Target Considers Amazon Prime-Style Membership Plans

Target is reportedly mulling a paid membership plan similar to Amazon Prime and Walmart+.

The new program, known as “Project Trident” within the company, could launch as soon as this year, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (Feb. 7), citing unnamed sources.

While the retailer already has its Target Circle loyalty program, offering deals and rewards for purchases, the new program would go further, offering other benefits and requiring a fee, the report said. It could incorporate Shipt, the Target-owned grocery delivery business.

PYMNTS contacted Target for comment but did not receive a reply.

The company’s apparent move comes as it has been dealing with declining revenues. In its last earnings report, Target showed a 4.9% drop in comparable sales.

“There’s tremendous pressure on the consumer’s wallet and the impact of very sticky food and beverage inflation [when] compared to pre-pandemic,” Chief Operating Officer John Mulligan said at the time. “Food and beverage prices are up on average 25%. And that certainly pressured consumers as they’re making choices and certainly has forced them to make very tough choices when it comes to discretionary goods.”

Meanwhile, Walmart is trying to catch up to Amazon in the race for consumer retail spending by “turning to new technologies to merge the digital and physical shopping journeys to provide a more frictionless customer experience,” PYMNTS reported Friday (Feb. 2).

Last week, Walmart unveiled a series of tech-focused efforts to combine digital convenience with the brick-and-mortar experience “and bring in-person-like immersion to eCommerce platforms,” the report said.

These included piloting a program that uses digital labels that light up to help shoppers navigate their way through its stores and find the products for which they’re searching.

Walmart also plans to build, convert or remodel 150 stores over the next five years, part of its “Store of the Future” concept, which uses interactive technology that blends online and in-person shopping.

“The retailer is also looking to improve the digital purchasing experience by making it feel more like physical shopping, gearing up to enable consumers to virtually try on over 750 pairs of eyeglasses, gaining a realistic preview of how the glasses will appear on them, using augmented reality,” PYMNTS wrote Friday.

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