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Target launched same-day delivery in 2018, but due to COVID-19 it’s a bigger part of their business than ever before!
The company just announced that their “secret weapon” to the holiday shopping season amid the novel coronavirus outbreak has been this speedy–and more importantly safe–delivery method.
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The Minneapolis-based chain acquired Shipt in 2017 and launched same-day delivery shortly thereafter. While the holiday shopping season is off to a slow start for many retailers, this quickie delivery option has set Target ahead of the pack. And customers who can shop safely from inside in their own homes amid the pandemic are truly grateful!
The “Shipt” tag on Twitter is flooded with stories of customers’ appreciation for their Shipt shoppers amid the deadly surge of Covid cases in the U.S.
"I placed a @Shipt order today & told my shopper I really appreciate her bc I’m stuck at home with Covid," wrote one user on December 9th. "This angel, named Grace, gifted me these flowers & card with the most beautiful message inside. I can’t begin to explain how much this meant to me," they continued. OMG!
I placed a @Shipt order today & told my shopper I really appreciate her bc I’m stuck at home with Covid. This angel, named Grace, gifted me these flowers & card with the most beautiful message inside. I can’t begin to explain how much this meant to me pic.twitter.com/qFrMAGgTNW
— sarah (@sashaferg77) December 9, 2020
"Privileged to have a shipt shopper, & privileged to have one like this," wrote one user, after their Shipt shopper picked out a "Good Vibes Only" sign for them. Good vibes only, indeed!
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“We are undeniably off to a very strong start," Shipt CEO Kelly Caruso said on Yahoo Finance Live. "We set records in the weeks and days leading up to the holiday start. In fact on Thanksgiving Day alone, with so many retailers closed on that day, we saw a 65% increase year over year." Wow!
"That momentum continued not only through Black Friday, but well into the weekend as well. Consumers continued to place orders around groceries and gift-able items.”
Target has since expanded the company’s same-day delivery capabilities nationwide, even upping the type of products that shoppers can have delivered to include kids and baby.
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"Guests can enjoy the ease and convenience of having their items shopped by Shipt and delivered to their home in as soon as an hour—available from 1,500 stores," the company's press page says.
The retailer revealed on an analyst call for the quarter that sales via Shipt were up a whopping 280%, or $200 million of additional sales for Target. Wow!
And the company isn't stopping; the CEO confirmed that they are working to double the number of members on the platform.
“When we came into the year we started with 100,000 shoppers and scaled to 200,000 quickly when we saw initial demand from the pandemic. For the holiday season we would like to grow from 200,000 to 350,000 shoppers and are well on our way to that,” Caruso said.
