Nothing is easy anymore. You go shopping in a real store, you see the price on the shelf, and you expect that is the price you will pay. But then reality intervenes.
MrConsumer had a $5 coupon from Target that he got when getting his COVID booster and it was about to expire. He finally found something he wanted to buy by checking Target.com on his home computer — four bottles of Market Pantry honey mustard dressing for $1.39 each.
So he went to his local Target, and found the salad dressing on the shelf, but it was $1.99!
Distressed, he went up to the aisle scanner to double-check the price.
It said $1.79. So now we have three different prices: $1.39, $1.79, and $1.99. We know the middle price is what will be actually charged at the register, but that would allow MrConsumer to only get three of the dressing bottles instead of his planned four with his coupon. Grrr.
MrConsumer asked the checkout clerk to price match the $1.39 Target.com price, and he gladly did. (Here is Target’s price match policy.)
But the story doesn’t end there. Did the online price for this salad dressing vary depending on what store you chose as “your” store on the website?
Checking the online price at over a dozen different Target store locations within a 10-mile radius of Boston yielded shocking results.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Target Price Comparison
The prices ranged from a low of $1.19 to a full dollar more — $2.19. How crazy is that? Supermarkets and drugstores are known for “zone pricing” (charging different prices in different neighborhoods factoring in local competition) but who knew that Target apparently engaged in that practice too? Of course, a sample size of one item says nothing about how Target prices all its other groceries and other merchandise. So we asked the company for details and an explanation.
A Target spokesperson sidestepped most of our questions but acknowledged:
Like many retailers, overall prices and promotions may vary by location and channel.
In further checking, we also learned that not all the Target locations in the chart above actually carry that item, but a shopper could order that product for delivery at the stated web price.
The bottom line is this. Target’s prices for at least some groceries vary store to store, as perhaps other categories of goods do. And since Target maintains a price match policy, including to the prices on its own website, it behooves shoppers to check there to see if the price is lower. Savvy shoppers might discover this is a new way to save money.
Please share your thoughts about the dramatic price differences brought to light in this story.
In early December 2021 I placed an online order with Target.com. My order did not arrive and I called their customer service about this. At that time I was told they would refund me for my order via Target gift cards.
Edgar comments: Our consumer, Linda, went into great detail about what happened to her and we have forwarded her plight to Target. I’ve deleted the rest of the complaint below because it was off-topic, unrelated to pricing variances. Her conclusion follows:
Just saying how difficult it can be to go through these types of issues during a pandemic and with health problems on top of it all.
I understand your situation and sympathize, it’s not fun dealing with people who either don’t listen or have no idea what to do. It seems to me that these days, they’re hiring people who have little training and no common sense, and it’s hurting business, and it’s rare to find a competent, efficient employee. Try asking for a supervisor every time you have to talk to the company as that’s their job, to create order out of chaos.
Welcome to the Retail Games. Try Walgreens, the new gimmick king. Prices higher in store, they won’t Price Match their own site and now in store pickup requires a $10 minimum. First I’ve ever heard of that
I found that some grocery items target does not ship with their minimum 35 dollars ships for free. You have to buy through a different shipper which does not ship other types of target items meaning you can’t combine bread with plastic containers or sweats.
I’ve been seeing this for years at Target, CVS, and Walgreens. I now use ship-to-store/pickup for Target and Walgreens to lock-in their online prices. Since CVS doesn’t have this option for small orders, I rarely buy things there.
CVS goes further that just not having a ship-to-store option: there are many items online that say ‘in-store purchase only’ and have a specific price. When you get to the store, the price is higher. I’ve had to seek out the store manager to get them to honor their own $%# price.
Shopping at Target is so frustrating. First of all you’re lucky if you can find any price at all on the shelf for a lot of items. Ever try to figure out what a package of paper towels is going to cost? Sure you can drag it around the store in search of a scanner that is actually working, but that doesn’t tell you anything about how the price compares with other packages on the shelf. So you can’t comparison shop.
And when there is a price on the shelf chances are it won’t match the price that rings in at the register. Last week I bought three items at target and none of them rang in at the shelf price. Two cost more, one cost less. I would have bought two pairs of pants if I had known they were $6. off.
Getting them to price match with their web site can result in considerable savings, but they can’t seem to get their procedure straight for obtaining that price match. Different stores seem to handle it differently and even in the same store it will change from trip to trip. Somehow it always seems that if I go directly to the register I’m told I have to do it at the Service Desk. If I go directly to the Service Desk they tell me I can do it at the register!
One more thing. It really is a pain in the backside that you can’t go to the Target or Walgreen’s website and find out what an item will cost you if you buy it in the store.
More in-store scanners! And make them show the correct price! I, too, am a “know-price” shopper, will put things back if I can’t figure out the price easily.
I’m with you. I really hate surprises at the register.
In incredible amount of research done here. I often suspected that there were certain Targets in my area that had better grocery pricing. I can’t buy everything at Target, but we do find ourselves in there fairly often when we need specific things.
Actually, Joel, Target’s website makes it very easy to change stores and see what price is being charged online at each one.
Your Mouse Print article is interesting for sure, and useful. But I’m not sure why you are surprised that different locations of the same company charge different prices for things, including the website vs. physical locations. A gallon of gas doesn’t necessarily cost the same at every Mobil station in a given city, for example, and we accept that as normal.
The good thing is that, as a Target shopper for that particular item, when you picked it off the shelf, you were expecting to pay $1.99 for it, but it rang up for less… an unexpected bonus. (Most people would not have known about the lower web price, so leave that aside for now.) If the opposite would have happened (you being charged 20 cents more than the shelf price), that would not have been good, and you would have had a legitimate beef.
Does this reflect well on Target (having such big price differentials)? I would say “no, probably not”. Would it be better if the item were uniformly priced at the high $1.99 amount? Maybe Target works to make prices lower where it can (or where it feels like it has to), and for those purchasers it’s a bonus? I don’t know. Anyway, interesting article.
The difference between Target and a Mobil gas station is that Target owns all it’s own stores and individual Mobil gas stations are owned by different franchise holders, not Mobil.
And the problem with the various conflicting prices at Target is that trying to figure out what you are going to be charged at the register shouldn’t be a guessing game.
The price variance between gas stations has little to do with who owns them. It’s actually similar factors as to what is driving Target’s pricing differences (local competition, etc).
Exactly … this really shouldn’t surprise anyone. Different stores in different locations have different operating costs. It costs more to pay employees, pay taxes, keep the lights on, etc. in big-city-California, for example, than it does in small-town-Midwest. Individual stores need to offset those costs by adjusting prices while taking into account local competition, supply chain, etc. It’s not an evil plot, just he cost of doing business in diverse markets.
I ran into the same thing with Target in Los Angeles about 10 years ago, especially with cereal prices. The price tags differed wildly from what was actually charged. I brought the matter to the attention of management, and I was given refunds for a while, before they refused to honor the shelf prices. I finally brought the matter to the attention of LA County Weights and Measures, who investigated the issue thoroughly and fined Target $10 million dollars, as I remembered it. The Mouse Print roared!!!
Nice! The little guy actually one one for once.
My policy is not to patronize stores with a policy such as Target’s.
This is nothing new and is no shock or surprise to me. It has been going on for years and is even true at Walmart, although I don’t know if they’re willing to honor an online price as I haven’t checked. I’m a shopper by nature and pay attention to prices, something I’ve had to do to remain within a budget so I’ve been aware of this for a long time. This is why I prefer to shop in towns where the prices are lower.
Variable pricing has been a staple for years.
It’s what the local market will bear.
Interesting that this article about Target prices….where it claims that prices change in the app based on your location. If true, it would be difficult to get the “online matching price” while in the store.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/target-tracking-location-changing-prices_l_603fd12bc5b6ff75ac410a38
I use my phone apps (Target, Walmart, Dollar General, JC Penny, DSW, Kohls, BJ’s, Price Chopper, etc.) to scan for prices, rather than try to find a price scanner in-store that actually works.
I agree that customer service isn’t what it used to be! So many stores hire people without fully training them. I’ve had more than one instance where I had to “educate” a cashier on how to use a coupon. For example, on a “free” coupon “up to value X”, I was once told that the value couldn’t be less than x. Oh, and it couldn’t be more, either. They said it had to be exactly that price. Seriously!
And it’s not just regular retail. I was told that since a company sent our office a wrong toner, which they wanted back, I would have to jump through hoops “A” and “B” in order for them to send me a label. I told them I would throw it in the trash before doing that, and amazingly I received a pre-paid label!