Dive Brief:

• This summer, Target is doubling down on its "Target Run and Done" ads from last year, this time emphasizing its usefulness as a source of consumer goods and last-minute store runs thanks in part to its Shipt same-day delivery and Drive Up curbside pickup services.

• Target's Shipt service has rapidly expanded since the mass merchant acquired the startup last fall, and will be available from most stores by the holidays, according to a company blog post.

• "At its core, it’s a campaign designed to help our guests make the most of their day, and an important step in making Target America’s easiest place to shop," Rick Gomez, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Target, said in a blog post. 

Dive Insight:

Target has maintained a keen focus on differentiating its apparel, home goods, furniture and beauty offer, introducing a series of new private labels and services and revamping its stores to better showcase them.

That differentiation has earned the retailer a reputation for helping shoppers turn a mundane trip for laundry detergent or toilet paper into a discovery of decorative pillows or clothing that swells their carts and their checkout totals.

That tendency has led to a sense that Target is more expensive than Walmart or Amazon, although on household essentials, that’s not really true, according to e-commerce analytics firm Profitero. "People walk into Walmart and walk out pleased about the prices, and people walk into Target and walk out with things they hadn’t planned on buying, so they perceive Target as more expensive," Keith Anderson, Profitero vice president of strategy and insights, told Retail Dive last year. 

In fact, last year Target slashed prices in consumer goods, and various pricing studies show it’s keeping pace amid fierce competition. Walmart is getting particularly aggressive with price matching, offering identical prices to Amazon on more than half (53%) of all products but Target matches 37% and Jet 35%, according to a recent Profitero study. 

Price isn’t the only battlefield. For big-box retailers selling groceries it’s also about convenience. With curbside pickup and home delivery, Target customers don’t have the same opportunity to be seduced by non-essential items, but the retailer can’t afford to cede grocery and household essentials sales or a convenience play to its rivals.

Last week, the company said its "Target Run and Done" ads from last year are getting a new twist this summer, in English and Spanish, to be sure customers know they have various ways to get the groceries and household goods they need.