WITH BULL’S-EYE ON AMAZON, TARGET RAMPS UP DELIVERY
As retailers race Amazon to see who can get purchases to shoppers the fastest, Target says it is expanding sameday delivery and will use 1,400 stores across the U.S. to ship online orders this holiday season.
The big-box chain had already been testing same-day delivery from its store in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood. Starting Friday, shoppers at two of its Brooklyn locations as well as a new smaller-format store in midtown Manhattan will also be able to get groceries and other items dropped at their front doors within a few hours after they’ve bought them.
It’s just good business, executives explain.
“When our customers know they can shop our store, and hours later we’ll deliver that package right to their doorstep, those baskets are six times larger,” Target CEO Brian Cornell says.
The announcement came as Target unveiled its newest smaller-format store in Manhattan’s Herald Square. The location, which is roughly one-third the size of a typical Target, is the latest in a small but growing number of Target stores that are carving out spaces in urban neighborhoods as well as on college campuses, tailoring their offerings to the local community.
At a time when Walmart is piloting a plan to have groceries delivered right into customers’ refrigerators, Target touted its own efforts to make shoppers’ lives a little easier.
It’s Restock service, which allows shoppers to buy paper towels and other household necessities online then have them delivered to their homes the next day for a $4.99 fee, will be available across the U.S. next year. A pilot program underway in Min- neapolis, where Target is based, allows customers to get online orders brought to their car. It could be offered in additional cities in the next several months.
“We expect to be able to fulfill orders within 48 hours, leveraging our network, leveraging our team, leveraging the fact that we’re in virtually every neighborhood now in America,’’ Cornell says of the company’s goals.
But even as Target makes its online experience more convenient, the retailer emphasized that its extensive network of stores continue to play an essential role, drawing 30 million shoppers a week.
The retailer is making a play for new customers with its smaller-format stores, opening 11 of them this week alone and aiming to have 130 by 2019.
“We’re going to continue to move aggressively into new neighborhoods where Target has never had a presence before over the next few years,” Cornell says. “We’re picking up new guests, which means new market share.”
It’s also remodeling existing stores. The retailer has seen an average sales bump of 2% to 4% at each of the 110 locations it has revamped this year, and its goal is to have updated more than 1,110 locations by the end of 2020.