In 2017, Target (ticker: TGT) announced it would invest $7
billion over three years to "adapt to rapidly evolving guest
preferences."
Target positioned this investment to improve customer
shopping. We're in 2020 now, three years later, and "the investment has
been proven to create an incredible upside," says Scott San Emeterio, CEO
of BallStreet Trading in New York City.
The retail giant's 2017 initiative was essentially a
euphemism for investing in its e-commerce operations to combat Amazon.com
(AMZN) in the digital retail sales and delivery space.
Target's digital offerings during the global health crisis
puts it on par with Walmart (WMT) and Amazon, San Emeterio says, and the
company has the numbers to show for it.
Target released its second-quarter results in August and
reported overall sales growth of 24.3%, compared with last year.
"(It's) the strongest the company has ever
reported," according to the company's earnings report, with digital sales
increasing by nearly 200%.
That said, the Minneapolis-based big-box retailer still
faces an extremely tough, slug-it-out operating environment, competing directly
against the likes of Macy's (M), Kohl's (KSS), Walmart and Best Buy (BBY), as
well as digital sales giant Amazon. While its recent earnings report
illustrated just how well Target's investments in e-commerce are faring, the
company is still feeling the effects of the global pandemic on its bottom line.
How have Target's efforts panned out, and where is the company
headed from here? What can investors expect from retail's sleeping giant? Let's
take a look:
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