The trend has slowly shifted. As students have started to go back to schools, Target foresees higher same-store sales growth. In consequence, online demand slid tremendously from pandemic highs.
Target Corp has just exceeded quarterly estimates on Wednesday. Traffic to stores in the second quarter grew around 13%. This shows a sharp contrast from last year. During the pandemic, customers relied a lot on Target’s delivery services for shopping needs.
Following Walmart’s recent results reportage, Target revealed to be expecting a return to pre-pandemic behaviour among US shoppers soon as well. Speedy vaccinations and eased restrictions could further trigger more people to shop offline.
In relation to this, Target’s Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell said, “We believe that America still embraces stores and the traffic we are seeing tell us that stores continue to play an important role,” Reuters quotes.
Additionally, Executives gave out signs of “meaningful” change in the online services that their customers use. Same-day offerings, which includes in-store pickup and drive up, rose 55% in the quarter. Home delivery orders, however, showed a decline.
Target further noted a 10% incline in digital comparable sales. In comparison, the retail company recorded a 195% spike last year and 50% in the first quarter.
In general, Target managed to exceed estimates by generating an 8.9% rise in its total comparable sales. The retailer is aiming o reach high single-digit growth in sales for the second half of the year. To reach the figure, Target is expecting a lot from the strong momentum driven by back-to-school demand for clothes and stationery.
Target decides to stay optimistic despite Delta coronavirus variant’s horror
While the Delta coronavirus variant has caused panic all over the world, Target claimed to have not seen any adjustment in consumer behaviour so far.
“Right now we see a very healthy and resilient consumer, one that is appropriately cautious but continues to be very optimistic and is excited about things like back-to-school and back-to-college,” Cornell added.
Following the news, shares for target remained flat in morning trading. The retail company, though, has accumulated around 45% gain this year alone.
Read also: Back to School Season, Walmart and Target Are Helpful
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