Dive Brief:

• Target is testing a delivery feature that lets customers know within a small time window when their orders will arrive.

• Called “available to promise,” the program will keep customers informed of their order’s progress and aims to narrow delivery to within two to three days.

• The retailer is leveraging its stores to help with fulfillment, and says it will use 450 of its 1,800 stores nationally by the holidays to fulfill orders as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Dive Insight:

Target under CEO Brian Cornell is clearly intent on catching up to Amazon and Wal-Mart Stores when it comes to e-commerce. Its Q2 digital sales rose 30%, but Cornell says the retailer is aiming for 40%. To accomplish that, the retailer is investing a billion dollars on improvements and innovations. The “available to promise” pilot is an effort to bring the level of transparency delivery of orders that many customers are coming to expect.

Indeed, ride-hailing app Uber may have set the standard for transparency, with customers able to see exactly where their ride is relative to them, according to Raanan Cohen, CEO-founder of delivery app Bringg. That, says Cohen, is where delivery is also headed. “The train has left the station,” he told Retail Dive. "It's the end of the tracking number.”