Target, the well-known American retailer, has just recorded its 19th successive quarter of growth – owing to a good 8.1 per cent traffic growth in the fourth quarter.
The retailer saw its fourth quarter comps rise by an impressive 8.9 per cent on top of over 20 per cent growth in the year-ago period.
The comps rose by 12.7 per cent for the whole year, adding to last year’s growth of 19.3 per cent, on a comparable traffic rise of 12.3 per cent.
The US retail bigwig witnessed its operating income rise by 36.8 per cent to US $ 8.9 billion for the whole year despite supply chain and freight costs, reportedly, hitting the retailer’s margin.
Brian Cornell, CEO, Target has attributed the success to shoppers as well as investments made in Target’s stores and digital capabilities – a move that was seen with lot of skepticism, when it was first launched around 5 years back.
Reportedly, physical stores also function as fulfillment hubs at Target, with 95 per cent of its fourth quarter sales fulfilled by its stores in one way or another.
Target is the eighth largest retailer in the US and generated US $ 99.6 billion in 2021.
