Omnichannel Fuels Target’s 145% Ecommerce Growth, Swimwear Brand Andie Dives Into Virtual Appointments and Edible Arrangements Sales Bloom With Free Delivery, More Product Categories

Omnichannel Fuels Target’s 145% Ecommerce Growth

Even with the coronavirus-related boost in online shopping, Target’s stores remain integral to the company’s growth. The retail chain’s ecommerce sales grew 145% in its fiscal year ended Jan. 30, Target reported. Online sales reached $16.63 billion, up nearly $10 billion from 2019. That means ecommerce accounts for 18% of its total sales, compared with 9% in 2019 and 7% in 2018. But Target’s nearly 1,900 stores were an integral part of digital growth, executives said on a call discussing the results. 95% of all sales (in stores and online) were fulfilled from the chain’s physical stores. Its omnichannel services were a key to digital fulfillment.

What stood out to us? Target has a distribution center (or three) in every city.

Swimwear Brand Andie Dives Into Virtual Appointments

Though it didn’t know it at the time, direct-to-consumer women’s swimwear brand Andie timed its trial of virtual appointments just right. “We’re constantly thinking about how to meet the evolving needs of our customers, so we decided to start offering virtual one-on-one swim fittings as a trial just before COVID hit,” says Melanie Travis, Andie’s founder and CEO. “Then COVID hit, and our phone lines blew up. We were at capacity with a waitlist for our virtual fittings almost immediately.” In an effort to make online shopping more personal for the droves of consumers now buying online as a result of the pandemic, many retailers are offering virtual appointments. These merchants aim to replicate as much as possible the in-person connection of a store associate handpicking or directing shoppers to items they may like. And they are proving to be a successful tool to help Andie to boost sales and form closer relationships with shoppers.

What stood out to us? #firstworldproblems

Edible Arrangements Sales Bloom With Free Delivery, More Product Categories

While merchants scrambled to launch ship-from-store during the pandemic, Edible Arrangements already had a leg up as all 1,000 of its franchise locations had been equipped with this service since opening. Whenever a shopper purchases from EdibleArrangements.com, the order is routed to the store nearest to the customer. That store will prepare and deliver the order in one of its vans, bypassing warehousing and shipping carriers. Edible Arrangements, known for selling fresh-fruit bouquets, posted strong sales in 2020. It launched new product categories, offered more bundles with shelf-stable products, offered fewer SKUs of fruit bouquets during its big sales periods and implemented free delivery with every order, says Somia Farid Silber, vice president of ecommerce at Edible Arrangements. All these initiatives helped boost sales, she says.

What stood out to us? Another pressing global issue resolved.