After Target posted a note to shoppers that it was lowering its prices of thousands of items, from cereal and paper towels to baby formula, razors, bath tissue and more, shares of Target, Walmart and Costco got a big hit last Friday.
The retailer said that its teams looked at the products most important to its customers and made sure they’re priced right daily.
Target is sweeping away all those little signs and ads letting you know about the Weekly Wow! or Bonus Offer in favour of simple, easy messages. “We’ve eliminated more than two-thirds of our price and offer call-outs so you can more easily spot the savings,” the company said in a statement.
The company isn’t entirely ditching promotions, it is just making sure to offer only our best, most compelling sales when it makes the most sense for our guests.
Target’s move follows months of speculation about a price war on groceries and consumer products spurred in part by the expansion of no-frills grocery store Aldi and the launch of Lidl, both German retail companies that focus on private labels, drilling down prices on basic goods like peanut butter by as much as 30%.
The retailer’s executives for months have said that the company would lower prices on consumables even as it launched a concerted effort to upgrade apparel and home goods merchandise.
Similarly, Walmart has promised to double down on its always low prices mantra, and so far research has shown that it’s meeting the Aldi/Lidl challenge with aggressive pricing.
