What: The retailer's in-store traffic continues to grow, even as nonessential retailers come back to life.

Why is it important: Thanks to drive-up services and online orders fulfilled in store, physical retail accounted for over 95% of total sales this quarter alone.

The retailer revealed quarterly earnings, improving across all channels and logging more than USD 2 billion in profits during the last three months. “Our stores were the star of the show this quarter, with Q1 comp-store sales increasing by 18%, fuelled almost entirely by traffic,” Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO of Target.

And as consumers continued to visit Target’s stores, same-day services also continued to rise, up more than 90% during the quarter. Drive-up services had the biggest growth, up 123% during the quarter, year-over-year.

The company’s total revenues topped USD 24.1 billion for the three-month period ending 1 May, up from USD 19.6 billion a year earlier. First quarter comparable sales grew 22.9% during the quarter, with store comparable sales up 18%, year-over-year. Digital comparable sales also continued to grow, up 50% in the last three month, compared with a year earlier. That’s on top of the 141% growth during 2020’s first quarter.

By category, Cornell said there was comp sales growth in apparel, home and hardlines during the quarter. Apparel sales rose 60%, thanks to a mix of Target’s own brands and partnership with national brands.

Target Stores Remain Center of Its Omnichannel Universe