Apple and Target Are Teaming Up on in-Store Displays
The store-within-a-store concept could help both companies draw customers.
Target announced Thursday that they are expanding their relationship with Apple—and also expanding Apple’s footprint in some of its stores.
The retailer said that it is adding “an enhanced Apple shopping experience,” which will debut online and roll out to some stories this month, with an additional rollout this fall.
“The new shopping destination offers an even easier way to shop for Apple products at Target by bringing these products and accessories together in one space that has been designed for guests to experience new products through demonstrations and knowledgeable Target Tech Consultants, who will receive specialized training from Apple,” Target said.
Target’s fellow Minnesota-based retail giant, Best Buy, about a decade ago began offering a “store within a store” concept, with sections of the store dedicated to products from Apple, Samsung, Microsoft and other specific brands. Target has arrangements with such companies as Disney, Ulta Beauty and Levi Strauss and Co.
Target’s dedicated space will feature such Apple products as iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePod, Apple TV, as well as accessories. Apple is also offering 5 percent off Apple purchases using the Target RedCard.
“Apple products are popular with Target’s guests, and this new, dedicated shopping experience offers enhanced service and expanded offerings, building on our strength as a go-to destination for electronics,” Christina Hennington, executive vice president and chief growth officer at Target, said in the announcement. “This new model was created with Target’s guests in mind, and we’ll continue to learn and enhance the experience through future rollouts later this year.”
Target announced seventeen stores where the Apple displays will be rolled out fist, including in Monticello, Minn.; San Jose, CA; Oklahoma City, OK; North Wales, PA; Newark, DE; Woburn, MA; Nashua, NH; and Latham, NY. They will also be at several stores in Texas—Allen, Hurst, Austin, Irving, and San Antonio—and four more in Florida, in Gainesville, Orlando, Clearwater and Miami.
Target had announced in early February that it was offering employees extra pay and free transportation for those receiving the coronavirus vaccine.
“Taking care of our team has been at the heart of every decision we’ve made since the coronavirus started, and this point in the pandemic is no different,” Melissa Kremer, Target’s chief human resources officer, said in a corporate blog post at the beginning of February.
“As more vaccines become available, especially for frontline and essential workers, we’ll help our team members across the country get the information and access they need. As we have for the past year, we’ll continue to invest in our team’s pay and benefits so they can take care of themselves, each other, and our guests.”
Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
Image: Target and Apple.