Target and Moms, Not a Match Made in Heaven
December 6, 2008 by Lyn Mettler
Filed under All, social media
Target and moms go together like peanutbutter and jelly, don’t they? Well, we always thought so, but I guess Target does not.
I’m sure many of you read my blog post about my disappointment (that’s putting it mildly) that they advertised a Britax carseat for $40 and then canceled all orders after they discovered it was “incorrectly priced.”Not a great way to get in with moms, thank you very much.
They were all excited and when I interjected my note of being wronged by Target, I was pretty much ignored or shut down. That’s OK, I know they were excited about Target, and like the rest, I’m very disappointed to be disappointed in a store I loved so much too.
Sooo, turns out Target summarily dismissed their pitch to create a mom panel with one email.
Now, Target, come onnnn!!! You had a group of enthusiastic moms who wanted to get involved and spread the word about Target. Do you have no idea th
e value of that these days? Moms are probably your biggest shopper and spreading the word virally online would have been a great way to try to counteract the decline in sales all stores anticipate this year, not to mention setting yourselves further apart from other retailers who are not so savvy or who don’t even have such a dedicated group of moms.
Now, maybe they didn’t have to create a panel, but they could have taken advantage of this group in some way. The email linked above is pretty dismissive and discouraging.
The worst part is Target probably is not monitoring any of this stuff online or on Twitter, so had no idea how much excitement and buzz was going on out there about this group (not to mention the customers disappointed about the carseat). Clearly they are not, or they would jump on this opportunity.
So, now they’ve ticked off moms with the carseat thing and ticked off moms who were their biggest fans.
Target, you just don’t get it. Call me if you want to PR advice on how to smartly use social media, but it might be too late…
Turns out some of the moms still are trying to love Target anyway. I know, I know, it’s hard to walk away from. I guess that’s why Target can get away with this.
Oh, and they did offer me a $25 gift certificate after the carseat incident. What do you think? Should I take it? Am I overreacting to this whole thing? Tweet with #targetmoms or post a comment and let me know.
It’s clear from reading the Target response that they just don’t get it. The fact that the Target response talks about their cute, fun marketing shows that they don’t know the difference between PR and marketing. They still are using/wed to the interruption model.
Target better get on target with their biggest group of supporters or they may find in a year or so as the recession continues that they will wish they had.
Many discount stores have better pricing than Target and more locations. Consumers pressured by financial concerns will go for value if they don’t find strong ties to Target.
You are correct I spend alot in Target as a mom of 4 and I don’t like what they did!!!
Hooray to you for speaking out!!
Target has consistently proven that they aren’t interested in utilizing social media.
Read this article regarding an incident earlier in the year where the retail giant claimed they don’t “participate with non-traditional media.”
It seems to me someone is living in the dark ages!
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2008/01/17/traget-takes-sites-bloggers-doesnt-participate-non-traditional-m
I’m completely fed up with Target after trying to get an issue solved for 4 months and being given nothing but automated responses and no reply address so I kept having to go back to their website and start all over again explaining the problem. I even had a customer service rep hang up on me. Apparently she had some issues with the English language and decided it was too much for her to handle.
With the way WalMart is picking up steam through their 11 Moms project and winning over Moms again, Target really can’t afford to keep pissing moms off.
Now that I know I’m not the only one, I’m going to post about my whole ordeal on my own blog. Maybe someone in the Target PR department will wake up.
Yes I think you are over reacting. First get real, how can you expect to pay only $40 for a car seat that retails for at least $200? Second, they offered you $25, that is half of what you were willing to spend i their store before. Target did was NOT obligated to give you anything, yet they did. Were you expecting something for nothing? Target is in the business to MAKE money not loose it.
Thanks for all the comments! I do think they were obligated to give me my carseat because I paid the price they asked for it and had officially “bought” it. As I mentioned in my previous post, if I had bought it at the store, would they have come to my house and taken it away?
I understand they are in the business to make money, but will they lose more money than they would have by honoring the price from moms who won’t shop there any more? I’m betting they will.
I'm surprised that after the #motrinmoms fiasco there are still companies that ignore the power of social media.
I'm equally surprised that Target refuses to tap into the resources provided by social media. IMO social media is here to stay & I don't think it will be too long before social media marketing will stop being non-traditional and become a norm.