Target is ending 'price matching' with Amazon and WalMart

The beginning of the end for Target.

Boo hoo.

R1 Let’s hope

had no idea they even did that.

Not mentioned: they definitely got a hit from their decision to walk back DEI initiatives.

Not debating those initiatives, but Target probably had the biggest visible boycott or loss of customers out of various big companies that did the same thing.

They redesigned their Circle program and made the discounts far less appealing about a year ago.

Target needs to get its shit together STAT!!!

Walk into any Target store and you'll be greeted by half emtpy or completely empty shelves. Not a good look for any store.

They fucked up and lost money years ago with their failed attempt at Canada.

[quote]Walk into any Target store and you'll be greeted by half emtpy or completely empty shelves. Not a good look for any store.

You can thank President Tariff for that. His nonsensical policies has ruined inventory levels for just about every major retailer, and its going to get worse heading into the fall / Christmas seasons. TARGET will probably suffer the most.

I used to love to shop at Target about 10 years ago. Now, I go there maybe 2x a year.

[quote]The company said that it's ending price matching for products sold by the two rival retailers because "guests overwhelmingly price match Target and not other retailers."

Guests?

"We'll NEVER stop destroying our brand," vows Target

It's a hard road for them. Amazon is simply a juggernaut.

If you have Prime why even go out to shop

R13, because you never know what you're getting from Amazon and where it's sourced from. You might think it's the brand you're buying but it's really just a cheap China knock off.

I don’t understand why this would boost store traffic and sales. But it is true that bargains in clearance at Walmart, HomeGoods and Kohls are not what they were. At all. Tariffs or not. I remember getting a whole new wardrobe from Kohls clearance 3 years ago for 160.00. Stuff marked clearance at HomeGoods only 3-4 dollars off original price.

I’ve been done with Amazon for a while.

On the other hand, I would never ever spend that amount of time and effort to get a price match.

Target feels pointless. It’s nicer inside but the prices aren’t good. Their grocery section is actually worse than Walmarts. The produce is horrid. Their beauty section is good and maybe their tacky home products are still popular with fraus. For the last year or two, the local stores have been pretty dead with the exception of the HBA section always being full of young girls.

Like the other poster I could care less about price matching. I'll buy something I need if I think the price is good and don't worry about how much it might have cost somewhere else or two months later on sale.

HBA section?

Target is no good.

Am I the only one who misses Kmart and they're blue light special?

I would say yes as the few times I went to Kmart everything seemed so jammed together and cheap

No thank you, R7. I haven't set foot in Target since January and I'm never going back. Glad to hear they're circling the drain.

At least K-Mart never kowtowed to fascists.

Hores, Boobs & Asses R20.

"Guests" = corporate speak for "customers."

"HBA" = "Health and Beauty Aids," retail industry jargon.

Thanks. I wouldn't know, not being a shop bottom.

[quote]Stuff marked clearance at HomeGoods only 3-4 dollars off original price.

And their 'original price' is marked way up, so when they 'mark it down' it's actually the suggested retail price from the manufacturer, which is the price sold every day in it's comeptitors.

Next time you're in TJMAxx, Marshall's or HomeGoods (all owned by TJX Co), take a look at their 'store policy signs' hanging up behind the cash-out, and carefully read their definition of 'original price' on their merchandise (it basically say they mark up to mark down).

R19 “could care less”

Oh, dear

I'm not a shop bottom, R28, I'm just someone with the ability to google an unfamiliar word instead of repeating it back with a question mark like some mouth breathing troglodyte.

Target pricing was almost never spectacular.

Clearance at Target was a joke. Very small price drops (sometimes only 10 or 20 cents) and fairly often you'd see an item where the clearance price was actually ***higher*** than the original.

Target's primary audience was suburban white women and the gays. Have they all moved to Amazon?

Target was also very popular with black people in urban areas, R33. That demographic plus the gays were two groups they could count on to avoid Wal-Mart and its icky cultural associations, but then Target stupidly cut DEI and eliminated Pride merchandise to suck up to Trump and lost both groups in the process. They can rot now.

[quote]Have they all moved to Amazon?

Other retailers exist. Everything Target sells can be sourced elsewhere, and 98% of what Amazon sells is the same. Hit CVS, Lowes, a discount retailer like Marshalls or Ross, and any basic grocery store, and you'll find it all pretty easily. We all lived that way once and we can do it again. I am. It's great to get out of the house, avoid delivery fees and streets clogged with amazon drivers, and stick it to some nasty companies in the process.

Damn.

What are prices?

[Quote] No thank you, [R7]. I haven't set foot in Target since January and I'm never going back. Glad to hear they're circling the drain.

They're hardly circling the drain R24 Unlike Macy's, Kohl's, Big Lots and Walgreens to name a few Target isn't closing hundreds of stores.

[quote]Target isn't closing hundreds of stores.

[italic]Yet.[/italic]

Give it time, their dramatic reversal of fortunes is only 6 months old. They've lost a huge segment of market share since their foolish decisions about diversity. Those customers are not coming back any time soon, likely never. Regular people are furious at corporations capitulating to Trump and they're looking for any opportunity to hit back with their spending habits.

Target is Enemy #1 in this regard for many. They're just too easy to avoid. For former customers like me who saw the store as a retailer that "got" them and their tastes, this felt like a betrayal. We won't be back. They're just a dumb big box store selling junk no one really needs and that can be bought anywhere. No thank you. I'm happy to drive a little further and pay a few cents more if it screws a shitty corp that bows down to Trump.

Foot traffic is down in many stores thanks to online shopping. I don't know why you sound so eager because with the closing of all of these stores thousands of jobs are being lost.

The empty Target stores, the monthly drop in their stock, etc., is because the black community has given them a big FUCK YOU for killing their DEI initiatives and bending the knee to Whatshisface. The black community has largely stopped shopping there, and it’s hurting them to the point that they’ve been reaching out to various leaders in the black community (including Al Sharpton) to try and get back some of their AA clientele.

[quote]I don't know why you sound so eager because with the closing of all of these stores thousands of jobs are being lost.

I don't know why you sound so eager to change the topic to job losses when we're discussing the corporate decision to bow down to Trump's demands. Coupled with your misinformation about sales, which [italic]are[/italic] down, a fact which has been widely reported, you seem a bit.... agenda-driven.

Are you paid to deflect from negative Trump news? Or to promote Target?

18,000 stores closing in 2025 that have nothing to do with the boycotts

Spin, Target shill! Spin like your paycheck depends on it! Nothing to see here folks! Target sales are fine! Stores aren't closing! Boycotts don't work! Go buy some cheap crap at Target, they still love you I swear!

Mary, you seem to have a limited purview and miss the larger picture. No need for hysteria.

Who has time to locate and demand a price match? I don't shop at any of these stores but why bother? If buying a car or negotiating mortgage terms for a house, or even every appliance for a kitchen...maybe. Lesser things, no.

It seemed to me as a child from the mid-1960s that this custom was already as antiquated as S&H Green Stamps.

Amazon stopped price-matching competitors years ago and it's true that Target mostly price-matched itself (due to discrepancies between its in-store and online prices), so I wouldn't read too much into this particular move. Target's on the ropes for other reasons but pricing's more dynamic now at all the big stores as a result of easy comparison-shopping online.

R44 Bless your heart

The only thing I miss about Target is their Good & Gather serrano pepper salsa. I haven't found an equivalent anywhere else. Yes I know I could make my own

Craft beers, small batch stouts, and all many of "better" beers. If I'm to drink beer, I pick the lightest, least beery in taste, and usually cheapest brand and variety. I can't be impressed by "a hoppy beer with bitter acorn ,molasses,and your father's shoe polish tones."

Bless your heart R49

The thing is, you don’t hear people saying they’re no longer shopping at Macy’s or Big Lots or Kohl’s or Walgreen’s for ideological reasons.

You certainly do with Target.

Well actually R51 In many cases they can't shop at Macy's or Big Lots or Kohl's or Walgreens because hundreds of stores have closed already and hundreds if not thousands more to come.

The quality at Target has noticeably gone down hill the past 10 years - maybe it's just me who sees that, but no one else seems to mention it.

But yeah - the stores look poorly run - shelves aren't stocked, they're getting messy. The products look overprice for the quality.

Shame - I used to love the store but they kept cutting and cutting and cutting. The shitification and race to the bottom to increase profits short-term.

Didn't Target ban all their DEI initiatives as soon as Trump came into power in January?

Bucking the trend of brick-and-mortar stores closing, Target has announced 48 new stores will be opening in 22 states, including several in Florida.

Among factors Target said it considers when planning new stores are site constraints and "how we can best meet a community's needs.

"There’s a Target store within 10 miles of most doorsteps in America — and we’re not done yet!" Target said on its website.

It’s really gone downhill in the past 7 or 8 years.

I moved 9 years ago and bought a lot of basics at Target. I liked the products and felt like I got good deals.

Now, you can’t even get a decent kitchen towel there. They’re terrible quality and very over- priced. Other than toiletries, I can’t think of anything they offer at a decent price.

It doesn’t matter, though, because I wouldn’t shop there anyway because of their DEI copout.

They used to have cute seasonal decorations (basic ones, anyway.) Now you get better stuff at Michael’s for a better price.

A couple of years ago, I noticed they didn’t have Halloween decorations out in mid-September. I don’t know if they ever got around to putting them out, but you’d think they would make a killing on basic seasonal items. But it seemed like they couldn’t be bothered to even stock the shelves.

I remember when Target 'suddenly' became the store 'to go to' and did a heavy expansion in my area : about 30 years ago. That's when Oprah was plugging the store every chance she had on her "Oprah" show, and called it "Tar-jay". She would film 'shopping trips' to the store with Gail, and show all the 'bargains' she bought (really pushing their 'work clothes for women').

This was decades before every single talk show was 'pushing daily deals' and every celebrity was endorsing something. This was way before the internet, online shopping, and camera phones. Other stores were still around, not just Target, Kohl's (not in my area at the time) and WalMart.

So I always wondered what the deal was between Oprah and Target back then. It certainly preceded what we have now.

^^^ and don't forget Rosie and Penny for Kmart

[Quote] They used to have cute seasonal decorations (basic ones, anyway.) Now you get better stuff at Michael’s for a better price.

R57 But is Target losing customers to Michael's? Never having been to one but I assume Michaels s a niche market that doesn't sell food, clothing furniture, small appliances . . . Kohl's would seem to be in competition with Target

Yes, Target is losing customers. This isn't news or up for debate since they announced it themselves 2 months ago. They also admitted that the boycotts are hurting them, and that they expect sales to be down for the remainder of the year.

R59 I did forget about them! So we had Gail and Oprah pushing 'Tar-jay' and Penny and Rosie pushing 'KMart'. Looks like Oprah and Gail won.

I also remember when Donna Summer was performing in concert in the early 80s, she had her sisters singing back up for her. At one point, Summer would leave the stage to change costumes, and her two sisters would 'entertain' the audience with light banter between the two of them, discussing 'wardrobe changes' when you're a diva like Donna. They used to rattle on about the designer duds she got to wore, and the stage clothes they wore - all from their special designer "Pen-yay'. Of course, no one knew what they were talking about and they would clarify: " You know who we mean...J C Pen-yay" because 'we're not divas' (to which the audience would roar with laughter).

[quote]But is Target losing customers to Michael's?

While Target's obviously bleeding customers, it's doubtful they're losing significant ground to Michaels. As you note, their inventories (and purposes) are quite different. There's only so much of interest at Michaels for the free-spending, Starbucks-swilling soccer moms who clip electronic coupons to save $2 on Method cleaners while dropping $80 every three months on overpriced Magnolia-branded seasonal decor.

I hate that the only non-mail-order pharmacy I can buy my meds is CVS and that the only location within reasonable driving distance is in a Target. I won't spend a penny there after their DEI bullshit and subsequent Pride merchandise fiascoes. I used to drop at least $50 outside of my prescriptions. Like everyone else, I just go to Costco instead. Unfortunately, the pharmacy at Costco isn't really a pharmacy; they don't actually fill any prescriptions in the stores as it's all done at a central facility and shipped to the stores packaged and ready to go, and they won't handle anything outside of the most common drugs.

FAFO, Target.

They're being boycotted by everyone. It started about two years ago when they sold kids clothes inspired by Pride month. Conservatives went ballistic. Some posted videos of themselves vandalizing the Pride displays. The religious zealots called for a boycott.

Then, this year, Target announced that it was cutting back its DEI program. I went to a nearby store a couple months ago. The store was located in a busy strip mall in a community where the population is 64% black and 22% Latino. I only saw five other shoppers there. It was a ghost town. It was a Sunday afternoon.

Maybe they thought that getting rid of DEI would win back the conservatives but it didn't. They are unforgiving, and some influencers have announced they won't return until Target formally apologizes for its Pride 2023 merchandise displays.

So now, neither conservatives or liberals will shop there.

[quote]But is Target losing customers to Michael's?

For customers looking for party supplies, holiday decorations and arts & crafts supplies, I would say yes. I believe that's where they overlap, and Michael's has the edge on them.

Now there's word that WalMart will be pulling the Vizio brand of electronic off the shelves of Target, BJs, Costco and Best Buy. Vizio is one of the leading sellers of TVs in the industry, and WalMart bought the brand less than a year ago. It's planning to making it exclusive to WalMart stores this holiday season and possibly renaming the line.

I somehow doubt that even if Target formally apologized for their Pride 2023 collection that conservatards would forgive them and start shopping there.

Conservatives were never a core demographic for target. All of the videos of conservatives protesting target stores were astroturf bullshit, those people never shopped their in the first place.

[Quote] Yes, Target is losing customers. This isn't news or up for debate since they announced it themselves 2 months ago. They also admitted that the boycotts are hurting them, and that they expect sales to be down for the remainder of the year.

and yet R61 while other brick and mortar stores are closing hundreds of locations Target conversely is opening an additional 48 stores in 22 states. see R55

[quote] Not mentioned: they definitely got a hit from their decision to walk back DEI initiatives.

99% of America doesn’t give two shits about that and DEI is completely unpopular with the majority of the country.

The chest binders for kids really did them in.

[quote]99% of America doesn’t give two shits about that and DEI is completely unpopular with the majority of the country.

Wrong. And, it's only unimportant to ignorant MAGA deplorable simps like you and your kind. Diversity is a benefit, not a detriment.

I had no idea they even did that. Target is amazing and every time I am south of the border I shop there. In Canada we just have Wal Mart which really is like a third world country.

[quote]The chest binders for kids,,,

Already debunked.

[quote]Target conversely is opening an additional 48 stores in 22 states.

From what I recall reading earlier this year, these stores are going to be small-scale stores, not their usual larger footprint stores which they are closing. These new stores will not have the extensive inventory which their original, bigger stores once had. These will have just the 'basics' for consumers in their areas (not sure how they will define 'basics', either). I think if these prove more successful, the days of the mammoth 'Target' stores will be coming to an end.

Target shill returning to counter R76 in three... two...

[Quote]From what I recall reading earlier this year, these stores are going to be small-scale stores, not their usual larger footprint stores which they are closing. These new stores will not have the extensive inventory which their original, bigger stores once had. These will have just the 'basics' for consumers in their areas (not sure how they will define 'basics', either). I think if these prove more successful, the days of the mammoth 'Target' stores will be coming to an end.

—NOT R61

R76 this isn't anything new. NYC has several Target Boutique stores. The one in Hell's Kitchen is very popular especially after Rite AIDS and Walgreens closed in that neighborhood after the pandemic.

R77 One, two three . . .5 Target Boutique stores in NYC

After construction and COVID-related delays, Target has officially opened three new small-format stores on the Upper West Side, Hell’s Kitchen, and Staten Island. The store at 61st and Broadway at Columbus Circle was first announced two years ago and was planned to open

in 2019. Likewise, the store on 10th Avenue and 45th Street was first announced four years ago and was also planned to open in 2019. The store in the North Shore section of Staten Island is only delayed by six months.

With these new locations, Target has 25 total stores, 13 of which are small-formats across NYC – with nine total stores across Manhattan, eight of which are small-format. There are 12 future stores planned for the city–the Upper East Side (86th and Lexington), Upper West Side (98th and Columbus), Harlem (on West 125th Street), Washington Heights, Times Square, Union Square, Gravesend, Prospect Park South, East Flatbush, Astoria, Jackson Heights, and Jamaica.

^^^ cue the Debbie Downers

R78 Thanks for the post - confirming my recollection from earlier this year is correct.

Overall, Target closing down their 'mammoth stores' and replacing them in other areas with 'boutique' stores ( a fraction of the size of the closed store) can hardly be considered 'replacing' the closed stores (IMO). It would be like Starbucks closing down their full-service brick and mortar locations and replacing them with free-standing kiosks in hotels and office buildings.

Are they closing down stores R80? Seems like they're opening up more stores. In NY there's a store in every neighborhood.

With these new locations, Target has 25 total stores, 13 of which are small-formats across NYC – with nine total stores across Manhattan, eight of which are small-format. There are 12 future stores planned for the city–the Upper East Side (86th and Lexington), Upper West Side (98th and Columbus), Harlem (on West 125th Street), Washington Heights, Times Square, Union Square, Gravesend, Prospect Park South, East Flatbush, Astoria, Jackson Heights, and Jamaica..

[Quote] It would be like Starbucks closing down their full-service brick and mortar locations and replacing them with free-standing kiosks in hotels and office buildings.

and speaking of Starbuck's R80 do try and keep up

and speaking of Kiosks R80 There are Starbuck's kiosks in Target BTW

Cashier less Store Kiosks — Starbucks and Amazon Go

Target Corporation, based in Minneapolis, is at the forefront of retail innovation with the introduction of its new 'hybrid' stores. These stores are designed to merge the best of physical retail with the ease of digital shopping, marking a strategic evolution in Target's expansion plans. With over 300 new locations projected in the next decade, including 48 new stores across 22 states, Target is committed to bringing its unique shopping experience closer to customers.

[quote]Already debunked.

Wrong. Saw them in there myself for Pride.

[quote]Wrong. And, it's only unimportant to ignorant MAGA deplorable simps like you and your kind.

Take your racist ass elsewhere, freak.

[quote]Take your racist ass elsewhere, freak.

Says the one crowing on about how bad DEI is. Have several seats in your basket, deplorable.

[Quote] I don't know why you sound so eager to change the topic to job losses when we're discussing the corporate decision to bow down to Trump's demands

Actually, R41 the thread topic is Target is ending price matching. No need for hall monitoring

R85: Aimed at children? I recall the controversy when Target had pride merch for kids (T-shirts saying "my first Pride" and "Trans rights are human rights" in toddler sizes) they did not have chest binders [italic]for children[.[/italic] There was no deception there — the Pride collection included chest binders and packing underwear specifically labeled and marketed as adult attire — but in a quick google search I found redditors complaining images sometimes featured teenage‑appearing models. Didn't this result in a conservative boycott that fizzled out? Clearly this did less damage to Target than the rescission of DEI did as liberals' boycotts seem to be working.