Target's Lilly Pulitzer collection sells out quickly, leaving some disappointed

Hundreds of customers lined up outside some Target stores early Sunday, waiting to race in when the doors opened for a sale the company announced months ago.

Once inside, lucky customers loaded up on dresses, bags, napkins, towels, shoes and anything else bearing the Lilly Pulitzer brand known for its bright, colorful floral prints.

The Lilly Pulitzer items were not the same merchandise shoppers can find in boutiques. The goods were created and produced by Target in collaboration with Lilly Pulitzer designers and sold only at Target. Prices were half or less what shoppers typically pay for similar Pulitzer products.

It was Target's latest attempt to bring fashion to the masses — and the masses responded. Products quickly sold out, infuriating some customers. Meanwhile, online shoppers briefly overwhelmed the retailer's website.

Still, analysts say the event confirms that, even after several years of struggles, Target can still create excitement and buzz with its "cheap-chic" strategy.

"It's a real positive in terms of creating tons of buzz," retail consultant Carol Spieckerman said.

"This is really good timing for Target to have a successful designer collection launch," she said. "It really shows Target has its mojo, and its mojo in the fashion arena particularly."

Lilly Pulitzer founded her namesake line in Florida in 1959, introducing a new fashion genre: American resort wear, characterized by vibrant colors and patterns.

"Anything is possible with sunshine and a little pink," she famously said.

On Sunday, the nearly instantaneous disappearance of Target's inventory left many would-be buyers seeing red. One shopper tweeted "Target needs to stop releasing designer collaboration lines if they can't handle the demand and stock appropriately."

Another shopper lamented that some people are now selling LillyforTarget stuff on eBay for double or more what they paid for it. Her tweet? "There's a special place in hell for you." Lots of news outlets ran stories about the dissatisfaction.

But business analysts generally agreed the Pulitzer event was much more of a success than a failure for Target.

"The website going down was a little bit of a negative for them," said stock analyst Brian Yarbrough, who follows the company for Edward Jones. "What overshadowed that is this really created a buzz around Target, really created a buzz that, 'Hey, maybe Target is back.' That's the whole point here: Getting back to fashionable, exciting merchandise that drives people to the stores."

Target's performance got a somewhat lower, albeit passing grade from retail consultant Howard Davidowitz.

"I would probably give them a C+," he said. "But the idea was a very good one that has worked for Target in the past."

Davidowitz said when Target has such events the retailer has to remain open for business online, no matter how heavy the traffic.

"They have to fix it," he said. "Target's future, the growth in the business is going to be online and they've got a hell of a long way to go in handling the traffic that comes in, because this is not the first time this has happened to Target."

Target had similar woes during a 2011 collaboration with the Italian design house Missoni.

Target officials insist the website did not crash this time, saying they decided to stop customers from entering the website for about 15 minutes Sunday to manage the onslaught.

Still, Target did not expect such a strong response, spokesman Joshua Thomas said.

"We never intend for one of these programs to sell out in just a day," he said. "We always anticipate and plan for several weeks. But you don't know how the consumer is going to react until you give them the chance to shop the collection."

Thomas said Target has done more than 150 collaborations with designers but the Pulitzer event was among the most successful. He said there's not much Lilly Pulitzer merchandize still available but customers can keep an eye out for returned items. He estimates that less than 2 percent of the Lilly Pulitzer merchandise Target sold is being resold online.

Some disgruntled customers or not, the outcome of Target's event left investors in buying mode. The company's share price rose more than 1 percent Monday to nearly $81.