Target Teams Up With Shopify To Give Online Small Businesses Brick-and-Mortar Shelf Space Target has an online Amazon competitor marketplace, and it's taking applications from small businesses now.
By Sherin Shibu Edited by Melissa Malamut
Key Takeaways
- Target has a new partnership with Shopify that opens up its online marketplace, Target Plus, to select Shopify small businesses.
- Target is the first mass retailer to also try to bring products from Shopify sellers to its physical stores.
- Since launching in 2019, Target Plus has featured more than two million products from 1,200 partners.
Shopify small business owners can now apply to have their products appear on Target's virtual, and maybe even physical, shelves.
Target announced Monday that it is opening applications to its Amazon-competitor online marketplace, Target Plus, for small businesses that work with Shopify.
U.S. Shopify sellers can now throw their hat in the ring to have their products featured on Target Plus through the Marketplace Connect app. Target, in turn, will be able to understand which new, up-and-coming products resonate with its shoppers.
Target plans to put popular Shopify items that online customers discover and love on its physical store shelves "in the months to come," making it the first mass retailer to take Shopify products from the e-commerce space to brick-and-mortar stores.
That push for select Shopify items on physical shelves differentiates Target from rival Walmart, which has worked with Shopify since 2020.
The Shopify-Target alliance could be beneficial for both Shopify small businesses and Target.
Related: Target Is Making Thousands of Items Cheaper. Here's Why.
Smaller brands on Shopify could reach a wider demographic, within the stores of an established retailer. Target gives smaller brands a "halo" and acts as "an accelerant to the total business," Target Chief Guest Experience Officer Cara Sylvester said in an interview with CNBC.
Target Plus is also "one of the fastest growing parts of Target's business," Sylvester told the publication. The marketplace is like Amazon but invitation-only; it only features select items from Target's curation team.
The Shopify partnership could help Target Plus grow and find more sellers to catch up with competitors.
Target Plus has 1,200 sellers after launching in 2019. In comparison, Walmart's marketplace has more than 100,000 active sellers and Amazon has added nearly 5 million sellers since 2018.
Related: Target Eyes Paid Membership Program by End of 2024
"Make no mistake, we're all-in on Target Plus," Target chief digital and product officer Prat Vemana stated.
