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At a time when many businesses are struggling because of the heavy tolls placed on them by the coronavirus pandemic, Target is one of the big-name companies that has been able to adapt its strategy and find great success.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, Target made an online sales push which has paid big dividends.
While sharing details from its first quarter earnings report, Target revealed that “sales grew 10.8 percent, driven by a 12.5 percent increase in average basket, as guests made fewer, bigger shopping trips.”
The biggest part of the increase in sales came from a whopping 141 percent increase in online sales as people obeyed lockdown orders and practiced social distancing guidelines as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
“On an average day in April, our operations were filling many more items and orders than last year’s Cyber Monday, a day for which we had planned months ahead of time,” Target CEO Brian Cornell said, via NPR.com. “In contrast, this unprecedented surge of volume was completely unexpected at the beginning of the quarter and it ramped up from normal trends in a matter of weeks.
“Last quarter was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It was intense, it was volatile, it was stressful for our guests and the country.”
The official first quarter earnings release notes, digital comparable sales accelerated every month in the quarter, from 33 percent in February to 282 percent in April.
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The coronavirus mainly comes from animals and a majority of those who were infected early either worked at or frequently visited the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, according to The Guardian. The virus is similar to Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers).
The Wuhan coronavirus is transmitted from person to person through “droplet transmission.” That means an infected person can pass the virus by sneezing or coughing on another person as well as by direct contact.
While a majority of the cases have been detected in the United States and China — with more than 92,300 deaths in the United States — it has now reached many countries around the world. It has also been confirmed in Italy, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and many other eastern countries.
