On an average day in April, Target fulfilled more items and orders than last year’s Cyber Monday, the retailer revealed as it announced first-quarter earnings on Wednesday morning.
Target used its stores to fulfill nearly 80% of its first-quarter comparable digital sales, and 95% of orders were ready to be picked up or shipped on time.
Target CEO Brian Cornell said the company positioned its physical stores as fulfillment hubs; its employees were ready, and it had the capacity to meet the quickly rising digital demand.
Target said it saw healthy market-share gains across all five of its core merchandise categories in the first quarter (February 2 – May 2, 2020).
Its gross margin fell, reflecting the net impact of actions taken by the its merchandising teams, “including costs and inventory impairments related to the rapid slowdown in Apparel & Accessories sales, unfavorable category mix as guests stocked up on lower-margin categories like Essentials and Food & Beverage, and higher digital and supply chain costs, driven by unusually strong digital volume as well as investments in team member wages and benefits.”
But in mid-April, store traffic and sales rapidly increased, including a surge in discretionary categories like Apparel.
Throughout April, digital growth continued at unprecedented rates between 200 – 300%.
Target’s rival Walmart also saw increased sales in its first quarter, as we reported yesterday.
You can find an infographic highlighting the quarterly results on this page of the Target website.
The earnings press release is available on this page.
Well, I admit, I was one of those persons who helped Target make profit. Besides Walmart and Home Depot, it was the only store open where I could pickup an online order.
I do also.They do not have seconds like Walmart sells. I only use Walmart as a convenient store. I might pay a little more but i do not to return an item like I have done many ties with Walmart.