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Target's biggest holiday deals are reserved for the weekends

Written by RetailWire Staff

Source: Target

Customers expect deals for the holidays, but some of the big deals Target is offering during the season won't be available Monday through Friday. Last week, Target announced its Weekend Deals series, which consists of a different deal on a seldom-discounted category each weekend for the duration of November and December. The first deal, on the weekend of November 11, offered 25 percent off kitchen appliances (the biggest sale in the category for the year) and 15 percent off products used for Thanksgiving preparation. The kitchen appliance promotion required that customers secure a coupon via Target's app or via text message, whereas the other discount was applied automatically. All Weekend Deals are also available on Target.com. Target forecasts that twice as many people will shop during weekends than on weekdays. The company did not indicate how it determined the timing of the deals or what items to include. Some obvious seasonal categories will be discounted in coming weekends, such as holiday decorations and popular gifts. Target experienced a weak 2016 holiday season, according to Fortune. Last year its 10 days of promotions around Black Friday still left the retailer with a 1.3 percent year-over-year comp sales decline in November and December. Going weekends-only with deals is an interesting strategy given that the tendency has been for big retailers to start sales earlier in the holiday season and make them last longer. In fact Target might be facing some stiff competition this holiday season from competitive retailers who are starting their seasonal discounting early. Walmart, for instance, announced that Black Friday sales will begin at 12:01 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning, and will have doorbuster deals available at 6 p.m. that evening. Target will be open on Thanksgiving Day, but not until 6 p.m. And analysts are expecting a lot of money to be made that weekend. A RetailMeNot study, quoted in Forbes, projects a 47 percent year-over-year increase in consumer spending on Black Friday weekend.

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