go pull your AUTOFILLS, after that do a quick 50% zone in most isles, that means gathering "RESHOP" or however you want to call it from isles it doesnt belong and returning them to their home. Work your Pull. Depending on scheduling, It will be about time to start pushing UBOATS from the GM trailer. Youve got to keep in mind that we cannot roll truck over to the next day, It has a spiraling effect and you will not ever be caught up if you cant finish the truck. That comes first and foremost after your pull has been completed. The faster you can complete the pulls and the truck, the faster you can get to
'MAINTAINING" the department.

You will need to do manual EXFs to fill OUTS and ENDCAPS. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.

I will keep this short and sweet, Just follow up with your GM TL and ask what they need from you everyday.....DELIVER DELIVER DELIVER. If you really want to make an impression, once youve got all the other things down to a routine and can maintain them efficiently, start asking questions about BRLA%...Your stockroom is SO VERY IMPORTANT TO SALES!!!! If your stockroom has a low % than you will fail. Its just plain and simple. good luck
 
Congratulations on embracing what your new expectations are !
You are off to a great start knowing that without a consistent routine (one that is flexible), tasks could get lost thru the cracks.
I recommend to Definitely partner with your TL for presentation workload required for the week (in advance) because the SPL and REV for each department is different every week. Some weeks EVERY endcap in toys changes, then you will have a few weeks where there is very little to no change. Getting these done on time will take planning. Once you know how much setting & price change time you need to set aside THEN you can plan out when to audit/pull/push/back stock/ zone.
I doubt you are the only tm in the dept all week, work out with leadership how the setting and pricing will be distributed since these are finite tasks with time requirements.
I suggest to Not spend time to ONLY zone. Zone when setting, zone while pricing, zone when pushing, zone when returning the strays to where they go. Otherwise I fear you could get trapped in the sink hole of zoning and get NOTHING else done.
 
Last, but not least, don't worry too much. If this is becoming your all week job then some of it isn't actually that difficult. Your freight days will be your hardest days to keep up with the work, but quite honestly you may even become bored on non-freight days once you've established your own routine. Just remember to not stray too far off your job and that time DOES matter and you'll be fine. They say to zone while pushing freight and that's not a horrible idea, cause during your truck process you enter into almost all of your aisles. It will take too long to actually clean up every single aisle AND push your truck so the surrounding items next to the item you have to push may be a quick solution to keep you going. The person we have doing it now gets it done quite efficiently (Though never let them know I said that.) and they have another that helps push the truck with them.

Alot of things at target boil down to 'Just breath and get it done'. It seems like alot but it's really not and some of it won't feel any different than your normal days prior
 
Your freight days will be your hardest days to keep up with the work, but quite honestly you may even become bored on non-freight days once you've established your own routine.
We have atleast one truck everyday. Occasionally two. Usually translates to 3-4 u-boats and a flat of toys. But thanks for the advice!
 
Good luck . 4-21 thru 5-5 we got that work .End caps and revs.toys sports lugg. Not a huge workload but hoping presentation experts can support
 
Idk how toys is but I had shoes for a year.

I spent Monday to Friday getting it ready for the weekend, then started putting it back together on Monday.

Now that I am a TL my biggest mantra is that you can't sell what's in the back, so work out the quickest way to get your area full.
 
I see this website as supplemental .... very supplemental. Wouldn't some company training, God forbid!!!!!, be of use here?
Except for some stores, training is cursory at best. And for some of us who are still in the not-there-yet phase, this is helpful to know what to expect. So far at my store, we're being told very little.
 
Except for some stores, training is cursory at best. And for some of us who are still in the not-there-yet phase, this is helpful to know what to expect. So far at my store, we're being told very little.

And I'm happy for you that this exists. Wouldn't a fuller training experience and knowledge be advantageous for Target? Instead, you get told .... you own a business! See ya.
 
Keep up with the adjancey calendar and know what SPL's are set what week. A lot of SPL's in toys include shippers and ISM so always be sure to seek communication on knowing any Toys ISM that comes in. (Or ISM in general). Planning when to set what endcaps depending on what day will help you a lot. Ex: Do you have a long shift on a Tuesday? Perfect day to set.
 
Idk how toys is but I had shoes for a year.

I spent Monday to Friday getting it ready for the weekend, then started putting it back together on Monday.

Now that I am a TL my biggest mantra is that you can't sell what's in the back, so work out the quickest way to get your area full.

Ahh, but you can sell what's in the back. It's called flex fill. We like when stuff is in the back, preferably located in open stock. Makes our picks easier. No guests to navigate around. Shoes, of course, all need to go out as they don't get located in the back. But, toys shouldn't be overpushed so that flex can just grab them from the back.
 
Ahh, but you can sell what's in the back. It's called flex fill. We like when stuff is in the back, preferably located in open stock. Makes our picks easier. No guests to navigate around. Shoes, of course, all need to go out as they don't get located in the back. But, toys shouldn't be overpushed so that flex can just grab them from the back.

I definitely agree that if it's on the floor, it needs to be located and in the correct place.

But I don't want my team wasting time setting salesplanners and fixing counts when there's freight or pulls to do first.
 
I definitely agree that if it's on the floor, it needs to be located and in the correct place.

But I don't want my team wasting time setting salesplanners and fixing counts when there's freight or pulls to do first.

Oh, that I agree. With Push, pull, backstock. That has to get done. Then, please take some time to zone and audit outs/lows. I don't care about salesplanners.
 
Oh, that I agree. With Push, pull, backstock. That has to get done. Then, please take some time to zone and audit outs/lows. I don't care about salesplanners.
Your DTL cares about salesplanners.

Auditing will save you time in the long run. Get those counts correct.
 
Your DTL cares about salesplanners.

Auditing will save you time in the long run. Get those counts correct.

Yeah, I know DTL cares about them. I just personally don't. Drives me nuts when I see a TM setting something when they still have repacks from the truck sitting in the back.
 
I prioritize freight. I start with the most difficult projects in the morning when it's slower. aka dragging out and putting up shippers

I fix minor problems as I work freight - shoot a quick EXF for obvious OUTS, fix missing pegs, label holders, labels, fixtures, etc.

I zone the immediate area when I push freight (not the entire aisle, just within a 6-12" or so of the product I am pushing.) aka Stock one peg, and pull the product in the surrounding areas forward, or space out so no empty pegs. Spend no more than a few seconds on that zone.

Once freight and backstock is complete, at some point, I will break my area into sections, and audit/EXF those aisles. Like maybe Nerf guns -> Lego one day. Dolls -> barbie another day, preschool toys another day, and the Board Game wall a different day.

Endcaps get touched up & zoned/filled daily, and keep an eye on sidecaps daily, if not weekly.

I save zoning aisles for a non-truck day, unless an aisle is a complete cluster fuck.
 
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Well, then I would continue to touch up zone as I push. And still break down the EXF/Audit/Zone sections into workable chunks. So if it is 2 Valleys a day, so be it.

Some would be easy, like Lego and Nerf and Board Games. Some would be a PITA - the one with all the tiny crap in it - all the blind bag items.
 
space out so no empty pegs

And of course make new labels so that they are priced correctly. What happens when someone else goes there to put up the product when you aren't there from a return or reshop, or if the sfs person goes there to look for it and finds no label? That's a lot of label maintenance. Aren't we supposed to leave a peg or shelf space empty if we don't have the product? There's almost nothing worse than having a guest come in with a registry that shows a specific location and that location not existing because someone covered it up or threw the label away.
 
And of course make new labels so that they are priced correctly. What happens when someone else goes there to put up the product when you aren't there from a return or reshop, or if the sfs person goes there to look for it and finds no label? That's a lot of label maintenance. Aren't we supposed to leave a peg or shelf space empty if we don't have the product? There's almost nothing worse than having a guest come in with a registry that shows a specific location and that location not existing because someone covered it up or threw the label away.


I didn't mean FLEX or PTM. aka I meant space out product that has three facings/pegs so that each facing is covered. It's not uncommon to find empty pegs with product OH within that aisle. especially in TOYS. ex. Hot Wheels. Spread out the Hot Wheels on the correct pegs so that non of the pegs for that specific DPCI are empty.
 
I zone the immediate area when I push freight (not the entire aisle, just within a 6-12" or so of the product I am pushing.) aka Stock one peg, and pull the product in the surrounding areas forward, or space out so no empty pegs. Spend no more than a few seconds on that zone.

And I did say "Zone" aka put shit where it actually belongs.
 
I didn't mean FLEX or PTM. aka I meant space out product that has three facings/pegs so that each facing is covered. It's not uncommon to find empty pegs with product OH within that aisle. especially in TOYS. ex. Hot Wheels. Spread out the Hot Wheels on the correct pegs so that non of the pegs for that specific DPCI are empty.

Got it. That makes sense. When you said

space out so no empty pegs

you didn't mean all pegs.
 
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