With total global retail sales estimated to reach $31.7 trillion by 2025, retailers from around the world are trying to gain a competitive advantage by making their shopping experiences as effortless and seamless as possible.
Target has implemented its curbside pickup, otherwise known as “Drive Up,” feature for this very reason. Not only does the Drive Up option save customers time, but often money as well.
This article will teach you everything you need to know about Target’s curbside pickup, including how it works, which items are eligible, how to cancel a curbside pickup order, and more.
Target’s curbside pickup allows you to order items from the Target app and then have Target employees bring the items to your car when you park in a specified Drive Up parking spot at your local store.
Not only does this service provide you with your items quicker (since you don’t have to wait for your order to be delivered), but it’s also cheaper than at-home delivery.
In 2021, there were over 1,900 Target stores in the United States. This means that if you live in the U.S., you’re almost guaranteed to be able to use this service.
You can follow these steps to buy and receive an order with curbside pickup.
To make use of curbside pickup, you’ll need to install the Target app on your phone if you haven’t already. Drive Up is available on the Target app for both iOS and Android devices, and you can find the app on the Apple Store and Google Play store.
Note that Drive Up is only available on the mobile app, and you can’t place curbside pickup orders on target.com.
As you’re ordering the items you want, select the “pick it up” option and then “Drive Up.”
After this, you’ll be able to check out and pay for your order — which you’ll only be charged for at the point where your order is referenced as “ready for pickup.”
Keep in mind that not all items are available for curbside pickups. Items that have limited stock, are out of stock, or contain hazardous materials can't be ordered through this method.
As soon as the items are ready for pickup, you’ll be alerted via email and push notification in the app. This usually happens within one to two hours of placing the order.
What’s great about this is that you’re not assigned a specific pickup time, nor do you have to let them know when you’ll be stopping at the store.
As long as you stop by to pick up your order within three days of receiving the notification (or by the end of the following day if your order contains perishable goods), you’re good to go.
In the app, select “I’m on my way” to let Target know that you received the notification and will be retrieving your order within the pickup window.
Target’s curbside pickup hours are during its normal business hours (usually 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.). Therefore, you’ll essentially be able to collect your order anytime the retailer’s doors are open.
When you arrive at Target, you can park in one of the designated parking spots with a “Drive Up” sign. An employee will then bring your order to your vehicle.
You can confirm your order by showing the barcode in the Target app, or you can present one of the following forms of valid identification:
Most often, employees will bring your order directly to you without any delays. However, sometimes issues or delays do occur — so make sure that you plan accordingly.
If you’re in a rush, consider picking up your order during the evening on a weekday as opposed to going on a busy Saturday morning.
Note that if your order isn’t collected within the pickup window, Target will cancel the order and process a refund.
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Many items on the Target app are eligible for pickup. To determine whether the item you want is eligible, you can look for a “Pick it up” option on the item’s detail page. Alternatively, you can add the item to your cart and try to change its delivery options.
If you can’t do either of these, it means that the item isn’t eligible.
Select stores also offer fresh grocery pickup for items such as milk, frozen food, fresh produce, cheese, etc. However, as mentioned above, these items are only held until the end of the next business day.
No, there’s no minimum order to be eligible for curbside pickup.
To make the most of this free service, you can consider incorporating it into your daily life — both for your monthly grocery shopping and your last-minute supply runs.
Yes, you can apply discounts to your Drive Up orders. Depending on the coupons you use, you can get huge discounts ranging from 10%–50% off on certain items. Sometimes, these coupons will even take a dollar amount off your total order, which can save you a lot of money.
Use our Target coupon codes for better deals.
Nearly 50% of U.S. consumers find coupons and promos through brand emails or online searches.
However, there are other ways you can find coupons, too. Discover more than 15 basic and advanced methods you can use to find coupons.
If you forgot to order a specific item, you can easily remedy this on the app.
The best practice would be to place a separate order with the forgotten item and simply wait until you receive the “ready for pickup” notifications for both orders so that you can pick them up together.
If you realize that you no longer need an item, you can attempt to remove it or cancel the order altogether and simply place a new one.
To cancel the order, you can go to the “account” option in your app and select “purchases.” From there, you can cancel that particular order. Alternatively, you can cancel the order at Guest Services in your pickup store or simply not collect your items within three days.
Unfortunately, the return of retail items is a harsh reality. Some of the most returned items in the U.S. in 2021 include clothing, shoes, and electronics.
Returning items that you picked up curbside is straightforward. All you need to do is take your receipt and return items from your order at Gift Services in any Target store. You can either print the receipt or show it to the Target employee on your mobile device.
After showing them your receipt, you can present the debit or credit card you used to make the purchase and get your refund.
Alternatively, you can return the items via mail by going to your “order details” in the app and selecting the “return items by mail” option. Note that this option only applies to certain items.
Learn everything you need to know about Target’s Return Policy.
If you can't collect the order, someone else can do it for you.
When you're done adding your items and proceed to checkout, you can select the "edit" option next to the pickup person. Here, you can manually enter your pickup person or select from your saved list of shopping partners.
Your pickup person will receive a notification indicating there’s an order they need to collect for you and will receive a pickup email when the order is ready for collection. Upon pickup, they’ll have to show a valid photo ID to the Target employee.
Keep in mind that once you’ve added a shopping partner to a particular order, you won’t be able to remove them after the order has been placed.
Whether you enjoy shopping online in general or are looking for ways to save time with your grocery and retail shopping, Target’s Drive Up feature might be the ideal solution for you.
With the Target app, it's really as easy as placing your order online, driving to your local Target store, and having all your items loaded into your car.
Want to save even more money with your Target purchases? Have a look at these 11 money-saving hacks.