For some time now, Target has positioned itself as the big-box store of the people. While every shopping chain ostensibly wants to be considered in that way, Target has been able to position itself around the “Target run” as a one-stop destination for anything and everything a person could need, including and beyond actually buying things. Some people go on Target runs as a date. Sometimes they’ll eventake their engagement photosthere. Every once in a while, people willtreat it like a bar. The Target run has different meanings for everyone.
In a continued effort to keep people shopping at Target and Target alone, and to further massage its established brand loyalty, the company has announcedGood & Gather, an expansive line of food and drink offerings. Promising over 2,000 products by the end of next year, the company hopes to bolster Target’s standing as a grocery store in particular by focusing on “helping even the most time-strapped families discover the everyday joy of food.” Among other things, they plan to offer “new and trend-forward products such as avocado toast salad kits and beet hummus”; you know,for the millennials.
The announcement notes that some of the current store-brand items will be dissolved into Good & Gather: “Over time, Good & Gather will phase out Target’s existing Archer Farms and Simply Balanced food brands and reduce the number of product offerings under the Market Pantry brand, simplifying the food and beverage shopping experience. However, guests will still be able to get most of the products they know and love under the Good & Gather name.”
Target has been working its way toward a head-on challenge of Walmart’s one-stop dominance for some time now, particularly as it relates to food; the chain has renovated a sizable number of its stores to include fresh grocery sections. (Maybe they’re more like the Amazon of physical stores?) When you combine that effort with the major boost to its food supplies suggested by Good & Gather, and the strange cult of personality that’s built itself around the store, Target might just complete the takeover after all.