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Target’s same-day delivery hits milestone

6/7/2018
Target is making good on its promise to launch same-day delivery services in a majority of stores in time for the 2018 holiday season.

On Thursday, the discounter announced that it is expanding its same-day shipping and pickup services, Shipt and DriveUp, across stores in the Midwest and Southeast. The expansion puts Target more than halfway toward its goal of making these services available coast-to-coast in time for the holidays .

By the end of June, Target will offer Shipt in more than 135 markets. The service enables customers to browse participating local retailers’ aisles online and purchase from a full selection of grocery and household items. Shipt’s army of shoppers then take the orders, visit the stores to buy the products and deliver them to the user on the same day, usually within just a few hours.

The service debuted on Thursday in Chicago, a move that coincides with Target’s expansion into six Midwest states, including Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin. Target is on track to make the service available from a majority of stores in more than 40 states by the holiday season, reaching a total of 65% of U.S. households. In 2019, same-day delivery will expand to all major product categories at Target.

Target purchased Shipt for $550 million in December, one of the largest acquisitions in the retailer’s history. It came as Walmart and Amazon were expanding their own same-day delivery offerings.

Keeping up the momentum, Target is also expanding its curbside pickup service where customers place orders via the Target app, then have their items brought out to their cars by a store team member. This week, the discounter introduced the service into its Midwest markets and its Southeast markets.

Target introduced Drive Up as a pilot in Minneapolis last fall. In April, the retailer expanded the service to nearly 270 stores across Florida, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

Through this new expansion, Drive Up is now available in more than 600 Target stores across 20 states. In July, Target will introduce Drive Up in Chicago, and other markets. Nearly 1,000 Target stores nationwide will offer the service by holiday season, according to Target.

According to the discounter, Chicago will be the first city to have access to Shipt and DriveUp, as well as the company’s Target Restock program, a next-day delivery service of household essentials; and its from-store delivery service, which lets customers shop select urban stores, and have their order delivered within two hours for a flat fee. Chicago is one of the five cities where the ship-from-store service is available.

“We set out this year with an ambitious plan to bring Target guests nationwide more ways to shop on their terms,” said John Mulligan, Target’s COO “Our guests are enjoying the convenience of these new delivery and pickup services as we’re working to redefine the Target Run…”
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