Target locked in game of shipping tag with Wal-Mart, Amazon
NEW YORK — Target, Wal-Mart and Amazon are engaged in a game of shipping tag, each trying to adjust their free threshold and other shipping strategies to a level that can lure shoppers away from one of the other.
Minneapolis-based Target has the furthest to go as it tries to put itself in better competition with Amazon, the undisputed online leader, and Wal-Mart, which has been buying online startups to beef up its own operations.
Target has announced plans to put more money into both its online operations and its stores, and saw it online sales rise 22 per cent for the first quarter. That was a slowdown from 34 per cent in the fourth quarter, though.
With shoppers overall less and less willing to wait for their items to arrive, figuring out a shipping strategy that will encourage people to buy more and also drive shoppers to its stores will be a key element for Target.