Inside Target’s New Consumer Strategy For The Holiday Season 

The holiday season is officially here and with it comes the annual struggle of retailers crafting new consumer strategy plans to keep up with ever-changing consumer demands. 

This year, it seems retailers are focusing on keeping things as easy and cheap as possible for consumers. One such retailer is major brand Target, whose Dress Shop and Party Shop have coerced consumers to put their money where their mouth is. 

Yet, for businesses smaller than target – i.e., the majority of brands out there – is this model sustainable? Or, is it purely reserved for the brands that are well-established enough to take the risk?

TARGET’S NEW CONSUMER STRATEGY

For retailers, the holiday season is the most essential part of the year. 

To ensure a smooth and successful holiday season, brands need to create a friction-free experience for consumers. Consumers notoriously have increasingly short attention spans, meaning that brands need to create a seamless shopping adventure for them to enjoy; both online and in physical stores. A single hiccup, be it a slow loading screen or a difficult-to-find product, could be the difference between a consumer purchasing from your brand versus your competitor.  

Yet, retailers also want to show off their hundreds of product categories and appeal to the most consumers as possible. As such, there lies an issue of finding a consumer strategy that achieves ease whilst still advertising hundreds of products. 

@target

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♬ original sound – target

Target is one of many retailers that are finding different consumer strategy tactics to bridge this gap. Its solution to the problem? The Party Shop. 

Target’s The Party Shop is an offline and online curated grouping of holiday-focused clothing. The experience kicked off just last Monday and is set to last throughout the holiday season. It is the natural progression of Target’s Dress Shop, which was a similar pop-up that put all of Target’s dresses together and sorted them by occasion, length, and style.

The Party Shop is the same pretence but all grown up – expanded to all holiday clothes (not just dresses) across 70 different styles and mainly under the $35 mark. Much like its predecessor the Dress Shop, the Party Shop has in-store collection at its different locations across the United States. Clothes are sorted by material, such as lace or sequins, and also by style. 

The Dress Shop was supremely successful for Target, growing dress sales by a double-digit percentage, so it follows that the retailer would want to carry on that success through the busiest time of the year for retailers. 

Gena Fox, the SVP of Target’s apparel and accessories, said that the Party Shop helps Target address two major problems for Target consumers on top of the classic issue of ease – affordability and newness. 

Consumers want seasonal assortments as they give that feeling of newness and fresh options to look your best for the holiday season, but they don’t want to break the bank. To hit this “newness” desire, the Party Shop has 60% more new holiday apparel styles released by Target when compared to last year. 

@shoppingmama_

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♬ original sound – Mariah Carey

In terms of affordability, Target has been dropping its prices left, right, and centre. In 2024 alone, it decreased prices on more than 5,000 of its items. The retail giant has found that whilst many customers continue to come and shop around the holidays, many are holding off on making their purchases until right when they need it; hence where cheap and cheerful prices come into play. 

To advertise Party Shop, Target is engaging with a two-pronged approach to raise awareness. The first avenue is relying on existing customers who know and trust Target and will already be looking at the brand for the holiday season. These consumers will be lured into the Party Shop through storefronts and online sites. 

The second approach is through influencer partnerships. Via these content creators, Target is aiming to reach new and wider audiences. 

As a result, Party Shop achieves the seemingly unachievable. It creates a seamless shopping experience for consumers, whilst also appealing to the individual needs of Target’s customers.

IS THIS CONSUMER STRATEGY A BROADER TREND?

Ultimately, Target is taking quite a different approach to its consumer strategy for the 2024 holiday season. To best appeal to consumers’ desires for ease, newness, and affordability, the retailer has crafted a unique shopping experience. If the Dress Shop showed us anything, it is that the Party Shop is sure to be a hit. 

Yet, is this new consumer strategy indicative of a wider trend? Are other retailers following suit? 

@savannahpolci

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♬ sunet original – 🎄CHRISTMAS☃️

For the big names, yes. Major retailers such as H&M and Zara can also be seen curating “edits” in-store and online in order to encourage consumers to purchase, especially for the holiday season. 

For smaller brands, not so much. For retailers that have minimal stock, crafting “edits” simply does not have the same effect. Creating a section in-store that may only have 2 dresses just to have your very own Party Shop simply draws attention to the fact that you have a minimal product catalogue, rather than persuading consumers to buy. 

As such, consider whether the Target consumer strategy is right for you. Whilst the themes of ease, newness, and affordability are applicable across most consumer types, they are not suited to all. Consider if your target audience desires these attributes as well, and how you can best achieve them, before diving head first into a Party Shop of your own.

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