Target expands next-day delivery test to DFW and Denver

Target is bringing a service that’s a lot like Amazon Prime Pantry to Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver this week.

The local test will allow the retailer to continue to fine-tune an online service it calls Target Restock that focuses on products that shoppers buy often and run out of, said Target spokesman Eddie Baeb.

“This is about all those things you need on a regular basis and shelf staples,” he said, “which are not the most fun part of a shopping trip.”

Not wanting to be left out of an escalating arms race between Amazon.com and Wal-Mart, Target is expanding the test of the next-day delivery service it started in June in Minneapolis to two more of its biggest markets.

On Monday, Target said it bought a transportation technology company to help it expand its delivery capabilities. San Francisco-based Grand Junction has been working with Target in New York’s TriBeCa neighborhood. Target has had another test in the works since 2014 in Boston, Miami and Minneapolis that provides same-day deliveries.

Here’s how the next-day Restock service works:

▪ Shoppers go online to Target.com’s Restock section and start filling a box from 15,000 everyday essentials. Complete the order by 2 p.m. and the box is delivered to your home or office the next day, excluding Sunday. Prices are the same as in stores and online, but Target Restock doesn’t accept coupons.

▪ About a dozen Target stores will be filling Restock orders, and the service is available across Dallas-Fort Worth, Baeb said. Shoppers put in their ZIP code to find out if it’s available.

▪ The flat fee is $4.99 per box. The box holds 45 pounds, or about the size of a shopping cart. A tracker displays how much room is left in the box, and the box can be populated over a few days. Amazon Prime Pantry customers are also Prime members and pay $99 a year plus an additional $5.99 per box. But Amazon waives the per-box fee if the order includes five items from a big list of basics.

▪ Over time the Restock service will personalize the items first shown in each category, for example, with the cereal brands that the customer has purchased in the past.

Making online more convenient for customers is risky for Target, or any retailer who counts on shoppers entering a store for a couple of specific items and leaving with much more.

Who hasn’t gone into a Target for a few essentials like breakfast cereal, toothpaste and paper towels, and ended up spending $50 or $100 more on the other side of the store after spotting random items like a blouse, an outfit for the baby, a lamp or the perfect tray?

To that end, Target is not ignoring its store base. It’s in the midst of spending $220 million to modernize 28 stores in North Texas with top-to-bottom renovations including remodeled grocery areas and additional self-checkout lanes.

This story was originally published August 15, 2017 at 11:48 AM with the headline "Target expands next-day delivery test to DFW and Denver."