Target CEO Brian Cornell piled on superlatives when discussing Q4 and 2019 results, including six consecutive years of 25%+ growth in ecommerce sales. Same-day (order pickup, drive up and Shipt delivery) accounted for more than 80% of Target’s Q4 comparable digital sales growth of 20%, compared to 1.5% overall comp growth.
Target’s strong focus on ecommerce, including a 2019 holiday push on fast delivery options and BOPIS, has propelled it into the top 10 for U.S. ecommerce sales, according to a new report from eMarketer. Target checks in at No. 8 with projected 2020 U.S. ecommerce sales of $8.34 billion, increasing its share from 1.1% to 1.2%.
Workers at a Target fulfillment center in New Jersey are considering union representation, stirring up labor issues for the retailer as it reworks the supply chain to move inventory closer to customers and better integrate store and online channels, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. Amazon and FedEx are also facing unionization pressures.
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) retailer Brandless, which sold beauty products, non-GMO snacks and everyday items under its own non-brand austere label in a radical departure from the norm, is halting operations. Brandless is laying off 70 employees and retaining 10 to fulfill remaining orders, which stopped being accepted Feb. 10.
The global sleep company Casper, in a crowded field of mattress-in-a-box companies going direct to customer it helped spawn, has been a darling of the business and lifestyle press, That is, until it recently filed for an IPO, and pundits and the business press attacked the CEO for his obsession with a unicorn valuation.
To combat the growing problem of returns, which continue to eat away at profit margins, the Retail Value Chain Federation and returns prevention software provider Newmine have created the Product Returns Council to work on solutions. Both will take part in a returns workshop at Ecommerce Operations Summit, April 14-16 in Orlando.
Target’s new last-minute delivery deals and deadlines for holiday gifts has it going head-to-head with Walmart over whose fulfillment is faster and more accommodating for shoppers. Both retail giants offer free two-day shipping, but Walmart has the edge in guaranteed delivery by Christmas for ultra-last-minute shoppers.
