Target is getting into the toiletry market, gearing up to roll out a brand of consumer products dubbed Smartly.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Target will launch more than seventy products that will include toilet paper, dish soap, and razors. The majority of the products will have Target prices of less than $2. The products will hit store shelves at Target and online in the middle of this month. Mark Tritton, Target’s chief merchandising officer, told the Wall Street Journal that the new line of consumer staples is aiming at competing with drugstores and discount stores generic brands. “It’s about showing people that I don’t have to go to Aldi or I don’t have to go to Dollar General to find what I’m looking for,” he said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Target told the WSJ that Smartly products are being priced on average around 70 percent less than traditional brands — including Procter & Gamble’s brands such as Tide, Gillette, and Charmin. The paper noted the products are being sold in small quantities to appeal to millennial and Generation Z consumers who are just starting out and aren’t interested in buying in bulk. These shoppers aren’t as loyal to specific brands as older consumers, Target research has shown, according to the report. Starting in the middle of October the Smartly products will be sold next to well-known brands in different product aisles throughout the store. They will also be available to purchase online via Target’s restocking program. That program lets shoppers fill a box of goods and pay a flat shipping cost. Target will remove the least-performing items in each of the categories to make room for the Smartly brand. Tritton told the WSJ that after months of thinking about the design for Smartly it decided on minimalist packaging, with some including scents to see what they smell like.