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Target has announced a suite of delivery guarantees and ways to buy gifts that benefit last-minute Christmas shoppers. Orders from Target.com are guaranteed to arrive by Christmas Eve if they are placed by 11:55 p.m. Central time on December 20 (for free shipping), or on December 21 (for Express shipping, which carries fees).
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Additionally, customers can choose same-day order pickup if they order by 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and can take advantage of same-day delivery for orders placed through Target subsidiary Shipt up to two hours before closing time on Christmas Eve.
These last-minute guarantees and shopping options further Target’s goal of having the best shipping offering this holiday season.
The retailer announced in October that it would be making free two-day shipping on “hundreds of thousands of items” available to all customers, with no stipulations, between November 1 and December 22. This made its offering more accessible than Amazon’s (which is offering free shipping, but at five- to eight-day speeds) and Walmart’s (which offers free two-day shipping, but with a $35 minimum order size).
Now, adding extra options for late shoppers could give Target an advantage as Christmas gets closer — especially among consumers who aren’t Prime members, as a five- to eight-day delivery threshold is cutting it very close to Christmas at this point.
Late shoppers are a potentially lucrative market, given that consumers report having plenty of shopping left to do. About 58% of consumers said after Thanksgiving weekend that they still had half or more of their holiday purchases left to make, and only 18% said they were completely finished shopping.
That leaves a large volume of potential sales left to be made, and the e-tailer that stands to gain the most from these latecomers will be the one that can guarantee delivery before Christmas. Target’s new arsenal of options and guarantees puts it in position to be that winning e-tailer.
The last-minute offering through Shipt could also drive awareness and membership for the delivery service. Same-day delivery through Shipt allows shoppers to place orders at the absolute last minute — two hours before store closing time on Christmas Eve. To place Shipt orders, however, customers need a subscription.
Providing a subscription-based emergency option for shoppers who need to make a purchase in the eleventh hour could lead them to try the service, and the ability to order groceries and essentials for same-day delivery could entice them to stay.