How Target’s Black Friday Deals Consolidate And Grow Their Core Consumers

Target Wants Kids' Opinions

The year 2016 has not been an easy one for Target — as its same-store sales have slipped, grocery has been an ongoing problem, and Target finds itself increasingly squeezed from two sides: by an expanding Walmart in the physical world and an ever-growing Amazon online. Plus the executive team has seen its fair share of musical chairs — the firm’s chief marketing officer jumped ship to Uber at the end of the summer, and a little over a month ago Target’s chief digital officer resigned unexpectedly and immediately.

But at last 2016 is going mercifully to bed, and Target remains committed to ending it on an up note. Like many other big players in the physical retail space, the company is pushing hard in holiday 2016. That has so far involved a big hiring push and recent announcement that it (like Walmart and Best Buy) will be opening at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving in an attempt to capture the early bargain-hunting shoppers of the nation.

“Of course, Black Friday caters to ultimate deal hunters, but by opening at an earlier time, we’re able to welcome more families — moms, dads, grandparents and kids,” said Janna Potts, Target’s chief stores officer. “We have been opening on Thanksgiving for the past few years, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Plus, Amazon is open all day on Thanksgiving, and Walmart is opening early, and where shoppers shop first, they tend to shop most.

And Target is clearly not just opening on Black Friday — it is thinking about its core shoppers and how to capitalize on who they are and perhaps expand their ranks.

Young With Expendable Cash 

The typical Target shopper, as it turns out, is a fairly desirable group. The trend is young and also somewhat more affluent than the core shoppers of their competitors (other than Amazon). They also tend to be female — although notably the shopper bases of most stores is female, because women tend to do the majority of shopping in general and Christmas shopping in particular.

Target’s strongest base, however, is also the consumer group most likely to showroom in stores and buy online — and Target has felt the bit of the drift in recent years as it has attempted to hit the reset button.

This year, Target is going high-tech in its Black Friday offering, clearly appealing to the younger shoppers and perhaps attempting to pull in young male shoppers looking to do a little early gift giving for themselves. Specifically, gaming has emerged as a new and major area this year — with big incentives for expensive consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One — and of course, what is a flashy high-definition gaming system without a 4K TV to display it on?

And carrying on with the recent trend, the “Black Friday” deals are not limited to Black Friday, as the early-access period is already up and running online.

Target is also continuing its pitch to its younger and statistically cooler customers in the in-store curated content areas, now specifically tricked out for the holiday season.

A spokesperson noted that Target is trying not only to lure its customers to shop this season, but also to come to Target as a good place to get inspired.

Will It Work Out?

The problem with all of the promotions during the holiday season is all of the promotions during the holiday season — they tend to overwhelm consumers who quickly lose track of them and default to handing the bulk of their spend to whatever destination they find themselves in first.

But Target is targeting the demographic of shoppers that it is most successful with — and in a way that thinks beyond just tossing out a discount. They don’t just want people in on Black Friday looking for a deal — they want specific younger shoppers who are bailing on Best Buy to get their PS4 at Target. If they end up spending that $250 gift card while they are there anyway — well, studies show that customer will likely spend far more than $250 at Target before they leave.

But of course, Target is one of many retailers open early on Thanksgiving — and one of many previewing their sales online.

The trick will be hooking that core group early and keeping their attention, which isn’t always the easiest goal with millennial shoppers.

But starting with things that are pretty and fun? Probably not a bad opening play.