The retail chain is testing international expansion through online portals including eBay.
After abruptly pulling out of its Canadian operations, Target CEO Brian Cornell has been on a mission to boost revenue and improve the retailer’s bottom line. In March, Cornell and the company presented what they deemed “a roadmap to transform business,” with strategies that are more guest-focused, prioritizing certain merchandise categories, and taking a channel-agnostic approach for Target customers. Now, Target has announced that it is piloting new efforts to go global once again. This time, however, it’s not a matter of opening brick-and-mortar stores, like they tried in Canada, but rather it will be via a digital initiative using an online portal.
“We’re not going to open up 100-some stores in a market to go after the next international opportunity,” Casey Carl, Target’s chief innovation officer told the Star Tribune. “But we will step into it through digital first…We’ll walk into it smartly.” The plan is that by using a digital presence, Target can establish a robust international presence.
Target began quietly piloting a program with eBay, offering global shipping of about 200,000 products available to shoppers in the United Kingdom, and the test was then expanded to 64 countries in June.
Carl explained, “Already we’ve learned that China loves our Legos and that guests in Europe are willing to pay much higher shipping fees for hard-to-find products.”
The initiative is paired with the pilot of a new international website, intl.target.com, in partnership with global ecommerce solutions provider Borderfree.
Jason Goldberger, president of Target.com and mobile, said that the move will help the company expand in both digital and physical presence.
“We believe international consumers will love shopping the great brands, great prices and exclusive products that are synonymous with Target,” Goldberger asserted in a statement. “Target.com already gets tens of millions of visitors every year from outside the U.S., and this test will give us even greater insight into how shoppers around the world engage with Target.”
Borderfree provides a technology and services platform already in use by some of the most iconic retailers, including Nordstrom, Nine West, and J. Crew.
“International shipping marks another step toward Target being able to truly deliver for guests anytime, anywhere,” said Target’s Goldberger. “We look forward to getting feedback from our international guests so we can continue to test, learn and iterate to help ensure we provide a great value to our new international guests.”
One major sticking point has emerged with the new pilots, however, since eBay's Global Shipping Program has already been controversial among its small longtime sellers and, according to a report in the Stamford Advocate, among some international buyers who argue that the shipping, customs duties and handling charges often exceed the value of the items ordered.
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