Time to make some margin

It’s all about the ladies this week at Target as the retailer’s promotional emphasis shifted to spring-time seasonal apparel and related accessories and categories. A quartet of youthful and exuberant models wearing Mossimo and Merona brand dresses were featured on the cover of the weekly ad at the sale price of $17.99. A slightly younger demographic is targeted on the page two and three spread with two groups of three girls sporting Xhilaration and Mossimo Supply Co. styles for $17.99. Also featured were such summer essentials as shorts, tanks, cami style tops, crew neck cardigans and lightweight leggings. In addition, Target featured a full page of handbags with a 20% price reduction and devoted another page to the launch of the intimate apparel line extension Gilligan by Gilligan & O’Malley.

The emphasis on higher margin softlines in the weekly ad follows the first three months of the year where Target demonstrated a strong promotional tendency toward featuring consumables on the cover of its weekly circular interrupted occasionally by a featured category such as swimwear, home or entertainment. Consumables this week were relegated to the back four pages of the 24-page ad.