I came…I saw….I conquered??
I’ve been up ALL night, so bare with me. My grammar may be off, my attitude may be poor, but I wanted to share my trials and tribulations of the EPIC FAIL that is Lilly Pulitzer for Target.
I stalked the lookbook, I had my items written down, categorized by want and….then….all hell breaks loose. I’m sitting, tired, at 1am looking on my Instagram account (cocoforbeauty) when I see people are shopping online. How is that possible?? It hasn’t launched yet! Well, there was a glitch that allowed people to start buying items on their phone at midnight central time. That “glitch” pretty much wiped out all the most coveted items. At 2am, central it launched only to have it crash immediately.
I most wanted the Nosie Posey maxi dress so I went for that first, added to my cart and everything crashed a mere two minutes after it launched. Yes, Lilly broke the internet! The site was down more than it was up. It would pop up for brief stretches, and when I say brief I mean 60 seconds. And when it did come back, you found your cart was emptied and almost all the women’s clothing is sold out. How is that possible that a site is down at official launch and when it does come back it’s sold out?? That’s a question a lot of people have.
Between the hours of 2am and 5am I was able to make three separate orders, which contained only a couple items that I originally intended on buying. I ended up focusing on my 4 and 5 year old daughters and got them things since they were in stock and everything I wanted was now gone. I bought four dresses for my girls and two bikinis. For me I got the fan dance beach towel, a pair of flip flops, and a pair of the palazzo pants. These were my online purchases from staying up all night.
So I decided to head into the store and see if I could get any of the things I wanted. At 8:05, my Super Target was wiped. I scored one fan dance scarf. So I headed to another target. Shelves were wiped and peoples carts were overflowing. I aimlessly circled the aisles hoping for something. Who knows! I was delirious from sleep deprivation! I saw a lady with a weekender bag, not the one I wanted, but still something I would like. It looked like she was questioning it. She set it on a display and left. So I got lucky and grabbed it. I scored two items of LP at two Targets.
Since she put it in the wrong area, I think that’s why the vultures didn’t descend and rip it to shreds. I’m just NOT that girl. I wanted LP but not enough to push, shove and just generally be mean to get it. I was shocked by the carts of overflowing items. I felt it was really ridiculous. And I guess what bothers me the most is these will probably be on ebay for triple the price. And they are. Ebay is flooded with it. My beach towel that I got for $25 is going for $75. One of the dresses I spent $20 on for my daughter is going for $70. The scarf for $20 is going for over a $100! That is crazy! And so not the point.
The whole point was to get Lilly at a more affordable price. I felt scammed by Target. And I know some people think thats a little overboard. Like, get over it, it’s materialistic. And yes, I understand that. But you build something up for months, stay up all night, have some loophole that allows shoppers in early, people selling on ebay, buying all of one dress and leaving nothing for anyone else, and you walk in the store to find the SMALLEST racks of merchandise I’ve ever seen in my life!! So Target created this nightmare. You give this tiny rack for all these southern women to then become the worst versions of themselves, all in the name of Lilly Pulitzer. Lilly Pulitzer is supposed to be about Southern Chic, Southern manners and class. I saw none of that today.
What did I learn? How about one of the largest lessons to Target, limit to ONE of any item, not FIVE. Especially if you only have five of any one size. If there’s enough product then there wouldn’t be a need for people to grab all the merchandise and sell it three times its original price. I spent $300 and most have to be shipped, but from what I do have, I love. I really love. BUT….and it’s a big but, because was it really worth it? No, it wasn’t. I wasted my Sunday and I’m exhausted and saw the worst side of Target ever. I think the moral of the story is to save your money and just buy the $200 dress. Buy it online, with a glass of wine, buy it in the store where you won’t get an elbow to the eye. And buy it with a smile because you had fun. Shopping is supposed to be fun, not war.
COCO for Beauty Blog 
Perfect. 100% agreed!
Thanks Samantha!
I do agree with everything you posted. I am a Lilly Pulitzer retailer, and there were items I wanted. Either to use myself or for cute displays in my front windows. When I was notified by Lilly that they were going to have this collaboration with Target, I had to email the company and question them. They felt it would introduce the brand to the masses that are not familiar with the brand. But I questioned if that would make those few that have never heard of it upset. Once they got hooked on it at Target and then had to look for more at a Lilly store, would they understand the price difference? Needless to say none of these people had the opportunity to get a taste of the line.
I am sure Lilly is happy because that is all they are talking about on CNBC. But what is going on, on EBAY is a disgrace. The items in my store at full price are less then the Target items on EBAY.
Lilly has come down in price over the years.
You are so correct. I don’t understand the mentality to buy at those prices on ebay. Honestly, I don’t understand the people who sell it on ebay either. If my online purchases come in and they’re not the right size or what I was expecting then I would just return it. I feel like Target sets this whole thing up too. How could they not with such a small amount in the stores and allowing people 5 of one item. I was disgusted at the carts I saw, overflowing with 10 beach towels and the entire rack of dresses.
To stay up all night and have so little to show for it, well, I feel stupid to have wasted my time. I ended up just making an order online at LP yesterday. I should have just done that to begin with. So I’m not sure I’ll be participating in any more Target designer collabs.
Pretty sure I won’t be shopping at Target anymore for anything. First the credit hack, then these awful designer collabs. I was so excited for Lilly (though I didn’t stay up all night – I just woke up to nothing being available!) The worst is that you can’t tell the items are out of stock until you select your size. So disappointing.
I must say, I don’t understand the indignation at people buying items at a drastically lower price, then selling it online for a personal profit. That’s the nature of business- to get the highest price for any one item. They’re not your friends, they’re trying to make money the best way they can, just like the rest of us.
I agree with everything you say. I was so excited to get the LP items I lost a lot of sleep thinking about it. I wanted clothes and items for me and my teen daughter. We got nothing online. When I realized that the site crashed, I went to the nearest Target at 3 am to make sure I got SOMETHING. Fortunately I got many items for us. But, I was stalked in the store and people kept touching things in my cart. I has to check out quickly because people were angry and crying. Because of lack of sleep and all that adrenalin, it took me 5 day to recover and look over my haul. I LOVE everything I got. To me, it was worth it, but it was not right. Target needs a better system.