Brick-and-mortar retail is in trouble. You can tell that from reports on this very site of retail bankruptcies and store closings, and from the number of Amazon boxes piled in front of your and your neighbors’ front doors. Today, Target executives shared discouraging news of falling sales and profits at its investors day event, and explained that the chain’s way forward is to imitate Walmart. [More]
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Man Accused Of Planning To Put Bombs In Target Stores To Drive Down Company’s Stock
By 2.17.17
It’s not uncommon to hold a grudge against a company for one reason or another, but a Florida man allegedly took his beef a step further with a plot to set off homemade explosives in several Target stores on the East Coast. Why? Authorities say the man wanted to send Target’s stock into a tailspin. [More]
Target Refusing To Pay For Damage After Its Two-Ton Red Ball Rolls Into Driver’s Car
By 2.3.17
It’s not often that a shopping center turns into something out of an Indiana Jones movie, but that’s the first thing we thought of when we heard that a two-ton cement ball had been knocked loose from its berth in front of a Target store in New Jersey and rolled into traffic. And now, Target doesn’t want to pay for the damage it caused. [More]
Court To Review Target’s $10M Customer Data Breach Settlement
By 2.3.17
Nearly two years after Target agreed to set up a $10 million fund to reimburse customers affected by its massive 2013 holiday season data breach, a federal appeals court has ordered the judge in this lawsuit to review the settlement. [More]
Target Stepping Away From Innovation To Focus On Core Business
By 2.2.17
In an attempt to attract more customers and drum up sales in the face of fewer visitors and just so-so grocery sales, Target turned to innovation, creating prototype stores of the future and launching a super-secret project “Goldfish” that aimed on disrupting the retail landscape as we knew it. Those efforts are no more. [More]
Auto Industry: Possible Border Tax Would Raise Prices, Even On American-Made Cars
By 1.31.17
Facing a possible new tax on imported goods, some of the biggest names in auto manufacturing and retail are calling on lawmakers to rethink the tax, claiming it will hurt their businesses and lead to higher prices. [More]
Report: Target Creating Its Own Mobile Payment System
By 1.24.17
If you don’t carry around a bunch of cash or your credit cards, you might be among the throngs of people who instead opt for a mobile-payment system, whether it be Apple Pay, Android Pay, Chase Pay, or any of a number of store-specific apps. Now there will soon be another choice on the market, as long as you’re shopping at Target, that is. [More]
Target Math Makes Bulk Purchases Of Soap And Apple Juice More Expensive
By 1.16.17
We buy in bulk to make things cheaper, right? No, that’s not how things always work. Sometimes you’re better off buying multiples of a smaller package to get the best price per unit. For some reason, this problem is especially prevalent at Target, leading us to call it “Target Math.” [More]
Remaining Target Portrait Studios To Close Jan. 28
By 1.11.17 — Updated: 1.12.17
If you’ve been meaning to have some pictures taken at your local Target Portrait Studio, hurry up: This week, the retailer announced to employees that the remaining studios will close at the end of this month. [More]
December Is Now The Usual Time To Start Selling Easter Candy
By 12.29.16
Do you have a craving for Easter candy? Good news! You can start preparing for the holiday, which is on Apr. 16 in 2017, because Easter treats have been on store shelves for over a week now. [More]
Thieves Cut Hole In Target Roof, Go On Electronics Theft Spree
By 12.21.16 — Updated: 12.22.16
Thieves dead-set on getting their hands on goods that aren’t theirs — which is what makes them thieves in the first place — have been known to employ some extreme methods to pull off heists, like the two alleged ne’er-do-wells in the Atlanta area who recently created an unauthorized skylight in a local Target store. [More]
From Cash Registers To Escalators To Shopping Carts: 11 Important Firsts In Bricks-And-Mortar Retail History
By 12.13.16
These days you can shop from the comfort your couch in your soft pants, ordering up a flat of cat food, paper towels, and a smartphone with one click. So it’s easy to forget that once upon a time shopping at retail stores wasn’t a necessary evil, but an “experience” that many of us actually enjoyed. [More]
Target Store Will Offer Quiet Shopping Hours For Autistic Customers
By 12.9.16
What makes a good shopping experience for some folks is not always ideal for others. That’s why a Pennsylvania Target store is setting aside certain hours on Saturday so autistic customers can shop in peace and quiet. [More]
Target Reissues Menorah Recall Over The Wrong Kind Of Fire Concerns
By 12.7.16
This Hanukkah, you’ll want to gather around the table with your family to light the menorah. While you want there to be flickering flames, what you definitely do not want is a melted candelabrum melting all over your holiday decor. [More]
‘Target Math’ Continues To Spread, Infecting Lowe’s & Walmart
By 12.5.16
The discount chain Target is very good at many things, which include designer partnerships and building tiny stores. It’s very bad at some other things, which include selling groceries and putting prices on products that make any sense. “Target Math” is the name we give to these bizarre bulk markups, “sale” items that aren’t actually discounted, and pricing discrepancies within the same store — but this dubious art isn’t just practiced in the halls of Target. [More]
Retailers Beef Up Ship-From-Store Operations To Fill Online Orders
By 12.1.16
For retailers that sell the same merchandise in person and online, shipping online orders from stores makes sense. Running out of hot items can mean ending promotions early or disappointing customers by canceling their orders, neither of which is a good idea during the stressful and crucial holiday season. Yet expanding ship-from-store is not as simple as it sounds at first. [More]
Reminder: If A Retailer Sends You Something You Didn’t Order, You Can Keep It
By 11.28.16 — Updated: 5.15.17
In the madness of the holiday shipping season, mistakes are not uncommon. Sometimes, lucky shoppers find themselves on the winning end of those mistakes, like when you get 99 extra knives or when a retailer sends four iPods instead of one. So what’s an honest consumer to do? [More]
