Let me preface by saying I have never had any issues with shopping at Target before. They have long been my 'go-to' store because they generally have what I need at decent prices and I have several locations near my home. My opinion is changed, however, due to several recent issues with online orders. I ordered a small bluetooth speaker for my son for Christmas from Target online. It was grouped in with several other items I ordered. When I received the email confirmation, I noticed the speaker was shipped separately from the rest. This didn't alarm me as items often ship separately. Several days later, we received a USPS Priority mail box with a personal name and address listed as the return address. It was the bluetooth speaker shipped from someone's house. Apparently, after a quick google search, Target participates in drop shipping and when I thought I purchased a speaker from Target, I actually purchased it from someone using Target as his marketplace. I'll be careful about this in the future and I wish it were more clear to me when I ordered the speaker. I understand drop shipping is a big thing right now and several online venders use it. However, when I purchase an item from, say, Amazon, I know whether it's being sold by Amazon or by someone else using the marketplace. This wasn't the case with the Target order. I didn't even receive an official Target invoice in my package. It was a black and white copy of my emailed invoice and I'm grateful that my credit card number wasn't listed, but a lot of my personal information was. Hmmm, and Target wonders why their credit cards have been breached? Just my two cents.
I did not know you could order something from Target and have it sent to you by a 3rd party fulfillment source. I thought it was the other way around like you ordered from someone and the product came from Target. Very interesting situation.
Quite a lot of stores use drop shipping and have done for many years. I know Walmart does a lot, but they do state that the item will be from an external party and sometimes offers can't be included like free delivery. To keep prices low, they have to offer products and outsource, but as long as you have free shipping and still get any discounts does it matter?
Yes, that is a new one on me to. I didn't know that Target did the outsource shipping. I am not sure that I have ordered anything from Target online, but I do shop in their physical store a great deal. I like their store environment as opposed to Walmart, and there prices are quite competitive on most items...given the choice I always shop there over Walmart. The shipping is a concern I guess.
As others have noted, this is a fairly common practice with online department store web sites, including WalMart and Sears as well. I'm not opposed to the practice in general, since it means a greater selection and availability of products, but they definitely should be more up front about it, so people can be aware of the fact that their products may not arrive all together at the same time. The other concern is when it comes to returning products, since you may or may not have to deal directly with the vendor and not the store's web site. Return policies may vary as well. In the case of Amazon, you could look to see if the item is "Fulfilled By Amazon" meaning the products are sent to Amazon's warehouses for storage by the vendor, and shipped by Amazon. Otherwise the item will be shipped directly by the vendor. Even with sites like Amazon and eBay, there are people who are placing product listings on there, and simply drop shipping them from sites like AliBaba. So you might order something on Amazon, and the vendor logs into Alibaba and places the order with your shipping address. In this case your items may be getting shipped from places like China, and could possibly be counterfeit. Buyer beware. In the case of sites like Target and Walmart and Sears, I would say one possible benefit of letting other vendors drop ship from their site is perhaps it could help keep prices low. Considering that these stores don't have to bother with the added expense of storing, stocking and shipping items from all the vendors they work with, those savings could theoretically be passed on to you. It could also theoretically help with keeping items in stock all the time - since you are getting them directly from the vendor.
