While we all know that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Prime Day is one of the biggest sales in online shopping, Target (NYSE:TGT) is eager to prove it won’t be outdone. In fact, Target recently rolled out Target Circle Week, which will overlap with Prime Day and give shoppers something completely new to consider. It’s a bold strategy, but will it work for them? Target is up fractionally in Wednesday afternoon trading, so investors aren’t completely put off by this move.
The Target Circle Week program will run from July 9 to July 15 and offer a wide array of discounts in the meantime. Everything from kids’ apparel to breakfast cereal to a Keurig coffee maker will be on hand and heavily discounted. Several deals will even come with a Target gift card for later spending. For those in the free-to-join Target Circle loyalty program, some items will come with as much as a 50% discount.
Sounds good, certainly, but Target will have its work cut out for it to fend off Amazon’s slate of deals. Early word has emerged about Prime Day deals, and there’s no shortage of good buys here, either. Amazon has already dropped word on some deals, including a Loveledi portable charger power bank marked down to $19 from its original price of $40. Second-generation Apple AirPods have been marked down from $129 to $99. With some signs of a slowdown evident—a February study from Retail Dive revealed 70% of shoppers were planning to pare back “non-essentials” shopping—these kinds of deals will be table stakes to compete going forward.
Analysts, meanwhile, are split on Target’s overall trajectory. With 12 Buy ratings and 11 Holds, Target stock is just barely a Moderate Buy. However, with an average price target of $177.68, it’s a Moderate Buy that comes with an exciting 32.78% upside potential.
