As a retailer in 2025, you’re pretty much held to one standard that ultimately determines your success.
That standard isn’t customer relations (though treating your customers well certainly helps) or how fast your shipping is (which is pretty important, too).
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It’s how you compare with Walmart (WMT) and Amazon (AMZN) , the world’s largest retailer and America’s largest online retailer, respectively.
Both have millions of stockkeeping units — individual items — at any given time, offering customers a wide selection at often unbeatable prices. It’s simply a bonus that they treat their customers well and offer fast and free shipping, too.
Since both Walmart and Amazon are leaders in their respective fields, it can be really hard for other retailers to break into the one-stop-shopping market. Plenty of other options are out there (think Sam’s Club, Costco, Kroger, and CVS) but these still remain somewhat specialized or limited in scope. You can’t buy videogames at Kroger, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a wide range of clothing at CVS.
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Pair that with the fact that many consumers now expect free one- or two-day shipping and many retailers would bankrupt themselves just trying to keep up.
It’s not just about selection and shipping, though. Most retailers are now expected to offer some sort of exclusive savings or perks program. To make them compelling enough, retailers must offer some kind of genuine benefit, which can often put them into a hole more than help them out.
People shop in a Target. The chain is one of the few that has made competitive headway against Walmart and Amazon.
Image source: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Target is a uniquely positioned retailer
One retailer that has actually made headway against Amazon and Walmart is Target (TGT) .
America’s sixth largest retailer may not be as big as the latter two stores, but it remains a household name with nearly 2,000 locations across the U.S.
While this isn’t Walmart’s more than 3,500 stores, Target makes up for the difference in brand trust. In fact, there’s an entire cohort of American shoppers that go out of their way to shop at Target instead of at its larger competitors.
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Its devotees are so committed to Target that the average shopper makes about 1.6 trips to a store per week. Since foot traffic is such a key part of the Target experience, that means that if a store starts to stock more SKUs that it’s confident will delight its customers, it stands to gain traction — and potentially more profit — from the move.
Target adding thousands of new products
So on Jan. 9 Target said it would add about 2,000 new products specifically focused on health and wellness. The retailer has said it’s seen a positive response as it adds to its selection of wellness items, particularly since many of them are affordable.
To that end, about half the 2,000 new items will be $10 or under. Some of the new items include:
Functional and nonalcoholic beveragesBeauty and health self-careMen’s wellnessNutrition and gut health productsWellness techActivewear and loungewear
About 600 of these products will be exclusive to Target. This is a part of an effort the retailer has built out in recent years to expand its in-store, or what it calls owned, brands.
The bet is a big one: In January 2024 Target added about 1,000 health and wellness products to its arsenal. But the retailer is already seeing it pay off.
Beauty and household essentials, many of which fall under the wellness category, accounted for about one-third of Target’s annual 2023 revenue. Food and beverage accounted for about 23%.
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