Target Pop-Up Store Gives Insight Into The Future Of Holiday Shopping
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Target’s pop-up location in Manhattan portends what’s in store for retail.
Target opened a new pop-up location in Manhattan, offering a glimpse of what’s in store for the future of retail. “Target Wonderland” is a 16,000 square-foot concept pop-up shop that the company dubs “part magical toy store, part Pop Art exhibit” located in downtown Manhattan.
Target Wonderland is a free, family-friendly experience, packed with ten “larger-than-life spectacles, including a jumbo Etch-a-Sketch, a Christmas tree made from 320 green foam Hulk Hands, the S.S. Free Shipping LEGO pirate ship seen in Target’s holiday commercials, and so.much.more.” It also serves to merge the physical and digital retail experience in order to reimagine holiday shopping for customers.
As guests enter the space, they are given a custom lanyard and digital Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) key that they can use to scan the bullseye tag attached to add items to their custom digital shopping list. When they are finished shopping, guests can check out and purchase anything they have added to their list. This process means that shopping is now cart-less! And when the transaction is completed, the shopper’s order is delivered personally down the fireplace, just like presents from St. Nick himself! Target spokeswoman Jenna Reck explained to Business insider, “We know we’ll never be able to scale and do this in almost 2,000 stores, but [we’re trying to find] what is it about personalization…that people respond to, and how do you scale some version of that.”
The pop-up actually has just 16 products for sale, since it is intended to be more of a testing ground than a major sales center, but it serves as a barometer for the future of RFID in retail.
Target announced the rollout of RFID in May as a way to improve inventory accuracy. Recently, the company has also tested it as a shopping tool for customers. Target Wonderland is serving as a testing ground for this technology to gauge how customers respond, how best to introduce the technology in-stores, and what the most common issues for customers will be.
Target Wonderland is free and open to the public December 9 through December 22. “Best of all, Target Wonderland combines physical and digital shopping in exciting new ways, giving guests a peek at the future of retail, imagined by Target,” reads a company press release. The Target Wonderland is definitely a testing ground for future concepts that will help attract and keep customers coming into stores.