Target has been testing new merchandisers on its main store racetrack.
The retailer has for years avoided merchandising in the main navigation aisle. However, the company has developed dedicated market basket-style merchandisers that it has been placing in the main racetrack, with just-behind the check stands as an initial staging area. Early on in the debut, the merchandisers offered food/consumables products as an enticement for shoppers heading out of the store.
In the back-to-school season, the company also offered seasonal products in the merchandiser and away from the check stands. In an example from metropolitan New York, the market basket merchandiser contained copybooks, and placement was near other stationery items.
The displays suggest that Target may be preparing to abandon its merchandising orthodoxy. Already a recently remodeled Target store in the Minneapolis area offers shoppers new merchandising presentations, some that seem to be based on urban store displays introduced earlier elsewhere, including in the fresh department, where produce spreads out in a more open floor plan.
