Target is adding more small-format stores, expanding buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) options, remodeling spaces and improving its supply chain as part of its ongoing improvement efforts in 2020. These initiatives are part of a multiyear strategy aimed at improving the overall shopping experience.
The retailer will open nearly three dozen small-format stores in 2020 and enhance dozens of existing locations with its Drive Up buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) service. The retailer also will begin exploring sites for 6,000-square-foot stores, a footprint that’s half its current minimum size, with plans to open the first of these locations in 2021.
The expansion of Drive Up is no surprise: the BOPIS program saw 500% sales growth in 2019, while Order Pickup had 50% growth. Target plans to add grocery items like milk, eggs and bananas to its BOPIS offerings in a Minneapolis-area pilot, and adult beverages will be made available at more than 100 stores in Florida and Oregon. These programs are slated to spread to a significant portion of the retailer’s stores by the 2020 holiday season.
Target is also in track to complete more than 1,000 store remodels by the end of 2020, including 300 slated for this year. The remodeling program includes testing new front-of-store layouts with fresh flower displays, curated product assortments and lower walls. Remodeled stores have seen an average sales lift of 2% to 4% in the first year and 2% in the second year.
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The electronics department at 200 stores will undergo a more focused facelift this year as Target adds showcases for top brands, plus dedicated spaces where trained tech consultants can work with shoppers. Updated electronics departments will roll out to another 200 stores in 2021.
Behind the scenes, Target will begin scaling robotics solutions to hundreds of stores by the summer of 2020. These programs will focus on replenishing inventory and will enable precise sorting, on an aisle-by-aisle basis, to help associates fill shelves more easily. The retailer also will open new warehouses to service busy markets such as New York and southern California.
