Dive Brief:
- To attract late holiday shoppers, Target is extending its store hours from 7 a.m. until midnight at most stores through Dec. 23, the retailer announced Tuesday. The retailer has also added last-minute discounts on brands like Apple, KitchenAid, Meta and Disney, as well as on video games, holiday decor and apparel.
- Target is touting rapid order fulfillment for late purchases as well. Same-day delivery through Shipt is available until 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and Target’s Drive Up and Order Pickup services are available for orders placed that day until 6 p.m. local time for same-day pickup.
- The retailer teased its gifting assortment, including a collaboration with British retailer Marks & Spencer, beauty options from Fenty Beauty and an exclusive Stanley collection available in stores on Sunday and online on Dec. 24. More Stanley collections are on the way, per the press release.
Dive Insight:
With Target’s last-minute services and discounts, the retailer aims to reach the remaining holiday shoppers. A Shopify-Gallup Holiday Shopping Pulse survey released this month found that 49% of U.S. consumers said they plan to buy most of their holiday purchases in December. Though more than half of shoppers 50 years old or younger are doing most or all of their shopping this month, 44% of shoppers aged 50 or older planned to do the same, according to the survey.
“Making last-minute holiday shopping easy and affordable for our guests is a top priority,” Mark Schindele, chief stores officer at Target, said in a statement. “We’re doing that in so many ways, including offering new, deep deals, extended holiday hours and our convenient same-day services.”
While now it’s courting late holiday shoppers, Target spent the beginning of the season vying for early holiday shoppers. In October, the retailer held its member deals event Target Circle Week and later in the month introduced deals on products ranging from toys and entertaining to gifting and groceries. Meanwhile, other major retailers, including Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy, launched their own early holiday deals in October.
Target’s extended buy online, pick up in store and delivery hours follow the retailer’s fulfillment upgrades. Earlier this year, Target announced plans to invest $100 million into its next-day delivery operations, starting with more than six new sorting centers. The retailer said it anticipated delivering about 50 million packages via its sortation centers this year. This past fall, the company expanded its Starbucks Drive Up service across all stores that feature a Starbucks cafe and Drive Up offering.
