Target steps up competition with Amazon, holds huge sale on same day as Amazon Prime Day

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
Jul 17, 2018

Target is taking on Amazon’s Prime Day with a one-day sale of its own, offering discounts on beauty and clothing including products from recently launched brands.

In an announcement made on Instagram, Target introduced its rival sale by saying, “epic deals without membership,” immediately drawing an important distinction between its one-day event and Amazon Prime Day where deals are only available to members.

Target’s one-day sale includes discounts on clothing, beauty and home, with apparel marked down up to 40%, while beauty and personal care are reduced by 25%. 

Target’s recent beauty product launches include a new Tarte cosmetics set, charcoal face masks from No B.S., and the Harry’s personal care brand. 

Apparel featured in the sale includes Target’s private-label clothing brands Goodfellow & Co. for men, women’s denim brand Universal Thread and children’s label Cat & Jack. 

Target’s private-label brands will go head to head with Amazon’s own apparel brands on Prime Day. Amazon has experimented with 40 private-label apparel brands to date, including men’s label Goodthreads and women’s label Lark & Ro. 

Target's strategic move to compete with Amazon Prime Day comes as both retailers continue to expand their offerings in the apparel and beauty spaces. Walmart is conspicuously absent from the e-commerce showdown, despite having recently launched its own private-label brands including George for men, plus-size label Terra & Sky, and Wonder Nation for kids.

The stakes are high as the three retailers currently dominate the US apparel market, with a Coresight study at the beginning of the year having named Walmart as the top apparel retailer in the country, while Amazon and Target duked it out for second place, having been visited by 37.4% and 37.3% of survey respondents, respectively.  

With speed of delivery repeatedly cited by consumers as a key consideration for their purchasing decisions across all retailers, Target’s one-day sale also takes aim at Amazon Prime's benefit of free 2-day shipping. The retailer is not only offering free two-day shipping on all orders over $35 made during the sale, but has also launched a promotion giving customers who make purchases of $100 or more a six-month membership for free same-day delivery.

CNBC reports that other retailers offering sales to compete with Amazon include Macy’s, Bed Bath and Beyond, and EBay. Kohl’s held its “big deal” sale last week which offered discounts on apparel from Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour.

Amazon Prime Day deals begin launching July 16th and run for 36 hours through July 17th. Target’s One-Day sale begins July 17th.