Have you ever walked into Target looking to buy a single item (e.g., milk) but walked out with a bounty of other goods you didn’t know you needed?
In industry parlance, that’s known as the “Target Effect,” which is driven in large part by the retailer’s mastery of…
According to Fast Company, the $129B retail giant has launched 48 ”owned brands” across home, fashion, beauty, and other categories.
Of these, 10 brands have cracked $1B in sales (the most recent was activewear line All in Motion) while 4 brands generate $2B+ a year:
It does so by combining an analytics team (tracking search and social data) with an in-house design team (including chemists and material scientists).
Target also regularly gives shelf space to popular online D2C brands (e.g., Casper, Quip).
There is risk in these partnerships, though, as the company has a track record of launching competing in-house brands.
Notably, luxe brand Burberry and shoe brand Vans have both sued the Minneapolis-based retailer for trademark infringement.
To be sure, copying is very much par for the course in retail:
A fashion lawyer tells Fast Company most of Target’s moves are “perfectly legal” (though, we weren’t able to confirm this).