Target Reveals Holiday Season Strategies
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Target rolled out its holiday plans, letting customers know what to expect with the shopping experience. The Minnesota-based company will feature exclusive items and ways to save.
Each year stores try to capitalize on what works. According to University of Minnesota Carlson School of Business professor Akshay Rao said this year for Target it's back to the basics.
"There seems to be some customer centricity to the plan. There is some attention to what's going on in the world of consumers," Rao said.
Rao said this is an important year for Target to get it right. The holiday plan to lure shoppers in starts with the fundamentals.
"Now they're going back to first principles saying, 'What does the customer want when shopping at Target? What are they looking for?"
That includes offering items customers will find only at Target, with 15 percent more toys than last year, Star Wars products and new dolls. Mid-November customers will save $10 on a $50 purchase on different products each week. In December that moves to $25 off on $100. The focus is on bringing the customer into the store.
"They're recognizing that this might be an opportunity to test the hypothesis that people are going to come back to shopping like they used to before, come back to the store," Rao said.
Popular promotions like 10 Days of Deals will return.
Online isn't excluded. There's an online gift guide to help people find the right gift. And free shipping is offered an extra week this year - from now until the end of the year. And Target reports more stores will also ship direct to online shoppers which should speed up the delivery.