#non-essentials

Target sales growth hits record as faster delivery boosts online demand – ET Retail

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Target Corp on Wednesday reported its best quarterly comparable sales growth and online revenue that nearly tripled as shoppers lapped up videogames, kitchenware and clothes during the pandemic using the retailer‘s same-day delivery services.

Shares of the Minneapolis-based retailer surged about 5% in premarket trading after it handily trounced estimates for quarterly profit and revenue.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are rather polarizing events.

For some, they're seen as an ideal way to affordably purchase products which would typically be rather expensive. It's a harmless four-day window to get ahold of products you'd otherwise not wish to buy for thousands of dollars.

For others, it's a deplorable distraction from family. Thanksgiving is being increasingly encroached upon by the Black Friday events and, as such, people are focused not upon each other, but upon so-called "deals."

Finally — and importantly for us — for some young brands, these events also typically engender a race to the bottom in terms of brand integrity and sustainability. As such, people begin to perceive the heavy discounted price-points as normal for a space, thereby undercutting the actual economics of trying to build a clothing brand or an independent development firm, for instance.

As such, Need will not be partaking in either event over the coming days.

Instead, we're introducing the First Annual Non-Essential Series to run from Monday, December 1 through Friday, December 5.

Rather than attempting to herd you onto Need over the holiday weekend — a time we tend to concur is best-served with friends and family — we will be launching discounted micro-collections everyday next week.

Products will be up to 75% off, available in limited quantities, and will change fairly rapidly. (One or two items are already available at a significant markdown.)

What's the schedule? Well, we won't share what will be featured, but there will be anywhere from four to eight products in each micro-collection. Here are the themes:

Monday, December 1: Warmth

Tuesday, December 2: Details

Wednesday, December 3: Living

Thursday, December 4: Bottom-Half

Friday, December 5: Basics

Each collection will be released at 11 a.m. EST/10 a.m. CST/8 a.m. PST.

And why are these apart of a "Non-Essential" series?

Simply put, we want to emphatically state that sales are not core to Need's business and that these items — regardless of price — ought to be appreciated throughout the year.

Plus, rather poetically, we'll also be launching Need, Vol. 13 and, soon thereafter, an Essentials collection of carefully curated stocking stuffers and gift ideas.

Follow along on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to find out about each Non-Essential collection, Volume 13, and upcoming Essentials collections. (And follow us on Ello for a feed dedicated to any markdowns on the site.)

Have a restful Thanksgiving.

In the past I only smoked maybe two or three packs sporadically and now that it's like 3 years later I want to smoke.

When I was at the buffet, she approached with a dramatic sigh. “There’s nothing here that I can eat,” she said to nobody in particular, loud enough so everybody could hear. She went from one end of it to the other, “No. Nope. No. No.” Our hostess came to her side and suggested that she knew for sure the potato salad didn’t have any animal products in it. I thought I could help, so I said, “There are a couple of options,” but she doesn’t know me, and the look she gives me when she turns tells me she thinks she does. “I don’t think you’d understand,” she admits, seasoned with an eyeroll.

I shrug, and she’s willing to accept that from me and turns away again.