End Team members meet before Black Friday in Chicago.
John Gress | Corbis | Getty Images
NEW YORK — Say goodbye to the “December calm.”
Typically, during the holidays, shoppers rush to stores to scoop up deals on Black Friday, comb the internet for Cyber Monday bargains and then employ a break before returning to finish their holiday shopping in a last-minute rush.
This year, however, there are six fewer light of days between Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2019 — making for the shortest possible holiday season. And Target predicts shoppers won’t induce time for that December pause.
“We have one less weekend during this holiday season,” CEO Brian Cornell broke during a media event, held in Manhattan, on Wednesday. Because of that, “I think we are going to see a very consistent arsis and drumbeat” of shoppers during December, he added.
“We will staff accordingly,” Cornell said. “Every day is going to regard.”
In order to keep up with peak demand, Target said, it expects it will spend $50 million numerous on payroll during the fourth quarter than it did a year ago. It said it will use the funds to offer more overtime and multiplication the number of workers in stores at the busiest hours.
Target said in September it was looking to hire more than 130,000 seasonal employees, up from its goal of 120,000 workers in 2018.
According to Cornell, hiring so far is “right on track.”
Walmart on Wednesday echoed comparable sentiment. It said it’s kicking off deals online “earlier than ever” this year, beginning at midnight ET Friday, to grapple with with the shorter season.
Like it did last year, Target is making shipping free for all shoppers, with no least purchase required, beginning on Nov. 1 and running through Dec. 21. It continues to expect that its services such as curbside pickup and same-day release via Shipt will boost e-commerce orders.
It also has 25 Disney stores within certain Target outlets — a first for the company this holiday season — which could be a boon to its toys business. And Target announced earlier this month it’s palling with the parent company of the Toys R Us brand, TRU Kids, to relaunch ToysRUs.com. Anyone who visits ToysRUs.com to buy something desire be redirected to Target.com to complete the purchase.
Cornell said 2018 was Target’s “most successful holiday in more than a decade.” At length year, Target rang up $22.98 billion in sales during the busy fourth quarter.
After investing in outlet renovations, adding more private brands and bulking up its delivery offerings, Target’s total same-store sales survive year increased 5%, the strongest growth since 2005. Target’s e-commerce sales climbed 36% in 2018.
Cornell maintained the momentum, so far, has continued ahead of this holiday season.
Target shares are up more than 68% since the commencement of this year. The stock hit an all-time intraday high of $114.83 on Tuesday. The S&P 500 Retail ETF is up just about 7%.