Lilly Pulitzer Boosts Target

Lilly Pulitzer brought the good and the bad for Target. The retailer’s shares rose 1.1 percent on Monday to close at $80.93 — but the blowout success of the 250-piece Pulitzer collection stirred scores of complaints after everything almost sold out almost immediately after it launched Sunday. There were claims by consumers frustrated that they couldn’t log onto Target’s Web site that the site had crashed, but the retailer contended it was simply “regulating” traffic. “At no point did the site crash,” a Target spokesman said Monday. “If you weren’t allowed into the site, it was because we were managing traffic. It could have been for as long as four consecutive hours. But at no point did Target lose control of the site. “Many of our stores had lines forming early Sunday morning,” the Target spokesman said. “Product has been selling quickly, with some stores selling out entirely in just a few minutes.” As of Monday, “Lilly Pulitzer for Target is virtually sold out,” the spokesman said. This isn’t the first time that Target hasn’t had enough supply when faced with overwhelming demand for a collection. In 2011, extreme consumer demand for Missoni for Target caused the Web site to crash. That collection featured 400 items

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