I went back to Target today to scope out whether or not they had restocked his cd and also since the sale is over, find out where his cd was placed. At first, I couldn't even find his name. I asked a clueless clerk who said it would probably be stocked in the Best Sellers area where most cds end up after a sale. Sure enough, there were three slots for Elliott (there were only two slots when it was on sale), but all were empty. So I asked the clueless clerk again to see if anymore were in stock. He checked and said they were completely sold out and did not know when a new shipment would come in. Then I went to a Manager who was just a clueless as the clerk. Nobody knows when a shipment is coming in, they have no control over the shipments, blah, blah, blah. How can Elliott sustain sales if the stores do not have any in stock to sell? Has anyone else been back to their respective Targets and, if so, has anyone experienced this problem?

Two Targets near me have been sold out since 9:30am 3/20 and have not restocked at all (I have been checking on a daily basis). My Walmart pre-order finally arrived on 3/26. It sure has been frustrating!

I hope this won't be a liability in his sales for next week. I mean they only shipped 250K so that means that the CD pool is pretty much limited if distributed all over America. I really hope that they'll ship more knowing his sales for the first week. I hope he'll have a consistent sales throughout the next months.

What area of the country are you from? Just curious. I am going to my local stores today to see if it is still in stock.

I am on Long Island

Tomorrow is my day off so I plan to do a little scouting around to see if his cd is still in stock and easy to find at my local stores. I'm curious.

Depending on the stores I went to I found Elliott's CD in New Releases, R&B Hip Hop, Pop and Generic Y.

Anytime I found a generic Y CD I moved it to the New Releases endcap.

Please let us know how it turns out for you. It's good info.

Sk8888

Well the store associates are correct in that they have no control over stock.
That is all handled electronically thru replenishment at corporate.

It might be time for us all to start writing the CEO of Target. Does not matter how small an issue, if a customer writes the CEO it WILL get attention.

This could really be hurting E's sales if the stores are not replenishing. I am really aggravated.

It appears that Target is always the biggest culprit.

I'm in Woodbridge, VA. -- about 90 miles north of Richmond or 25 miles south of DC. I think tomorrow I'm going to peruse Walmart and Best Buy again and also check out Circuit City.

I'm seriously leaning toward contacting Target's corporate office. I don't know how much good it will do, but it is definitely worth the effort. I think it is really important that Elliott sustain momentum in his cd sales for week two.

I can only imagine how frustrated you must be right now.

Luckily, even though I also came up empty at my local Target, the sales clerk was kind enough to check inventory elsewhere.

She located a stash at another nearby Target, and off I went.

Sk8888

p.s. My boss used to be in retail management a long time ago. He reminded me that if you don't get satisfaction from talking to the store manager that it's always a good idea to ask for the district manager's contact information before contacting corporate. DM's hate to get burned by corporate if they can take care of the problem locally.

That kind of response from a manager is really poor. The manager I talked to on day one here in Richmond said that a hot seller automatically reorders and is shipped immediately. They got shipments of his CD every day or two (even though it continued to sell out)

I do think Target is notorious for undersupplying the records they have advertised at a sale price. This is not just true for Elliott - it is true for major label distribution as well.

Lord, the CEO of Target won't know what hit him if the Etrain weighs in! I do think we should be measured in our complaints though. Target did this great exclusive deal with Elliott and they stand to benefit him much more in the future - they could provide advertising, more exclusive deals, etc - so we don't want to burn any bridges for him.....

You can go that route but DM's are notorious for not returning calls. I also suggest corporate because this is occurring sporodically across the nation, NOT in just one district. Corporate controls replenishment, not the divisionals. GO to the source if you want it resolved quickly. If this were about PERFORMANCE of the associates at the store then yes, I would suggest going to a DM. Selling these cd's now while it is still so new is critical. Time is of the essence and I would not want to risk going to a DM and then waiting for them to contact their corporate buying dept when "they get a chance". Field associates, such as DM's, are extremely task ladened and there are probably fires they are putting out far worse then this one. No DM is going to "get burned by corporate" if you go to corporate about a nationwide replenishment problem. The goal here is not to rat any store out but to speak of a problem that is apparently widespread, even tho sporadic.

I don't suggest writing and being ugly. But I know the power of a letter sent to corporate. Trust me on this.

You never get anywhere wihtout being courteous no matter WHAT issue you are trying to resolve, so of course I would think it goes without saying that you would not write to Target complaining profusely or being in an agitated state.
Just explaining that it is frustrating as you really want THEIR version as do your friends and the stores are consistently out of stock and thank them for their time. A letter like that WILL get noticed.

Word the letter professionally and I would not suggest EVERYONE do it. AN organized effort of a few Etrainers who volunteer would be best if you go that route.

I have contacted Target and here is the response I recently got back:

In checking our inventory I found this CD was in stock in most every store in the country. I also show more CD's are enroute from our warehouse. Be sure to verify the item's availability with the store right away because you might not be the only guest who's trying to find it!

You should call your local store and give them this Department, Class and Item (DPCI) number to help them track it down quickly: 012-04-0805. Once our store team locates the item they can hold it for you for 24 hours.

We're always glad to hear from you, so whenever you have any questions or comments, give us a call at (800) 440-0680 or visit us on Target.com. Either way, we're here to help!

Thanks for shopping with us. We'll see you soon at Target.

Sincerely,

Debra
Target Guest Relations
www.target.com
[THREAD ID:1-34E1YY]

GREAT JOB MOVIN!!!!!

See, a simple letter or phone call can make a difference. . I would suggest whomever has had probs getting that in their local store write down that upc/sku number.

I am writing it down now and putting it in my wallet for future use.

What a shame if the stores who said they didn't have it, had it all along in the back and jsut were not looking hard enough!!!!!!! they are messing with our boy's sales!

I went to another Target in Short Pump yesterday and they were sold out. I asked if they were getting more in and they said probably today. He also said they can't keep it in stock and they have sold over 300 copies.

See - I think this is the case more often than not. It's being reordered over and over again and selling out over and over again. Maybe they are shipping in smaller quantities than they could, but still - there's a cache about a "hot" item - everyone wants it. Also - I wouldn't be surprised if there are a limited number of CDs with the bonus tracks and after they are all gone, maybe they will ship in larger quantities.

I'm not mad with Target - I think this is a GOOD problem for us to have.

My sister went to the Target on Midlo and they were sold out yesterday. She calls me on my cell at work and asks me "Could you leave any for someone else" I was like what are you talking about and she shouts out "Elliott CD's" I know you have plenty. I had to laugh at her. She was really angry. Quickly she jetted over to the Barnes & Nobles and got her Elliott CD but advised only 3 copies there. Told her to calm down and put the CD in the player and relax for the drive home. :rotfl:

I've spoken to three different managers at my local store. Sadly, none of them offered to check on stock with other stores. To be honest, I have plenty of Elliott's cds and have given away 6 cds as gifts. What concerns me is that this particular Target is located near Potomac Mills Outlet Mall and does a huge volume of business. How many people have attempted to purchase Elliott's cd there and come up empty? This detracts from his sales. I think I will contact corporate headquarters. I will be very professional--I love Target--it is my home away from home--I shop there two or three times a week. Heck, I should own stock in the store. Thus the tact I will take is tell them how much I love the store and how much I spend there every week, etc. and tell them that they are losing $.

Well this sounds like a Elliott management problem really. There is only so much we as fans can do. Maybe the next step is to notify the management team and let them know what is going on so they can handle the problem.

Right or wrong, good or bad, supplying a limited amount of inventory to Target stores may have been part of the plan to ensure decent sales for week two.

Whether people agree with that as a possible strategy is another matter. But unless you go to a Target and discover an unopened box like Emmy did when she went to her local Target, I would venture that management does not consider being sold out a problem.

Sk8888

p.s. Did you notice that the banner on Ellen's website that featured Elliott's CD was sponsored by Walmart? The more the retailers fight for the business the better.

WOW, am I still in the United States? You're the perfect customer, I bet they love you. Maybe my degree in Business Operations is stale because this theory was never taught to me, but I do believe this type of thinking is how Wal-Mart was able to wipe out small towns in Ohio.

Well it sounds like you are a loyal Target customer and I have no doubt if you wrote a letter to corporate it would be professional.

If you feel that is what you should do, I'd do it. I do not think it would hurt at all.

Whether it is Target's strategy or not, truth is this is obviously an issue as there are upteen threads on it, and it is primarily Target. I am thinking of sales lost due to so many stores not carrying it. The normal customer who is not a diehard E Fan is not going to go to lengths to ask some sales clerk to check the back.

I wonder how many sales have been lost due to no inventory? Or inventory not stocked. :-(

It is GREAT GREAT news that he is selling so well but I have to wonder is it because they are selling more than most other stores, or just not replenishing as well as other stores?

I am also worried about overall sales lost. Hopefully they will restock their stores and Elliott will have another amazing week in sales!!!

Our Target ran out day 1 too, clear in Texas, so this problem doesn't seem to be just local to the Richmond/VA area.

You're very nice about them, I would never give such loyalty to a mass merchant like them. It's just not in my best interest as a consumer. It's also not in the best interest of the economy in general. It sure would line their pockets nicely if that were the goal of everyone.

To be honest, yeah I think you are right.

I think stores HAVE to realize their customers will go elsewhere. It's only a fine line in this instance because we wouldn't want any of our actions to have a negative affect on them carrying E's music.

I would not want them to get pi$$ed off if a band of crazed elliott fans bombarded them with negative emails or letters.

But on the flipside of that, I dont think the majority here would be rude. Expressing your concerns as a consumer is a must in today's world and retailers appreciate that. If you DON"T express your views and go elsewhere instead - that is what they fear.

They WANT to take care of their customers and yes SingitE, competition is always a customers best friend as a consumer.

Now if I just had a plain old poor customer experience at target i'd let him have it and not give a hoot who at their corporation didn't like it. But in this case, since they are a RETAIL PARTNER with Elliott, it makes it a unique customer issue. If a store does not have a toaster that they have advertised on sale, there are NO repercussions as a consumer to write any heavily worded letter that you feel like. Why? Because we don't care who manufactured that toaster and if Target gets ticked and figures - I am not selling that toaster anymroe period - we don't really care all that much. We'll go elsewhere.

But in this case, WE CARE about the product because it is Elliott at the other end. So treading carefully is a must. Only because the product is coming from a person we want to see succeed and would not want ANY store to just stop carrying it if they perceive it as too much trouble.

I also wanted to add that SIdpayton being a loyal customer is the VERY type of customer that Target will do backflips to retain.

They want ALL customers, but the loyal customer spells $$$ because they shop frequently, and speak positive about their experience.

A retailers dream. They always want to go the extra mile for the loyal customer.

Well, you've gone a little far, because actually what the mass merchandisers want is my money without hassling them. AND what they WANTED with Elliott was his EXCLUSIVE tracks and his IDOL fame to be brought to their store. And they got their end satisfied. Elliott brought customers through their doors who can buy nearly EVERY single thing they stock somewhere else. But since they're there picking up his CD, what else do they pick up that they needed anyhow? What else did they notice? The layouts of the store are NOT by accident, I did a project in college that's focus was a complete design of a retail environment to encourage and manipulate sales.

I find it funny that people see it the other way. If Target stopped retailing Elliott or any IDOL FAMOUS person it would be their loss. If Target hadn't taken the deal, someone else would have and Elliott would have sold the same 96,000 CDs WITH OR WITHOUT Target.

Let's all just listen to the music and chill.
:grouphug:

Well, you've gone a little far, because actually what the mass merchandisers want is my money without hassling them

They will do whatever they can to retain a good customer.

But i agree with chattycb. Let the music move thru us.....and relax.

I went to my Target and they had all these cd's on the main rack but not a one of E's (all the 19E signed idols though and all the usual suspects) and I asked where his were and they had them in a different place and a whole bunch in stock but the clerk said it must be a good cd because they were selling like hotcakes! She said she hasn't heard it yet so I told her she should listen because it's really good.

I love how we are all his "mini promoters". LOL

He is a blessed man to have Etrain on his side.

Sure, they'll pay someone minimum wage and put a badge on them that says Customer Care Specialist. Actually, I have found them to be a little better than Wal-Mart but the little store that I go to for games (that I NEVER play! LOL) now HE (Jason) will bend over backwards, forwards and sideways and he's such a sweety you don't want him to have to. You know how you're going to get treated and it's just refreshing. They're in the know, they're helpful. Now that kind of service I'm impressed with. To each their own.

And STREAM FROM A TOP 40 MUSIC ON DEMAND when you do it, please :)

All factors aside, I really believe Elliott's CD will continue to gain traction in the music world and with consumers. Whether from Target, Amazon, or iTunes, people will "find a way" to get the CD. With time, his radio play will increase, bring more demand for sales, and hopefully this will ensure that major retailers continue to restock their shelves with E CD's. I have faith that things will turn out well as time moves forward. All we have to do is remain patient. In the meantime, requesting at your local radio station, voting for VH1 top 20, and telling other people about the CD can be active things you can do. Otherwise, Elliott's PR team will take care of the rest. So, have faith, be patient, and enjoy this amazing CD we just got!

Still, the bottom line is you can't get blood from a turnip. If Target, or Wal-mart doesn't have them in stock, that is something that needs to brought to the management team of Elliott's so they can get the product to where it needs to be so there will be no excuses.

But, if it is truly a problem with lazy employees not wanting to put out the stock, then the letters to the district manager should take place.

Y'all are doing the right thing by asking first if they have it in stock.

I used to work in accounting at a Wal-mart. They have kiosk's that they can use to find out if it's in the store or if it's in route to the store via a truck. Just talk to a manager who will take the time to find out.

Reporting on my store survey in Duluth, MN, this morning.

Target had Elliott in the 'Best Sellers' section which is all along a main aisle of the store. He had 6 slots, containing a total of 10 cds. There were also 2 cds in the alphabetic section - the first ones under Y and very easy to spot.
Best Buy had an "Elliott Yamin" section marker, one slot, about 10 cds.
KMart has a lousy music dept, but they did have 3 Yamin cd's in the best seller area.
Walmart had 2 cd's on the top of the alphabetic section (Rock, Pop, R & B are all together). There was a little store marker about the bonus tracks. It also said "Movin on" ringtone. How do I get that? I bought a cd at Walmart and I didn't see anything about it on mine.

Dear PM,

There may be a variety of different marketing efforts planned to keep the CD's moving out the door.

The ring tones may be something for this latest batch of CD's delivered to your Walmart.

Sk8888

PoorMe - I noticed that on Elliotts myspace page there is a link to order ringtones. Check it out.