My Thoughts on Target App Price Switch
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At the end of January a news station ran a story about how the prices in the Target app switch when you walk in the store. I’m here to tell you, this really isn’t news folks! Target has always stated that their prices vary store to store and online as well. They also agree that they will price match Target.com if you see a cheaper price. If you choose the store location you will see the store price. If you don’t choose location services you will see the Target.com price. If you want to see if Target.com has a cheaper price you can simply visit Target.com via your web browser and not through the Target app. It’s that simple!
Here is an example of the in-store price of $299.99, the app based price when it was set to my store location of $299.99 and when I used my web browser to check the price at Target.com it was $249.99. So if I wanted to buy this product I would simply go to customer service and show them the price at Target.com (not via the app).
Many people are saying that in order to get the best deal you want to make sure that you have your app’s location services set to “never” and I am going to disagree with that. This pricing works both ways, there may be newer items that are cheaper online, but if you want to know the lowest clearance price of an item you will want your app set to the location you are visiting. Here are a couple of examples of how items were actually lower in store with my app set on the exact location vs. when I didn’t have the location set on my phone.
These images shows that it doesn’t necessarily make the most sense to have your app set to never allow location services. In both of these cases the app will show a higher price than the actual in-store price if you have it set to never allow location access.
I’m all about the best clearance deals when it comes to shopping Target, so I don’t really use the app all that much except maybe to check for Cartwheel offers, but you can use the app to check for clearance prices too and this won’t work unless your setting allow for location access.
My point for sharing this is to show that I don’t believe Target is no trying to pull a fast one on us, the prices you are seeing are all app based. When you are in the store and your app is set to the location you will see the in-store price (some will be lower and some will be higher than Target.com). If you turn your location services off you will see the Target.com prices (again some will be lower and some will be higher). If you are buying an item and want to make sure you are paying the best price, use your web browser to check not only Target.com, but Amazon.com, Walmart.com and any other competitor.
Please fell free to share you thoughts. Do you use the Target app regularly? What do you have your location services set on?
I had this exact scenario when trying to buy a clearance item that was out of stock online but available in my store. It showed as $19.98 on the app as the store price but was $39.98 in store. When I went to target.com, it wouldn’t pull a price since it was out of stock. I was so frustrated because I drove there specifically knowing they would price match target.com even if they had a higher price in store, but neither the app nor target.com would pull up the cheaper price once I was in store so they wouldn’t price match.
in that instance you could take a screen shot since the price will change once you’re in the store.
I’ve experienced this many times with video games! In the store that are the full $60, but in the app they were on sale for $30. They had no problem matching the price. 🙂
Christie,
Off this subject, I am curious about items that scan with no price. A manager told me they are salvage and I should be given the 90% off price that I paid after Christmas. That day I gave the register clerk his name and she complied but most often they look at me in disbelief and will only mark down to 70%. Have you run into this?
When ever items ring up item not found they are salvaged items and they won’t sell them. I haven’t had anyone sell me an item that rang up item not found in years. : (
when I get an item that brings up “not found“, the cashier or supervisor will make up a low price that’s acceptable to me. In my experience, they always allow me to purchase the product; they never hang onto it
How can I find this feature…. I cannot find anything that says “location”
In the Target app, click on “account” and then click on “app settings”. You will find it there.