The holiday season is an important time for any retailer. But for large companies like Target with hundreds of different product categories, customers can get easily overwhelmed by the amount of products on offer.
Target’s solution to that problem this season is the Party Shop, an online and offline curated assortment of holiday occasion-focused apparel that opened on Monday. It’s an evolution of Target’s Dress Shop, a similar experience that centralized all of Target’s dresses and grouped them by style, length and occasion. The Party Shop applies the same concept to holiday party clothes, covering 70 different styles, mostly under $35.
Like the Dress Shop, the Party Shop also includes in-store collections at Target stores across the country. Clothes are organized by material, like sequins or lace, and by style. The Dress Shop drove dress sales at Target to increase by a double-digit percentage this year, and the company hopes the Party Shop will do the same for party attire.
Gena Fox, Target’s svp of apparel and accessories, told Glossy that the Party Shop addresses two of the biggest concerns Target’s apparel customers have right now: newness and affordability.
“The consumer is constantly evolving and changing,” she said. “Last [holiday season] was a long time ago. This holiday, we are leaning into newness and seasonal assortments because we know consumers are loving that. But affordability is also key, which is why we’ve got tops under $10 and dresses under $20.”
In pursuit of that newness, the Party Shop represents a 60% increase in the number of new holiday apparel styles Target is releasing this year compared to last year. The Shop includes styles from both Target’s in-house private label brands.
And on the affordability front, Target has been keen on reducing prices throughout the year. So far in 2024, it has lowered prices on over 5,000 items to cater to cash-strapped consumers. Target’s full-year revenue is expected to grow between 0% and 2%. Its second-quarter revenue this year was $25.5 billion.
“While [our customers] continue to turn out and shop around holidays and other seasonal moments, many are delaying purchases until the moment of need,” said Brian Cornell, CEO of Target, in the company’s most recent earnings call. “Against that backdrop, our team continues to focus on providing unbeatable value for our guests. And of course, that starts with a focus on low everyday prices, including our recent price reductions on frequently purchased items.”
On the marketing side, Fox said the Party Shop will be relying partially on existing Target customers, who will see the online and offline displays prominently placed on Target’s website and in its stores, respectively. But for new customers, Target is finalizing content creator partnerships that will roll out throughout the season.
“We start talking about the holiday season as soon as we finish the holiday before,” Fox said. “The trend cycle moves super fast, and the consumer moves fast. So we have to work much faster than ever before.”
