Target teams with Shopify to expand its marketplace

2024.07.02

A Target storefront. The retailer will add a curated selection of popular Shopify merchants like Caden Lane and True Classic to its marketplace and potentially to stores in the coming months. Daphne Howland/Retail Dive

Brief:

To build out its third-party marketplace, Target is partnering with Shopify to onboard a selection of its popular merchants and products onto Target Plus and into its physical stores, the company announced Monday. 

Target will add a curated selection of brands like Caden Lane and True Classic to its marketplace and potentially to stores in the coming months, per the press release. Using the Marketplace Connect app, Shopify merchants can also apply to sell products via the Target Plus marketplace.

Target Plus features more than 2 million products from over 1,200 merchants across categories like apparel and sporting goods. The company’s in-house team chooses participating brands for the marketplace with an eye to complementing its current assortment.

Insight:

Since its debut in 2019, the Target Plus marketplace has attracted brands like Crocs, Ruggable and Timberland. The expansion with Shopify gives Target a new source to pull from for future sellers. 

Target’s Chief Digital and Product Officer Prat Vemana said in a blog post that the company’s marketplace isn’t focused on high demand and moving products, but rather providing high-quality, properly-sourced products. Vemana also noted that the company has more than doubled the number of brands and products available on the marketplace in the past year. The marketplace, which lets Target offer more products to shoppers without having to store all of them, also allows shoppers to use regular Target perks like free shipping for orders above $35 and discounts for Target Circle Cardholders.

“Target Plus invites consumers to explore a curated collection of products from vendors we trust, so they can shop our assortment with confidence,” Cara Sylvester, chief guest experience officer at Target, said in a statement. “Our partnership with Shopify extends the breadth of thoughtfully designed and affordable items available to discover and enjoy as part of Target’s distinctive mix of brands shoppers love.”

For Shopify merchants, the partnership allows brands the chance to reach millions of new customers and ultimately grow their businesses, Harley Finkelstein, president of Shopify, said in a statement. 

Marketplaces have been a popular tactic in recent years with other major retailers, including Macy’s, Nordstrom and Michaels, launching their own as a way to expand their assortment.

Target is vying for online shoppers as its top-line sales stall, but its e-commerce arm is recovering. In the company’s Q1 earnings report, the mass-market retailer reported that its sales dipped 3.2% year over year to $24.1 billion. However, Target CEO Brian Cornell told analysts that the retailer’s online sales increased for the first time in more than a year, which he attributed to the company’s drive-up, in-store pickup and same-day delivery services.