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Target, which has promised about 1,700 holiday products
including "Star Wars," LEGO and Netflix merchandise and hundreds
of $1 stocking stuffers, said it would offer promotional deals
during weekends for the last two months of the year.
The retailer is also rolling out a service that allows online
customers to send friends and family electronic gift boxes that
let them make changes to items or select entirely different
gifts before they ship.
Several industry surveys have indicated that shoppers will spend
more on holiday gifting this year, helped by higher online sales
and a strong labor market.
The Minneapolis-based retailer said in September it was hiring
100,000 temporary holiday workers, up from the 70,000 workers it
hired in each of the previous four years.
That month, Target also lowered prices on thousands of essential
items, from cereal to baby formula, making good its vow from
earlier in the year to compete with rivals by aggressively
clamping down on prices.
Target said its holiday assortment would include more than 1,400
toys, including L.O.L. Surprise! Big Surprise and items from
popular Netflix Inc show "Stranger Things" and the next "Star
Wars" installment, "The Last Jedi."
"Star Wars" was the U.S. toy industry's top-selling property for
2015 and 2016, with $1.5 billion in sales over the two years,
according to research firm NPD.
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is also counting on
"Star Wars" toy sales this holiday, and has added a large
assortment of "Star Wars" products to its holiday layaway
program, which allows shoppers to put aside holiday merchandise
and make payments in installments.
(Reporting by Richa Naidu; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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