Target Paid Membership Program?

[veteran+]

Interesting report.

Other countries as well like India, Pakistan and others.

Self reporting, self auditing and such are problematic for me as well as advance notice even by government regulators.

Walmart not being in the news about this lately does not mean it is not happening, plus no one can argue that the biggest should be under more scrutiny given their reach.

[storewanderer]

Interesting report.

Other countries as well like India, Pakistan and others.

Self reporting, self auditing and such are problematic for me as well as advance notice even by government regulators.

Walmart not being in the news about this lately does not mean it is not happening, plus no one can argue that the biggest should be under more scrutiny given their reach.

I think there is a real taboo on this entire subject. It is kept quiet, very quiet, for a reason. And I think that reason extends far beyond Wal Mart and also far beyond retail general goods sales to various other "imported items" (prescription drugs for example).

[ClownLoach]

I also question if their factories are actually still worse. There has been considerable consolidation in China of manufacturers of goods to be sold to America, meaning that few if any of them are exclusively Walmart production. I cannot speak for Walmart having never worked there, but my last company had largely avoided any scandals around slave labor produced items, child labor, items produced by factories dumping toxic waste into the environment, lead poisoning, etc. by having a rigorous vendor compliance department with office in China. These employees all came from the US offices and would educate the vendors on the company expectations, and they would also conduct unannounced surprise inspections. Not just a few, but thousands of unannounced audits annually. If a vendor was out of compliance on any of the major issues like child or slave labor, dumping toxic waste etc. they risked immediate termination of contract with zero payment and claw back of past payments which would basically put them out of business. Many of the largest vendors we used also produced goods for Walmart in the same facilities. In the last decade I saw very few recalls for anything related to overseas production scandals. The largest issues were all the fault of the American office sending designs with typos that the Chinese factories reproduced flawlessly. No lead poisoning risk except one toy that was recalled simultaneously at Walmart, Target, Toys R US, and the craft store chains as everyone had the same item in their own packaging. I'm sure everyone in the business fired that vendor. Look back in the early 2000s and every day there were new recalls (especially toys) and production scandals with people found working in appalling conditions and slave labor. You don't see these stories now like you did then because the news headlines were always worded like "A factory for Walmart was found to employ slave labor..." This bad PR forced all the retailers including Walmart to become more disciplined.

Furthermore the companies that pushed to all China production are pulling back from that due to high shipping costs and yes, concerns about potential future scandals that will be PR nightmares. You see a tremendous amount of merchandise that is now made in Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia, and the biggest winner Mexico. You may have heard China is in a severe recession because of the loss of so much production outside of the tech industry, although they won't admit to a crashing economy publicly.

So I think there is a very fair argument to be made that Walmart factories may not be any worse than anyone else now simply because production has globalized and everyone is sharing the same facilities. What I do question is the dollar stores where the quality of goods appears to be more suspect and we know there is zero investment in any kind of compliance based on all the fines and issues in the news lately like the Family Dollar warehouse infested with rats, $41 million fine. I wouldn't be caught dead shopping Family Dollar or Dollar General because I don't think they are safe places to shop.

I honestly do think that these sleazy dollar chains have pretty much replaced Walmart as the bad guys of the industry.

This is from 2006: https://www.fastcompany.com/674376/wal- ... gram-fraud

I'd sure like to see more current information.

Given we don't see a lot of headlines out there talking about how bad things are, my suspicion is things have improved.

I can't find much at all about how Target handles this either. What are their standards that are so great/so much better?

Dollar General's private label products aren't bad. Some of their home decor items are quite good (especially at 90%-95% off).

2006-ish was about when that big wave of recalls started, especially lead in toys.

I agree that after about 2010-ish when all these big recalls were done that is when everything should have been better.

[ClownLoach]

Back on topic, just talking to friends and family it seems Target has really botched this membership program with inadequate explanation. The incorrect perception circulating is that you will need the paid 360 membership to get what you currently are getting for free. I think this stems from every single program being renamed to include the circle name. Shipt, RedCard, and Circle become Circle 360, CircleCard and Circle. It makes it sound like these three independent programs are all one and of course the mental connection is made to it being the paid program.

They are going to need to get a lot of explaining done via their ads, website, app, store signs etc. And fast or they're going to lose customers to perceived changes that don't actually exist. They definitely had a huge missed opportunity with failing to market Shipt membership in stores and failing to associate that brand with Target, but this is a strong over-correction and does not bode well considering the fact this seemingly is the first major new program the new CMO is presenting to customers. The fact is they're just renaming existing programs and actually making it much easier to save money without jumping through hoops, but they are clearly not conveying that message well if at all.

Marketing 101: When you announce a new program it's going to be discussed in a thirty second maximum news segment. If you're making any changes that can't be explained completely in those thirty seconds then you run the risk of a PR disaster from consumer misunderstanding and miscommunication. That seems to be unfolding amongst people who I would describe as well educated and savvy consumers who don't have the time to read the third page of fine print and nonsense about the changes. This is going to backfire.

[BillyGr]

Back on topic, just talking to friends and family it seems Target has really botched this membership program with inadequate explanation. The incorrect perception circulating is that you will need the paid 360 membership to get what you currently are getting for free. I think this stems from every single program being renamed to include the circle name. Shipt, RedCard, and Circle become Circle 360, CircleCard and Circle. It makes it sound like these three independent programs are all one and of course the mental connection is made to it being the paid program.

Much like what CVS did by making that Carepass into ExtraCare Plus (though I don't know that they have announced it much, or that it has been confusing to most)?

[storewanderer]

I think these subscription programs are struggling in general.

Rebrand all you want, a lot of consumers just don't want them.

I find them to be a tough sell due to the high monthly cost.

[veteran+]

I think these subscription programs are struggling in general.

Rebrand all you want, a lot of consumers just don't want them.

I find them to be a tough sell due to the high monthly cost.

Yep, I think and hope people are waking up about this.

Fees and membership and subscription charges are keeping many folks poor.

I avoid all of the above when possible.

[ClownLoach]

I think these subscription programs are struggling in general.

Rebrand all you want, a lot of consumers just don't want them.

I find them to be a tough sell due to the high monthly cost.

Yep, I think and hope people are waking up about this.

Fees and membership and subscription charges are keeping many folks poor.

I avoid all of the above when possible.

I think they should have given Shipt a chance to be sold under that brand in the stores. It's a good service and I think it is superior to Instacart since it is mostly shelf prices instead of a markup (plus I get it free till 2025 as a credit card benefit). Service is better than Instacart and you can even get to the point of having a true personal shopper.

They did not need to rebrand Shipt to sell it in the store, and the Shipt standalone app isn't going to go away under Circle 360 either. So to fully use your Circle 360 benefit you need to use the Shipt app? That is going to confuse everyone, and they can't move it into the Target app without moving competitors like CVS, Walgreens, Petco etc in there too. And if they moved only Shipt for Target into that app then those other guys would likely have grounds to sue for breach of contract.

The fact is they played a bad marketing game and changed the name when it wasn't necessary, the product was fine. It isn't for everyone and by trying to rebrand as if it is they are going to ultimately upset a lot of them.

The model for subscription fees and such should be Costco and Sam's Club. In both cases, because of their "better" memberships and credit cards (that I pay off fully monthly) I not only have not paid a dime to shop at either one for years but I also have hundreds of dollars left over after the rewards pay the membership fee so I can buy fun, unnecessary things. Target should be offering additional cash back as part of Circle 360 above and beyond the RedCard 5%.

[veteran+]

I'm glad the Costco membership fee works for you and many people I know.

I'm single, my kid is grown, I have a Condo in the hills and it does not work for me.

I don't like really large sizes and big "multi packs" prouducts. Plus they usually do not have the variety that warrants a trip to their stores (plus their variety is very commercial). I also do not stock pile stuff (I would be in trouble in an apocalypse).

Lastly, there is something that really bothers me to be pressured to pay a fee to spend and /or save my money.

I know, I'm weird

[storewanderer]

I'm in and out of Costco membership. Probably staying out for the foreseeable future. I don't like the Reno Costco Store, they need a new larger store. It is way too crowded and too small. Great assortment and turns over so quickly. The less busy Carson Costco seems to lack the assortment of the Reno Store (Sam's in Reno has a much better assortment than the Carson Costco).

Have kept a Sam's Membership for a number of years now. I'm not sure it is worth it but I've done a few larger purchases there and have no plans to drop it.