The Lilly Pulitzer line debuted at Target on Sunday, selling out almost immediately in most stores nationwide, and sparking online and in-story frenzies.
The much-anticipated line had been promoted by
Target for weeks, but according to The Washington Post, people “freaked out” when it actually hit the stores. Even Target’s Internet site, overwhelmed by the traffic surge, went down.
At the Washington, D.C., Target in Columbia Heights, store manager DaNae Moore told The Post that about 100 people were lined up waiting for the store to open, and they cleared out the Lilly Pulitzer stock in about 15 minutes.
Many items ended up on eBay Sunday, selling at two to three times their original prices. A sun dress that sold at Target for $34 was on eBay with 14 bids at $83 Monday afternoon.
New York magazine reported that Target won’t be restocking any of the items, and said the company has had problems with other launches of luxury brand collections, like Missoni in 2011.
The fury at Target found its release online.
Still, despite the fury and customer anger,
Fortune magazine saw the issue as adding to Target’s popularity.
“Designer collaborations like the Pulitzer line are important to Target, not because they add much to its $73 billion-a-year in sales — they barely make a dent in it — but because they are essential for the discount, mass merchandiser to be able to maintain its ‘cheap/chic’ cachet, and thereby attract affluent and middle-customers along with lower-income shoppers, and give them a reason to go visit Target instead of Walmart for everyday stuff.”
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