Target teams up with Taylor Swift for exclusive merch in play to win more Black Friday shoppers

As retailers jockey for customers both online and in stores for yet another competitive holiday shopping season, Target has made a big play by teaming up with pop singer Taylor Swift to offer exclusive merchandise on Black Friday.

The Minneapolis-based retailer will release a book that gives a behind-the-scenes look at the singer’s internationally sold-out Eras Tour and a vinyl album of previously digital-only tracks on the biggest shopping day of the year, Nov. 29. The exclusive items will be in stores first and not available online via Target’s app and website until the next day, per a news release. They are only available while supplies last.

“There’s a lot of people who love her enough that they’ll want anything related to this endeavor,” said Seth Ketron, assistant professor of marketing at St. Thomas. “A vinyl of a digital album is a nice tangible artifact of something that feels a lot more special than listening to it on Spotify. It creates a special destination product that draws people to Target.”

Black Friday has always been a big moment for retailers, but the rise of e-commerce as well as the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people spend. Boston-based Bain and Company’s analysis found Black Friday hasn’t actually been the biggest sales day since 2019. Shoppers also seem more likely to continually refresh a site rather than camp out in the cold to land a coveted purchase. But a move like this could reverse that.

Not only could this Swift partnership push Target ahead of its competitors like Walmart, it could also entice people who wouldn’t normally participate in Black Friday at all. And there’s plenty at stake: Bain and Company forecast this year’s Black Friday through Cyber Monday sales could reach $75 billion.

“It’s becoming more and more of a competition of getting people in the door,” Ketron said. “It’s not enough to have a really great sale. Everyone has a really great sale. You’ve got to do something that’s going to get people to go to you, if not first, at least have you on their shortlist of the spots they want to go to.”

The book, a 256-page hardcover titled “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Book,” will cost $39.99 and include more than 500 never-before-seen photos of performances, rehearsals, instruments, costumes, set pieces and designer sketches. It also includes personal reflections and notes from Swift.

According to the news release, Swift called the book “the official retrospective of the most wondrous tour” of her career. In an Instagram post including video of the exclusive products, Swift wrote she wanted to commemorate the memories made on the tour.

The record is the anthology version of Swift’s 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” released in April. It will cost $59.99 and feature 35 tracks, including four bonus acoustic songs. The four marbled and translucent vinyl discs also come with a poster of Swift. There will also be a CD format available.

This isn’t the first time the mega-retailer and megastar have worked together.

Target has sold more than 10 exclusive versions of Swift’s albums, most recently last spring with a phantom clear vinyl, 16-track version of “The Tortured Poets Department.” That set the record for Target’s largest music pre-order, according to the release.

“Target is at our best when we’re creating access to joyful experiences and that’s exactly what this represents,” said Rick Gomez, Target’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, in the release. “[It’s] a new way for everyone to immerse themselves in Taylor’s concert and music, right in time for the holiday season.”