Target shoppers soon won't have to get out of their cars if they want to return an unwanted item or grab a Starbucks coffee.
Target Corp. announced Wednesday morning that it would expand its drive-up services to allow customers to make returns and pick up orders from their in-store Starbucks coffee shops this fall in the Twin Cities and other select markets.
The company told investors in November that drive-up sales grew more than 80% in the August-October period, building on a sixfold jump that occurred a year earlier when the pandemic changed shopping habits.
Customers wanting to make returns will be able to start the process via the Target mobile app and complete it once they arrive in Target parking lots as either part of normal orders or just to do a return.
For coffee orders, when customers indicate they are "on their way" to the store to grab a pick-up order, they will be given the option to place an order from the Starbucks menu. Orders will be delivered to their cars.
Target also announced customers using the order service will be able to select second-choice items from a wider assortment of categories, including beauty, in case first-choice items aren't available.
Target drive-up and order pick-up will remain free services.
Target began to offer order pick-up in 2013, and then added the drive-up service, with orders brought out to them, in 2018. Target added fresh groceries to the services in 2020 and alcoholic beverage sales last year.
Retailers are becoming more innovative as they handle the expensive processing of returns with more companies offering third-party drop-off spots for returns.
