Target beefs up offerings for Shipt same-day delivery

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A year after buying Shipt, the same-day delivery service, Target plans to open up the service to all of its major categories in the year ahead.

The Alabama-based Shipt offers speedy delivery of groceries, household essentials, toys and electronics for members. The company currently offers same-day delivery on 55,000 items. It's unclear how many more Target will make available.

The $550 million acquisition of Shipt was one of the largest deals in Target history, and has helped the retailer push a strategy to get customers shopping and receiving their purchases in every way imaginable — home delivery, in-store pickup, drive-up service or shipped to your door.

Though Shipt remains an independent company, Target made the service available at nearly every store in time for the holiday shopping season. Shipt also has partnerships with Kowalski's, Hy-Vee and CVS in the Twin Cities.

With Target driving a rapid coast-to-coast expansion, the Shipt service has grown from 70 markets to more than 200 in 46 states. Membership, which costs $99 a year, has tripled in the past year.

Shipt has hired nearly 400 people in its offices in Birmingham and San Francisco, with "hundreds" more in the works, according to Target.

Target said that grocery items are the most popular use of the service, with the basics of eggs, milk, bananas and strawberries among shoppers' top picks. Oh, and, avocados. Which provides a hint about the demographic most likely to use the service, a detail Target didn't share.