Target’s strategy blend helps sales to surge

If there was any doubt in your mind, nope, you weren’t the only one a little addicted to Target.

Shoppers flocked to Target stores, as its strategy to introduce new brands and entice online shoppers to visit an actual store appears to be paying off.

Traffic to the retailer rose 4.5 percent in the final quarter of 2018, which includes the all-important holiday season, and sales increased 5.3 percent. Physical stores open at least 12 months reported a sales uptick of 2.9 percent.

And online sales soared 31 percent. Target, like many of its peers, has been taking on Amazon by leveraging its network of physical stores to enhance the online shopping experience. And in the fourth quarter, stores played a role in almost 75 percent of online sales, from delivering the packages to enabling online shoppers to come pick up their purchases or have them brought out to their car.

“We’re very pleased with our fourthquarter performance, which capped off an outstanding year for Target,” Brian Cornell, Target’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “We delivered our strongest traffic and comparable sales growth in well over a decade.”

At roughly 1,000 locations, customers can drive up and have packages brought out to their cars. And online shoppers can go to any Target store and pick up purchases the same day at no extra cost.

Shoppers who visit a Target are also increasingly likely to find a store that’s been updated. The company remodeled more than 300 locations last year and plans to revamp 300 more in 2019 with the goal of having overhauled over 1,000 by the end of next year.

Sales at the reimagined stores tend to see a 2- to 4 percent uptick in sales, Target says.

Target has also been rolling out smaller stores that cater to the tastes of local urban communities and college campuses.