Target to offer next-day delivery to customers located away from city centers

­Target is set to put next-day delivery within reach of even more guests with the debut of a new supply chain facility, the Target Last Mile Delivery extension, according to a post on the retailer's website.

In the post, Target said, "Think of the TLMD extension as a stepping stone that extends our sortation center's reach to guests outside its delivery radius. Local, pre-sorted packages transfer from the sortation center to the TLMD extension, where team members stage them for pickup and next-day delivery by drivers on the Shipt platform to additional neighborhoods."

Pointing out that Target's first TLMD extension recently opened near its store in Smyrna, Ga., at a fraction of the cost of a full-size sortation center, the retailer said that it has already had an immediate impact, "increasing the number of people we can serve with TLMD by over 30%. This puts our next-day delivery within reach of 500,000 additional guests, for a total of more than 3 million in the Atlanta market."

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Target continued, "The Smyrna team has already hit the ground running, and drivers with Shipt are now delivering up to 1,500 packages per day. We plan to ramp up to even more in the months ahead." 

"Team members and leaders have been very excited to be a part of something new," said DaVion Ezell, operations director for Target's Atlanta sortation center and TLMD extension. "They have also been sharing ideas on how to continuously improve the process. 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."

Since opening, the facility has delivered thousands of packages.

"The TLMD extension supports our stores as hubs strategy, which uses our stores as best-in-class shopping destinations and fulfillment facilities, packaging online orders and shipping them to our growing network of sortation centers for next-day delivery by Shipt to guests. And all of it is powered by our outstanding team," the company said.

"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," said John Mulligan, executive vice president and chief operations officer at Target. "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." 

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Target added that the company will review expansion plans for these types of facilities as it works to reach more guests.

"Our guests have come to rely on the convenience and ease of our same-day and next-day delivery capabilities thanks to our stores-as-hubs model," said Gretchen McCarthy, executive vice president and global supply chain and logistics officer. "Now with the power of our team and drivers with Shipt, our latest Target Last Mile Delivery investments allow us to expand our next-day delivery offerings to thousands more guests in the greater Atlanta area and bring even more joy to the guest experience."