Target to roll out same-day delivery on LI next month

Target will roll out same-day delivery service for more than 55,000 products on Long Island on Aug. 7, as retailers chase Amazon.com's quick-delivery grip on retail.

Minneapolis-based Target Corp.’s speedy drop-offs are being done via Shipt, an online delivery company the discount retailer bought for $550 million less than a year ago.  

Target deliveries on Long Island will take place as far east as Hampton Bays on the South Fork and Mattituck on the North Fork, Shipt said Thursday, when it announced its staggered entry into parts of the New York City metro area in the coming weeks.

Rapid delivery has become the new front in retail, with every major player attempting to beat, or at least match, Amazon in its reach.

“Same-day delivery was at the top of our list when we were thinking about ways to make shopping at Target even easier,” John Mulligan, Target’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, said in a statement Thursday.

Birmingham, Alabama-based Shipt delivers groceries, household products, electronics, toys and other goods, but not clothing or alcohol in New York State, spokeswoman Julie Coop said.  

Consumers must sign up for Shipt, priced at $99 for an annual membership. Those who sign up before Aug. 14 will pay $49.

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For orders of less than $35, there is an additional $7 service fee.  

About 2,000 Shipt shoppers, who are contractors who pick up customers' purchases in stores and deliver them in their own cars, are being hired in the New York City metro area.

Shipt provides delivery service for more than 30 retailers in 150 markets — Target is the only retailer Shipt serves on Long Island — and will reach 65 percent of U.S. households in 180 markets by the end of 2018, Coop said.

Target is late to the game with same-day delivery on Long Island, where BJ’s Wholesale Club, grocers King Kullen and Stew Leonard’s, and other retailers already offer the service, said retail expert Burt Flickinger III, who founded the Manhattan-based consulting firm Strategic Resource Group.

Still, Target will benefit from adding another shopping amenity on Long Island, he said. The company has 18 stores on Long Island.

“Shoppers will see it as a big benefit because it will save . . . (time) driving to and from Target [on Long Island's congested roads] in addition to the time shopping in Target walking long distances for products,” he said.

Same-day delivery got a boost locally in August, when San Francisco-based retail delivery service Instacart launched the service on Long Island through partnerships with retailers. Locally, Instacart delivers for Petco, Costco, Best Market, Stew Leonard’s, CVS and others.

Customers pay a $5.99 delivery fee for orders of more than $35 or buy an Instacart Express membership, which is $149 a year, for unlimited two-hour deliveries for orders over $35, Instacart spokeswoman Kristen Marion said.

The Instacart delivery area is limited for some retailers. For instance, Stew Leonard’s offers same-day delivery service with Instacart to 23 villages, hamlets and towns that are within about a 20-minute drive of either the grocer’s East Meadow or Farmingdale store, spokeswoman Meghan Bell said.

Bethpage-based grocery chain King Kullen started its online grocery ordering and delivery service in 2012, said Tracey Cullen, vice president of marketing. The chain has a $50 spending minimum for same-day deliveries.

King Kullen’s delivery fees range from $5.99 to $2.99 for orders up to $199.99. There is no fee for orders of $200 or more.

with AP