On Feb. 22, Target announced it would be expanding its supply chain sortation network to allow next-day delivery to more consumers across the United States.
As part of a $100 million investment, Target said it would expand its sortation network to more than 15 facilities by the end of 2026. Currently, the company has nine sortation centers in Minnesota, Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. The investment would expand the network, creating hundreds of jobs, the company said.
“Now more than ever, our guests rely on us to deliver their everyday essentials and Target favorites when they want and need them most,” said Gretchen McCarthy, Target’s chief global supply chain & logistics officer. “Through our sortation centers and Target Last Mile Delivery capabilities, we’re able to move faster and with more precision — while controlling costs and expanding our network capacity — for years to come.”
The move will further the company’s stores-as-hubs strategy, leveraging store networks as a launchpad for online orders. Sortation centers, the company said, are the next phase, ensuring faster delivery, saving shipping costs, and fueling long-term growth.
Sortation centers sort online orders for delivery to local neighborhoods by third-party carriers or Shipt delivery route. Each sortation center team visits 30 to 40 local stores to pick up packages for delivery. In partnership with Shipt, the company can have drivers take advantage of larger routes using larger-capacity vehicles that can hold up to eight times more packages per route.
With sortation logistics off-site, stores have more room for picking and packing guest orders, the company said, and allows teams to pick and pack larger numbers of packages every year.
Target expects the expansion will increase the number of customers receiving next-day orders by 150 percent, and the number of packages going through sortation centers will reach 50 million in 2023.