Whether you are in a pinch for time or have time to kill, Target wants to have a store entrance for you.
The big-box retailer plans to redesign 600 stores to offer two separate entrances, beginning this fall, it announced at an e-commerce conference in Las Vegas on Monday. One entrance will have the time-crunched customer in mind, with groceries, self-checkout aisles, and a counter for online orders all near the front. The other entrance will be built for the browser, with curved center aisles filled with home, apparel, and beauty products.
The billions of dollars Target plans to spend on this ambitious redesign is part of a trend among brick-and-mortar giants to try to keep pace with consumer demands in the age of online shopping. These retailers were slow to adapt during the dot-com era, say analysts. But as they play catch up, they are discovering the customer wants it both ways: in-store pickup when they want a product fast or don’t want to pay extra for shipping, and in-store shopping when they want to linger down aisles in their spare time.
“The future of retail is digital. And people will also be shopping in stores for a long, long time,” Target board chairman and chief executive Brian Cornell said in his keynote speech on Monday at the Shoptalk conference, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
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