Target Expands Drive Up Service In The Midwest

Target has brought its Drive Up service to 200 additional stores in the Midwest and select states with its latest expansion of the service. Drive Up allows consumers to order products through Target’s mobile app and pick them up outside a Target store, the retailer said in an announcement.

The service is available in markets such as Chicago, Indianapolis and Columbus, and with this expansion, Drive Up is available at more than 800 brick-and-mortar locations in 25 states. Target said that it plans to bring the service to more markets in late August and plans to have 1,000 stores offering it by the holidays.

Through the service, customers order products through Target’s app and drive to the store. When they arrive, employees deliver the goods to customers’ cars. Orders are usually ready within an hour after customers place them. The offering could be seen as a way to adapt to changes in the retail landscape, spurred by companies such as Amazon. Drive Up already has potential to increase sales: The retailer experienced a 10 percent rise in orders with the new service, which has been particularly popular with families — diapers and household supplies are top sellers.

Walmart, too, has its own version of curbside pickup. Its variation gave consumers around 35,000 items to choose from in 2017 — comparable with in-store selection. After orders are placed online, the customer then meets with their personal shopper at Walmart at a scheduled time. Those personal shoppers aren’t there to just grab items, but the exact versions of the items customers actually want (green bananas versus bananas that are extremely ripe, for example) in an attempt to bring personalization to the process.

In 2016, Walmart expanded the service right in Target’s backyard when it launched an order online, pickup in-store functionality in Cottage Grove, Oak Park Heights, Monticello and Maple Grove — all stores in the Twin Cities area, where Target is headquartered.