Target Corp. is testing the waters of global e-commerce. Consumers in more than 200 countries can now buy at intl.target.com.
The mass merchant retail chain is working with cross-border e-commerce services vendor Borderfree to turn on international sales. Target declined to outline its plans for international web sales, saying only the effort is a test and more details would be forthcoming.
Target is No. 16 in the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 500 Guide, which ranks e-retailers by their North American web sales. Target has not sold internationally online through Target.com until now, but it offers some products through its store on eBay Inc.’s marketplace to international consumers, using eBay’s global shipping program services, operated by Pitney Bowes Inc.
Pitney Bowes bought Borderfree earlier this year for $395 million.
Borderfree provides e-retailers with a variety of services, including localizing e-retail sites for foreign consumers, such as showing prices in more than 60 currencies, handling customs clearance and fulfillment. Forty retailers in the Top 500 use Borderfree, including Sears Holdings Corp. (No. 5), Macy’s Inc. (No. 7), Nordstrom Inc. (No. 19), Williams-Sonoma Inc. (No. 20) and HSN Inc. (No. 25).
At intl.target.com, consumers select their country to see prices in that country’s currency. Duties and taxes are calculated at checkout and the full delivered price is displayed.
Target’s international online effort follows a failed international store expansion. It made its first foray outside the United States in 2013, when it opened more than 100 stores in Canada. It shuttered its entire Canada operation of 133 stores earlier this year. It did not sell online at Target.ca. Canadians are among the consumers that can buy from the international site.
More than 90% of web traffic to Target.com comes from U.S. consumers, according to Alexa Internet data. Other countries where Alexa records measurable traffic for the site, in descending order, are India, Canada, Australia, China and Mexico.
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