Target expands last-mile delivery range! Speed ​​up delivery!

Target said on its website last week that the retailer has expanded its last-mile coverage in the Atlanta area with an "expanded" fulfillment center that can deliver up to 1,500 packages a day.

If the destination is not within the delivery area of ​​Target's Atlanta sorting center, the package will be transferred from the center's Atlanta sorting center to the Smyrna, Ga., facility. Drivers from Target's Shipt subsidiary then provide delivery services to customers.

Target said it plans to ramp up activity at the fulfillment center in the coming months and will review expansion plans for such facilities, known as Target Last Mile Delivery Expansion, while continuing to expand its next-day delivery offerings.

Target opened the company’s first expanded fulfillment center in May, a new step in its “store as hub strategy,” which leverages the retailer’s physical footprint to enable fast home delivery.

In this strategy, when a customer places an order, local store employees pick and pack the ordered products and send them to a regional sorting center. The order is unloaded, sorted and shipped in batches with other packages to nearby communities.

However, if the order is not delivered to a location within the sorting center’s delivery area, it will be transferred to the fulfillment center. In the Atlanta market, Target was able to attract 500,000 additional customers to ship next-day delivery packages at a marginal additional cost compared to the sorting center.

“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,” John Mulligan, executive vice president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.

In addition to attracting more customers, expanding facilities offers Target a variety of benefits, John McClymont, director of operations strategy and continuous process improvement at Brink's, said in a LinkedIn post. They include lower shipping costs within the network, better inventory control and the ability to keep more expensive technology in a more centralized location.

“By maintaining higher complexity in larger fulfillment centers, they are able to take highly assorted and segmented products and push them out for delivery quickly,” McClymont said. “A fast-paced, low-tech cross-dock operation provides better access and delivery speed to hundreds of thousands of customers at once.”

Editor ✎Estella/

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