Target offers an affordable take on a pricey product line

One advantage of being a large retailer with at least one location in every major city is that you've got mass brand appeal, and you can wield it in creative ways. 

A company like Target, for example, doesn't really need to grow its brand awareness or convince people of the quality of its shopping experience. Many people will go out of their way to shop there — even if it means driving past a Walmart  (WMT) - Get Free Report or Best Buy  (BBY) - Get Free Report to do so. 

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Target's clean and pleasant shopping experience, paired with its reliability and ease of use (it's taken great pains to build its pickup-in-store efforts, among others) makes it an easy post-pandemic winner in a landscape that's begun to look a lot like a retail graveyard.

And while it certainly is still grappling with some troubles, including a rise in retail theft that's cutting into its bottom line, Target  (TGT) - Get Free Report still has plenty of money to experiment with on efforts that might help offset those losses. 

Target rolls out a new product line

Target is plunging deeper into the kitchen and home-goods department, rolling out a highly Instagramable line of more than 250 items and accessories. 

The brand, called Figmint, is Target's first-ever owned and in-house kitchen brand.  Prior to that, it had been carrying other well-known brands, including Lodge, Wilton and Pyrex. 

The new line, Target's 49th in-house brand addition, will include enamelware, cast iron, nontoxic cookware, and stainless steel products. Many of the pots and pans will be available in popular and trendy color options, including sage green, terracotta orange, cream white and dusty blue. 

For example, a seven-piece nonstick ceramic coated aluminum cookware set retails for $100 and includes a stockpot with a lid, saucepan with a lid, sauté pan with a lid and a frypan. Pricing for small accessories starts at $3. 

Target has seen success with some of its other private-label in-house designs. Its All in Motion athletic wear brought in $1 billion of revenue a year after it launched. 

Other splashy names include A New Day, which is a young women's fashion label, and largely follow today's fast-fashion trends. Its in-house Knox Rose serves a more professional and mature clientele, and Auden is a size-inclusive underwear and garments brand. 

It doesn't just dabble in design, though. Some of Target's best-known brands are found in the food section, where the Good & Gather and Favorite Day labels brought in $30 billion of revenue in 2021. 

Part of what's made Target brands so successful is its accessibility. It regularly releases new on-trend items at relatively affordable prices. A pair of strappy black high heels with a sparkled and bedazzled bow costs just $40 but looks similar to a pair that retails at Neiman Marcus for more than $1,000. 

Target also focuses not just on aesthetics but also sustainability — 95% of the Figmint products don't use plastic and the chain works specifically with occupational therapists to ensure ease of use.  

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