, Columnist
It’s No Accident That Target Is a Covid Winner
The big-box giant has been laying the groundwork for the rise in e-commerce and curbside pickup for years.
The pandemic has made dominant retailers like Target appear even more untouchable.
Photographer: Jeenah Moon/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The pandemic has thrown the entire retail industry a curve ball. Target Corp., though, is among the elite players in the industry that knows what to do with a difficult pitch.
The big-box giant recorded an eye-popping 24% increase in comparable sales from a year earlier, far higher than the 9% advance analysts had estimated and its all-time highest quarterly gain on that measure. Online sales soared 195%, including strong increases in its drive-up and pickup options. Meanwhile, comparable sales in its brick-and-mortar stores boomed 10.9%.