Target 2023 TVC Deluxe Tusken Warrior & Massiff

[Jeff]

Currently I have a projected delivery date of next Wednesday, but no tracking information.

Ditto.  No shipping confirmation for me yet either.

[Mister Skeezler]

I just got my shipping info. Between this and the Tusken troop pack, I've got a nice little Tusken crew. I'm going to need to rethink that display shelf.

[Nicklab]

...and now it's backordered.  I personally blame Target for shifting their online order fulfillment from distribution centers to having it done from store location inventory.

[Rob]

Mine somehow did ship, despite having my original order canceled and having to reorder the other day.  Did they ship newer orders first?!

[Nicklab]

I think it has more to do with regional fulfillment of online orders than when your order was placed.  It's a big cost saving measure that both Target and Walmart have been undertaking - fulfill online orders from store inventory rather than have these huge fulfillment centers.  Best Buy was doing this, too.

If you use inventory trackers like Brickseek or Popfindr you might find when a store gets a particular item in stock.  But when you go there you can't find it, and it's very likely because that item never made it to the floor - it got pulled for online order fulfillment.  Cutting the overhead of those distribution centers, along with shipping something 50 miles instead of 500 probably cut a lot of costs for Target.

The most likely situation is that stores in my region just don't have this yet.

[Rob]

Makes sense.  I guess I wasn’t thinking about it like that.

[Muftak]

Nicklab, the theory makes sense, but how does it jibe with the stories of Target stores not even receiving full cases of some of the products at times? I understand stuff like the nonassortment packed Boba Fetts and Indiana Jones figures arriving in stores and being shipped out to fulfill online orders, but when the regular TVC and Retro figures show up in batches of 3s from the repack box it doesn't add up.

Especially considering their has to be a warehouse/DC somewhere putting together those repack boxes to ship out to the Target stores.

[Dave]

Nicklab, the theory makes sense, but how does it jibe with the stories of Target stores not even receiving full cases of some of the products at times? I understand stuff like the nonassortment packed Boba Fetts and Indiana Jones figures arriving in stores and being shipped out to fulfill online orders, but when the regular TVC and Retro figures show up in batches of 3s from the repack box it doesn't add up.

Especially considering their has to be a warehouse/DC somewhere putting together those repack boxes to ship out to the Target stores.

I think they're separate issues. 

As you mention the Target exclusive stuff is pre-orderable and is often fulfilled from a localish store.  I'm not sure what their algorithm is for balancing pre-orders with store density with geographies.  I know I've gotten pre-orders shipped both directly from stores and from distribution centers.  You would think their logic for making this happen is well within their control.

I think the case assortment and partial case shipping stuff is still totally baffling.  That has been a mess for years and I don't get any of it.

[Nicklab]

Nicklab, the theory makes sense, but how does it jibe with the stories of Target stores not even receiving full cases of some of the products at times? I understand stuff like the nonassortment packed Boba Fetts and Indiana Jones figures arriving in stores and being shipped out to fulfill online orders, but when the regular TVC and Retro figures show up in batches of 3s from the repack box it doesn't add up.

Especially considering their has to be a warehouse/DC somewhere putting together those repack boxes to ship out to the Target stores.

Actually, the online order fulfillment model has been having negative affects on things like TVC basic figures as well.

Lots of people have pointed to the TVC Lando as a pegwarmer.  In the process of that whole dialogue not a lot of people were talking about the other figures in that case - the Emperor, IG-11 and Teebo.  In many instances the stores were receiving that full case of figures, but only the Lando was turning up on the pegs.  Why?  Because the others had been pulled from the case to fulfill online orders.  Lando being packed 3 per case didn't help things, either.  And it's not a theory - I got this direct from a Hasbro retail store rep (when they still had those) during a conversation with him during the spring.

[Muftak]

  And it's not a theory - I got this direct from a Hasbro retail store rep (when they still had those) during a conversation with him during the spring.

I didn't mean to suggest it was an unsourced idea, just questioning the logic behind the practice of opening cases at the DC to send to stores while opening cases as the stores to send to online customers. I don't see where the savings is there.

The "only Lando shows up on pegs" point further proves my point. Especially when we all know Hasbro offers full cases of specific figures in an attempt to facilitate fulfilling online orders so that the assortment cases can be used for in store stocking.

[Jeff]

...just questioning the logic behind the practice of opening cases at the DC to send to stores while opening cases as the stores to send to online customers. I don't see where the savings is there.

https://corporate.target.com/videos/stores-as-hubs-overview

Target had to find ways to get stuff into the online buyers hands faster in order to stop losing business to Amazon Prime 2-day shipping.  The Store-as-hub model apparently saves them tons in that regard.  Filling the orders closer to where the customer lives is apparently driving a lot of those savings.  I am sure there is probably savings in the fact that the retail store workers ($13-15/hr average) are usually getting less than the warehouse workers ($18-20/hr average).

In the case of little plastic Star Wars figures, it may not be saving them very much at all. I'm sure there probably is a better, cheaper way to service the niche "old men buying little plastic men" community, but not cheaper enough to any degree that it makes sense upsetting their giant store-as-hub strategy and $110b in sales operation. 

[Muftak]

Target had to find ways to get stuff into the online buyers hands faster in order to stop losing business to Amazon Prime 2-day shipping.  The Store-as-hub model apparently saves them tons in that regard.  Filling the orders closer to where the customer lives is apparently driving a lot of those savings.  I am sure there is probably savings in the fact that the retail store workers ($13-15/hr average) are usually getting less than the warehouse workers ($18-20/hr average).

In the case of little plastic Star Wars figures, it may not be saving them very much at all. I'm sure there probably is a better, cheaper way to service the niche "old men buying little plastic men" community, but not cheaper enough to any degree that it makes sense upsetting their giant store-as-hub strategy and $110b in sales operation.

Thanks, that really does add a lot of context outside of the action figure niche, which of course is their focus as a company, and may at long last help to satisfy my curiosity about Hasbro's switch to solid case packs (vs assortments)  in the TVC World-Building boxed figures, the Retro ROTJ wave, and the TVC exclusive figures.

I appreciate the education!

[Dave]

My Target Tusken set arrived today.  Pretty sweet set!

[Jedi Idej]

I'll have to watch it again later when I'm away from the noise of the lunch crowd.

Target needs to reinstate ship-to-store.

As for the Tusken set, UPS says Saturday delivery. Target has it scheduled for Friday. If the tracking number to my house stays the same, this shipment bypassed the store distribution model. Well see.

[Ryan]

Mine arrived today as well. The Massiff is excellent, it's nice to see a creature (even just a small one) back in the line again. I had forgotten to cancel my single-carded Tusken Warrior, so she's just a duplicate but she is still a very nice figure. If these ever go on clearance I am down for a few more to get a couple extra Massiffs, even though we are sure to see the Massiff in some other sets down the road.

The only thing I am not happy with is the giant red Target UPC barcode sticker that was slapped on the front of the box.