Target Corp. is attempting to overtake its more established rivals, Walmart Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., by expanding its marketplace for independent retailers through a partnership with e-commerce leader Shopify Inc.
Cara Sylvester, executive vice president and chief guest experience officer at Target confirmed the partnership in a press release on Monday.
According to the press release, Target Plus was introduced in 2019 and presently offers over 2 million products from over 1,200 partners that have been hand-picked by the retailer’s curation specialists.
The news of the agreement comes after Target’s disappointing quarterly earnings, which revealed a 3.7% drop in comparable sales.
For the corporation, this is the fourth consecutive quarter of declining comparable sales. In addition, during the first quarter of 2024, Target’s overall sales decreased by 3.2%.
Target Plus is a third-party marketplace that businesses who use Shopify can apply to join starting on Monday, according to the Minneapolis-based discounter.
Smaller or emerging firms that utilise Shopify’s e-commerce platform to create and manage a website are among its clientele according to the company.
Sylvester stated that the partnership—the first of its type for Target Plus—will aid in expanding the marketplace’s product selection and accelerating its growth.
According to her, Target and Shopify will exchange information about trends, including products that are being cited on social media, and act swiftly to supply in-demand items on the marketplace.
Newsng understands that the first big retailer to work with Shopify to get its merchants’ products into physical shops is Target.
Among the first Shopify businesses to be highlighted at Target are True Classic and Caden Lane.
“We are not the everything store. We don’t aim to be,” said Sylvester, who oversees Target’s e-commerce, loyalty and marketing businesses.
“It’s table stakes for merchants to be everywhere customers are, and as the world’s leading retail operating system, we make it easier and more accessible for brands to sell directly to their customers on the best channels,” Shopify President Harley Finkelstein added in the release.
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