Target has launched a new facility in Georgia to bring next-day delivery to more communities and bolster its delivery capabilities.
A TLMD extension is a stepping stone that extends the company’s sortation center reach to customers outside a given Target delivery radius. Local, pre-sorted packages transfer from a sortation center to the TLMD extension. There, staffers stage them for pickup and next-day delivery by drivers on the Shipt platform
Target’s first TLMD extension is operating near one of its stores in Smyrna, GA, at a fraction of the cost of a full-size sortation center, the company noted. It increased the number of people Target can serve with TLMD by over 30%. As such, it puts Target next-day delivery within reach of 500,000 additional consumers, for a total of more than three million in the Atlanta market.
Target-owned Shipt is delivering up to 1,500 packages per day from the facility. The retailer plans to ramp up the facility to process even more volume in the months ahead, it asserted.
“Team members and leaders have been very excited to be a part of something new,” DaVion Ezell, operations director for Target’s Atlanta sortation center and TLMD extension, stated. “We’re actively problem-solving to ensure that we are set up for success as we get closer to the holiday season to be able to achieve and exceed that demand.”
The TLMD extension supports Target’s stores-as-hubs strategy. As part of that strategy, the retailer is using stores as best-in-class shopping destinations and fulfillment facilities, packaging online orders and shipping them to a growing network of sortation centers for next-day Shipt delivery to customers, Target maintained.
“TLMD extensions represent the latest milestone in our journey to deliver a best-in-class experience for our guests however they choose to shop with us,” John Mulligan, Target executive vice president and chief operations officer, attested. “These facilities are a continuation of our innovative efforts to serve millions of guests and reach millions more, while maximizing speed, efficiency and care across our real estate portfolio.”
