Target Corp. is hitting the style accelerator.
The mass merchant, which has been jolted to life after a period of stagnation, has rejiggered to get its private-label fashions to move at something like the speed of social media.
The need is clear.
Target said that 85 percent of Gen Z and Millennial shoppers expect to purchase a trending product within 24 hours of first seeing it on social.
That’s a quick turn — and while Target’s not there yet, it’s getting closer.
“We’ve spent decades building and refining our industry-leading merchandising, trend, design and sourcing capabilities. And today we’re leaning into new ways to move even faster,” said Bill Foudy, senior vice president and president of owned brands at Target, in a statement. “By using consumer insights and leveraging technology to rethink how we design, source and produce, we’re building a more agile, responsive model so we can deliver the style, quality and value our guests expect from Target, exactly when they want it.”
The retailer has created “speed tracks” in its private brands business, cutting up to 80 percent off of production timelines, while also adopting proprietary GenAI trend platform.
Across A New Day, Universal Thread, Wild Fable, Shade & Shore and other Target brands all have been transferred onto flexible, accelerated production calendars.
That means having raw materials ready at the right place at the right time.
For instance, the retailer said that when baggy leopard-print jeans started trending last year, Universal Thread was able to tape into the company’s denim reserves and quickly launch the style, with a lead time cut by 25 percent.
Target said that “getting the look to guests while it was still hot” helped the new style drive “millions in incremental sales.”
The company is also using 3D modeling across its brands to cut development times replacing rounds of physical sampling with virtual tests.
But being able to produce products quickly only matters if one knows what to make.
For that, the Target Trend Brain is taking the once-manual work of going through volumes of visual and written trend data and churning out suggestions in hours, not weeks.
“After Target Trend Brain confirmed greens, berries and blues as must-have colors for fall, we incorporated them into our fall collections,” the retailer said. “Now we’re expanding Target Trend Brain across more categories and exploring its use in home and other areas.”
Likewise, Target said that: “Based on trend signals from search and social media, we expanded our faux suede assortment with new styles like bombers and dresses. We brought this expanded assortment to market in just seven weeks — tripling our suede assortment in time for the holiday season.”
Target is speeding up, getting trending styles to shoppers quicker.
Courtesy Target
This all jibes with the vision of incoming chief executive officer Michael Fiddelke, a company veteran who nonetheless is looking for quick change, a renewed emphasis on style and the savvy integration of technology.
Target is using the same approach with its stores, for instance, taking just four months to transform its SoHo store in New York from a relatively standard grab-and-go location to its first fashion and beauty concept store.
The retailer is trying to get out of the rut that had its net earnings fall 19.3 percent to $689 million in the third quarter, including $120 million in after-tax costs to cut 1,800 corporate jobs. Sales fell 1.5 percent to $25.3 billion with comparable sales in the apparel department down 5 percent.
