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☆ Target is testing a new self-checkout policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Target is testing a new self-checkout policy as retailers are finding the cashier-less technology can put off customers. At a handful of stores, Target has restricted self-checkout to customers buying 10 items or fewer. Target and other retailers had expanded self-checkout machines in recent years. Self-checkout machines sometimes break. Target said that merchandise losses, known as shrink, were not a factor in testing new self-checkout policies.

Persons: John Mulligan, “, we’ve, Michael Fiddelke Organizations: New, New York CNN, Target, BBC, Walmart, Costco, ” Locations: New York, United States, Britain

☆ Target's new favorite buzzword is 'value'
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Target 's goal this holiday season: be more like Walmart . The retailer's leaders said customers will see thousands of gift ideas under $25, store displays that highlight affordability and low-priced Thanksgiving ingredients. The company's executive team used the word "value" 17 times. Target has struggled to improve sales as shoppers focus more on essentials while being choosier when buying clothing, electronics and more. Going into the holiday season, nearly two-thirds of those displays meet that standard.

Persons: Kendra Scott, Christina Hennington, Hennington, John Mulligan Organizations: Walmart, Target Locations: Minneapolis

☆ As Target shutters some stores, retailer looks to prove it can grow and avoid new setbacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Melissa Repko | CNBCIn the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, Target 's first store to open in Manhattan has permanently shut its doors. This week, Target for the first time since the surprise store closures will update investors on its sales trends and efforts to overcome a string of challenges. Some other retailers, such as Nordstrom and Walmart , have also shut stores in major cities — though they have not specifically blamed theft. A bumpy ride for TargetFor more than a year, Target has endured rocky sales and stock performance. Target cut its full-year forecast in August, after already warning investors it expected lower sales than a year ago.

Persons: Melissa Repko, John Mulligan, Paul, Target's Mulligan, Greg Melich, They've Organizations: CNBC, NRF, Target, Nordstrom, Walmart, Evercore ISI Locations: Harlem, New York City, Manhattan, New York, Minneapolis, St, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland

☆ Target rolls out curbside returns as retailers hope convenience will boost sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The company hopes convenient perks like curbside returns will boost customer loyalty and jolt sales. Neither company would quantify the use of curbside pickup or returns, but Walmart said it has seen nearly double the volume of customers using curbside returns from its launch across the chain last fall compared with this month. At Target's investor day in late February, Citibank analyst Paul Lejuez asked if the retailer would ultimately miss out on purchases by adding curbside returns. He said allowing curbside returns also helps the retailer get unwanted items back on the sales floor faster and lowers the cost of mail-in returns. For Target, curbside returns could serve as a differentiator and a complement to the merchandise mix it sells, Hoyler said.

☆ Target Investing $100 Million to Expand Next-Day Delivery
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Target is one of several retailers using stores to fill orders to help manage inventory and the high costs of last-mile delivery. A Target worker loads packages for last-mile delivery at the retailer’s Minneapolis sortation center. Despite slowing growth, online orders make up a substantial portion of Target’s sales. The sortation centers are meant to relieve stores of the burden of sorting packages for final delivery, speeding shipments up in the process. The facilities handled 26 million packages last year, and Target expects that number to double this year.

Moeller-Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co. created the so-called 2M alliance in 2015 to help them reduce costs by sharing cargo on major ocean routes. Rivals formed similar partnerships, creating the Ocean Alliance and THE Alliance. Global trade volumes fell 9.5% year over year in November 2022, according to London-based Container Trade Statistics, and global shipping rates have been sliding at a steep pace since early last year. He said the winding down of 2M raised questions over the future of the other two alliances, Ocean Alliance and THE Alliance. So the in-transit issues and all the penalties have pretty much faded away.”Target said in an email that it renegotiates its shipping rates regularly.

☆ Organized retail crime has ballooned into a $100 billion problem — and store employees are dying over it
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Avery Hartmans | Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Organized retail crime increased by 26.5% in 2021, according to the National Retail Federation. It's organized retail crime, and it's a nearly $100 billion problem for the industry. A 2022 study the National Retail Federation conducted found that organized retail crime at retailers surged by 26.5% in 2021 compared to the year prior. Organized retail crime is not the $10,000 jewelry heist you see in the movies, Jake Stauch, the director of product for the security company Verkada, said. The rise of e-commerce has, in large part, fueled organized retail crime.

☆ Target said it's lost $400 million this year due to 'inventory shrink' — and organized retail crime is mostly to blame
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Target said organized retail crime has led to more than $400 million in profit losses in 2022. Organized theft has become a major problem for retailers due to the rise of e-commerce. "Along with other retailers, we've seen a significant increase in theft and organized retail crime across our business," Brian Cornell, Target's CEO, said during the company's third-quarter earnings call. Inventory shrink on the whole cost US retailers nearly $100 billion in 2021, and it was driven by theft: retailers surveyed by the National Retail Federation reported a 26.5% increase on average of organized retail crime. Mulligan said while organized theft likely began in only some geographies, "we see those circles expanding and expanding and the impact continuing to grow."

☆ Target is remodeling more stores and some new ones will be bigger, brighter, and more sustainable — see what they'll look like
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Ann Matica | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Target announced it plans to open large-format stores, which will be nearly 150,000 square feet. The new design will help the company expand its online ordering services and in-store merchandise. More than 95 percent of digital orders are fulfilled at Target stores, and its same-day services account for more than 10 percent of overall sales, according to a company press release. According to the company, the new store design "infuses elements such as plants and regionally sourced reclaimed wood." On Thursday, the big-box retailers debuted the new large-format store design at its first location outside Houston in Katy, TexasTarget will continue to open stores of all sizes, but will focus on rolling out its large-format stores in the next few years.

☆ Retailers Stuck With Too Much Inventory Face Risky Decisions
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-03 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In the past two weeks, retailers have shown that the anticipated, but hard to time, cooling in consumer demand for goods has arrived. And many retailers reported holding more inventory than they'd like — and the goods they have might not be the ones they need now. Several retailers mentioned late deliveries of spring merchandise, which compounded their inventory glut when mixed with the cooling demand. Quite literally, it means to pack inventory away to sell when its season comes back around. On top of the risk that the product may not be attractive in the future, holding inventory means paying for storage.

☆ The biggest threat to UPS and FedEx isn't Amazon. It's the gig economy.
▼ + stars: | 2021-04-27 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Target's new delivery strategy shows FedEx and UPS are being disrupted by the gig economy. Top analysts see gig startups taking volume from UPS and FedEx. Gig delivery is leveling upOne gig driver delivering one order at a time isn't much of a competitive threat to the way UPS and FedEx move goods. Beyond same-day service, gig startups often offer live tracking and text updates for each order. On UPS' first quarter earnings call Tuesday, UPS CEO Carol Tomé acknowledged that gig logistics companies are competitors of UPS.

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