Target Says Goodbye To ‘Tiny Carts’

A good rule of thumb for retailers when considering whether or not a program has been a success? If the headlines announcing its discontinuation feature words like “idiotic” and “menace,” the choice to pull the plug has probably not come a moment too soon.

Such is the story with Target this morning, which tried to build a shop friendlier to little shoppers, also known as children, and just managed to instead really, really irritate their customers with tiny, apparently shin-bashing carts.

Legions of angry customers came forward to talk about the pain and suffering they’d endured at the hands of children armed with small shopping carts on social media. Target rolled out the pint-sized carts in 72 stores nationwide in the hopes that a cart of their own would make shopping more fun for kids — hence making it easier for Mom or Dad to stay in the store and shop.

A good idea in theory but ruined in practice when children acted like children and used the carts accordingly.

“At Target, our guests are at the center of everything we do, and we value their feedback. We briefly tested kiddie carts at 72 Target stores, and after reviewing guest and stores feedback, we have made the decision to stop the test,” Kristy Welker, a Target spokeswoman noted.

Highlights of angry customer descriptions included “vehicles of mass destruction” and that it turned the “magic” of Target into madness.”

“What have you done, @Target?!? Kids carts???? Worst idea,” one parent tweeted.

“They make shopping trips into torture!” another angry shopper, Lizzy Charles, wrote on Facebook. “Especially with three kids, all wanting their own tiny cart, triple the headache. Or fighting over one! I abandoned purchasing anything and focused on survival.”