Target unveils Amazon-style revival plan to win back customers

It's a pretty complicated time to be a retailer. 

The shopping world has always been rife with pitfalls, complexities, and plenty of changes. 

Related: Walmart makes drastic change amid alarming customer trend

But the past several years have been particularly chaotic. And with that chaos comes a severe contraction and expansion of several key areas in the industry. 

For one, the rise of e-commerce and online shopping has completely shifted how we do business with one another. 

Instead of making a weekly trek to the supermarket, mall, or other shopping plaza, many of us opt instead to make our purchases online. 

This limits a lot of friction previously associated with shopping. You don't need to get into a car or other method of transportation, find a parking spot, sort through displays to find the perfect suit or strawberry, and risk losing your wallet, keys, phone, and more. 

It seems like a cinch. 

But this change has had an outsized impact on many brick-and-mortar retailers. It's also put strain on the retailers that operate a hybrid model (meaning online and in-person), who have had to scale up operations quickly.

Some retailers had to scramble

And Covid, which made more of us avid online shoppers, only accelerated these demands.

The pandemic saw many brick-and-mortar stores we'd visit for everyday essentials close down or operate at extremely limited capacity. Plus the stores that were open ran out of key items, like toilet paper and eggs, quickly. 

More Retail:

• Walmart makes drastic change amid alarming customer trend
• Lowe's makes one of its largest ever billion-dollar acquisitions
• Subway owner makes major billion-dollar fast food acquisition
• Amazon makes a harsh decision amid concerning customer trend

This forced many of us to seek online providers for our needs. 

Key companies, like Amazon  (AMZN) , saw an increase in paying Prime members. 

And Walmart rapidly stood up its Walmart+ program, a competitor similar to Amazon Prime. 

Both of these retailers already had massive logistics operations which allowed them to get inventory to customers fast. But other retailers lagged behind.

Target makes a big delivery change

Target  (TGT)  was one such retailer. 

It launched its paid membership program, Target Circle 360, in 2024 and is still attempting to figure out what works and where the issues lie. 

It's also seen mixed results within stores over recent quarters. Comparable sales slipped 3.8% during Q1, and it's forecasting a slight decline in overall sales for the full 2025 year.

Related: IKEA suddenly closing more stores amid concerning customer trend

So now, Target is testing a new way to improve its shopping process that might win back eager customers. 

The Minnesota-based retailer is experimenting with factory-direct shipping, which bypasses the traditional, in-house fulfillment warehouse step.

This model is used by other massive online retailers, like Amazon, Shein, and Temu. The approach allows certain cheaper products to be shipped straight from a factory, ideally reducing cost and wait time for a customer.

Amazon notably began a similar pilot program in late 2024 called Amazon Haul. The offering allows customers to shop for products mostly under $20 with fast delivery options and customer-favorite brands.

Target has not publicly confirmed its experimental new program but has hinted it's been working on ways to revive customer enthusiasm.