Target Corp.
has pulled the plug on all of its print catalogs: Marshall Field’s Direct and the former Rivertown Trading Co. gift titles, including Signals and ILoveaDeal.com. Target.direct will become an online-only marketer.
According to company spokespeople, Target will not cooperate with “trade publications,” such as CATALOG AGE. But the company did tell the Minneapolis “Star Tribune” that the most popular products from the catalogs will still be available on the Websites. The final catalogs will mail in the spring, with orders fulfilled until June.
Target’s run in the catalog business has been brief. In March 1998, when it was still named Dayton Hudson Corp., it bought $190 million Rivertown Trading Co. from Minnesota Communications Group for $120 million. At the time of the deal, analysts believe that Dayton Hudson was interested less in Rivertown’s catalogs than in using its infrastructure to establish an online presence.