Target testing price matching policy

Target’s making another push to win Canadian shoppers over.

While some analysts have speculated Target’s days in Canada are numbered, the retailer is trying a new initiative: a price match guarantee.

Lisa Gibson, spokesperson for Target Canada, confirmed to Canadian Grocer that the retailer is testing an expanded price match policy “in order to make it easier and more convenient for our guests to be able to find the best possible price for their favourite Target purchase.”

The process is straightforward: show a digital flyer from a list of selected online retailers and Target will match their price. But shoppers must show the flyer on their mobile device and staff can ask the shopper to refresh the page to make sure the offer is current.

The list of online competitors includes Amazon.ca, Walmart.ca, Bestbuy.ca, ToyrsRUs.ca, BabiesRUs.ca, CanadianTire.ca, Futureshop.ca and Sears.ca. Online marketplace sites like Amazon are excluded from the offer.

Gibson said the policy also offers price matching for any local competitor’s flyer or weekly ad–both in print and in digital form. Earlier media reports incorrectly stated the program encompassed Canada-wide price matching.

“We’ll continue to offer price matching if a guest buys a qualifying item at a Target store and then finds the identical item for less in the following week’s Target flyer,” said Gibson in an email.

Walmart’s price-matching policy also offers price matching in local areas, and according to an article from CBC, they will be staying with that policy. "We'll ad-match with online flyers from other local merchants and as well using their printed flyers," Alex Robertson, the company's  director of corporate affairs, told the CBC.