 Neiman Marcus press |
The much-anticipated collection barely sold in stores, and items were heavily discounted. This was a big departure from Target's past collaborations like Missoni, which quickly sold out.
A Target spokesman detailed what went wrong to Women's Wear Daily.
The spokesman, who WWD didn't identify by name, said part of the problem was timing:
“'There are two spikes during the Christmas season, Black Friday and last-minute shopping just before Christmas,' he said. 'There’s that lull in between. The line was timed to excite consumers during that time. We underestimated that lull. Consumers were fatigued coming out of Black Friday. They were looking for deals.'"
He also said pricing was an issue:
"'It was priced a bit higher than some of our partnerships because products had real silk, hand-beading and 18-karat gold. We believe we created a price barrier. This is clear given the strong uptick in sales once the collection went on sale at 50 percent off. It was also all about inventory. Missoni + Target sold out in a day. There was so much excitement going into the [Neiman’s] partnership that, in an effort not to disappoint guests, we more than doubled the inventory. We still moved through most of the collection, but there were some barriers we faced.'”
DON'T MISS: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Working At Taco Bell >