Attention Target shoppers, Bullseye, the retail giant’s English Bull Terrier mascot, is no longer fetching competitor’s prices at the register.
Walmart made famous the price match guarantee: if you could find it cheaper elsewhere, they’d honor any competitor’s price in-store. It was seemingly a win-win for the retailer and the consumer alike, resulting in a price match playground, as countless other operations followed suit. Among those, Target, which has honored competitor’s prices at their stores for 12 years.
However, price matching has increasingly gone the way of the dinosaur among retail outfits. Walmart discontinued the broad brush approach in 2019 in favor of honoring lower prices only found at Walmart.com. This week, Target became the latest fossil in the museum of price match artifacts. That’s news to some Target regulars, who are finding out in real-time:
@forlizsakes Just found out Target stopped price matching Walmart and Amazon starting TODAY. July 28. I’m flabbergasted. Betrayed. Emotionally unwell. What’s a mama supposed to do without those savings?!
♬ Refreshing and light indie pop(1552207) - Cheng Lee
@lindzbauer Replying to @Mayra Mondragon it was good while it lasted 😭 #target #shopping #pricematch ♬ Trompeta Funeral - Goric
Target will continue to price match products sold at Target or Target.com. Per a target spokesperson, “Generally speaking, it puts us in line with what the rest of the industry already does.” That is most certainly the case, but (at least from where I sit) isn’t that precisely the reason to continue the practice…to provide the customer with a unique experience found nowhere else? I am certain Target is in possession of endless data that supports this decision, but on an extremely competitive and difficult retail landscape, putting oneself in line with the rest of the industry seems counterintuitive.
[San] [Forbes] [TikTok: forlizsakes] [TikTok: lindzbauer]
