Target starts price war with Walmart by slashing the cost of 5,000 popular items

Target will be lowering prices on at least 5,000 frequently bought products ranging from milk to diapers as the big-box retailer looks to win customers from Walmart.

High food prices and borrowing costs have made cash-crunched customers more conscious of their spending and instead look for cheaper products in stores and online, forcing retailers to lower prices to get more consumers to their stores.

Target also faces stiff competition from larger rival Walmart, which already offers products at lower prices, and last week signaled a resilient U.S. shopper, betting on easing inflationary concerns.

'We know consumers are feeling pressured to make the most of their budget,' said Rick Gomez, Target's chief food, essentials and beauty officer.

Other key food items including meat, bread, fresh fruit and vegetables will be discounted going into Memorial Day weekend. Soda, various snacks and yogurts will also go down in price, Target said.

Target is slashing the price of items such as meat, fruit, vegetables, snacks, pet foods and more

As earnings season begins to wind down, Target is reporting its quarterly results Wednesday and appears to making a bet on price cuts contributing to a positive outlook going forward.

Target's stock is up nearly 12 percent year to date and the retailer said its already made 1,500 items cheaper, including frozen chicken breast and shredded cheese, with more price cuts coming throughout the summer.

The discounts will be spread out across dozens of national brands as well as Target's own brands, the company said - adding that these newest discounts are on top of price cuts it had already planned going into Memorial Day weekend. 

Target Circle Card members will get an additional 5 percent discount at checkout and will be offered exclusive deals throughout the year.

At a time when people's savings accounts are drying up post-pandemic, many companies are taking gambles by offering special, limited time deals to appeal to cash-strapped Americans.

McDonald's just debuted a $5 meal bundle for the summer, and Wendy's is heavily  promoting their 50-nugget bucket.

Target is deploying new scanners to combat theft at its self-checkout machines, which will roll out to all stores by the end of the year. It's also now limiting self-checkout customers to 10 items or fewer

This comes as the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that there were 17 million households that struggled to afford food in 2022, which was a 2.6 percent increase from the year prior. 

The consumer price index, which measures inflation, peaked at 9.1 percent in June 2022 and declined all throughout 2023. 

Price growth is still higher than it was before the pandemic, clocking in at 3.4 percent as of April 2024.

While companies try to appeal to customers dealing with stubbornly high prices, they also have to contend with rising retail theft.

In major cities like New York City and Los Angeles, shoplifting is up more than 60 percent.

Major retailers are responding in a variety of ways, with Target recently cracking downs on self-checkout because of its unique vulnerability to stealing. 

Shoppers are now only allowed to bring 10 items to the self checkout scanner at Target.

Target is also deploying new scanners at its self-checkout machines, which will roll out to all stores by the end of the year.