Target Now Offering Curbside Pickup At Some Stores — Yes, Again

Three months after Target once again began testing curbside pickup with employees in the Minneapolis area, the perpetually-playing catchup retailer has expanded the program to actual customers. 

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Target launched “Drive Up” at 50 stores in the Twin Cities area this week.

As with similar pickup services at other retailers, customers place an order through Target’s app. The order will then be ready typically within two hours.

When the customer is ready to head to the store, they tap the “I’m on my way” button in the app. If the customer has their location services turned on, the retailer can follow their progress and meet them with their order as they arrive at the store.

“We think this is going to be a service that our guests will love, whether they’re going to a birthday party and need to grab a quick gift or whether they run out of diapers,” Jamie Bastian, a Target spokeswoman, tells the Star Tribune.

The company plans to learn from the Twin Cities-area tests and then roll out the program to other states. However, when that will happen isn’t clear.

Working Out The Kinks

One reason the retailer might be keeping mum on an eventual expansion of the program is that it’s still working on the logistics.

For instance, the company is currently using two different staging methods for customers picking up orders.

Some stores are utilizing parking spaces denoted with signs for Drive Up near the front of the entrance used for the program.

At least two other stores have actual, dedicated Drive Up areas similar to a drive thru or gas station, the Star Tribune reports.

Been There Done That

This, of course, isn’t the first time Target has offered a store pickup option.

Previously, Target worked with a startup company called Curbside (fitting, we know) to run a pilot program that eventually reached 121 stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. That program ended in June 2016.

That version required customers to make purchases through the Curbside app, while Drive Up uses Target’s own app.