Wasting no time incorporating its latest acquisition, Target is rolling out same-day delivery via Shipt from 57 stores covering South Florida and Alabama starting Feb. 1, with plans to rapidly expand the service, making it available nationwide over the next year.
John Mulligan, Target’s COO, said in a release that the company will offer Shipt’s services at “nearly half” of its stores by the end of the first quarter, growing to “a majority” of them by the 2018 holiday season. Mulligan boasts that by the time the rollout is complete, Target will be the only retailer offering same-day delivery in every major U.S. market.
By the end of 2019, Target said it plans to use Shipt for same-day delivery of all of its major product categories, including fresh foods.
Amazon Prime Now expanded its same-day delivery service from 5,000 to 8,000 U.S. cities and towns in December, while Deliv, with clients like Macy’s, Best Buy, GNC and Chico’s, grew to 1,400 cities and towns in 33 major U.S. markets last fall, up from 19. FedEx, meanwhile, offers same-day delivery in 1,800 cities and towns in 30 markets via FedEx Office.
To handle the rapid expansion, Shipt plans to hire 100,000 shoppers by the end of 2018, on top of the 20,000 it currently employs. Shoppers fulfill consumer orders via the Shipt app by buying and delivering them, usually within a few hours. For instance, 3,000 Shipt shoppers are being hired to handle demand in South Florida starting this week.
Teams from Target and Shipt scrambled in the eight weeks since the acquisition to load hundreds of thousands of Target products onto the Shipt app, including around 50,000 products not listed on Target.com.
Update: Target has expanded same-day delivery with Shipt to the Memphis, TN area.