Target has a long history of collaborating with major brands and celebrities, from a partnership with architect Michael Graves in the ’90s to exclusive “Stranger Things” products last year. As the company seeks to return to growth, it is pushing the gas pedal on exclusive or limited-time collections with popular brands.
In March, it launched a limited-time collaboration with TikTok-favorite apparel brand Roller Rabbit, including a Target-exclusive print, mystery boxes and an exclusive women’s sleepwear set. It partnered with viral apparel brand Parke on a collection of sweatshirts, swimwear and accessories in April. This month, it launched an exclusive collection with Pokémon to celebrate 30 years of the brand with apparel, accessories, home goods, food and beverage, and more.
These collaborations are showing to be massively popular. Target’s Roller Rabbit collection did $100,000 in sales per minute in the first hour it was available, according to Glossy. That’s about $6 million in an hour, or about 5,000 items per minute. The Parke partnership rode the popularity of a brand that grew from $100,000 in sales to about $16 million in three and a half years, according to Inc., calling it a “hit with the TikTok crowd.” In turn, Parke and Target’s partnership created crowds around stores, as captured in TikTok videos, Yahoo Life reported. Meanwhile, an Instagram video from influencer Noah Glenn Carter showed long lines around the store for the Pokémon launch, alleging that resellers were raiding the aisles.
