Shipt is an American delivery service owned by

Target Corporation Target Corporation is an American retail corporation that operates a chain of discount department stores and hypermarkets, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh-largest retailer in the United States, and a component of th ...

. It is headquartered in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

. In December 2017, it was announced that

was acquiring Shipt for $550 million and that it would operate as an independent subsidiary following the acquisition. As of 2018, Shipt delivered groceries, home products, and select electronics.

History

Shipt was founded and initially funded by Bill Smith. Before launching Shipt, Smith had built other businesses including a cellphone business, a small loan business, and a prepaid Visa card business. The company soft-launched in November 2014 in

with 1,000 pre-enrollment customers and officially launched in Birmingham in May 2015. By 2016, the service was available to 27 metro areas in 9 states. The company initially targeted regions that had no grocery delivery services before expanding into other regions. In July 2016, Shipt received a $20 million

Series A A series A is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. It can be followed by the word round, investment or financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exchan ...

investment Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

led by Greycroft Partners, e.ventures and Harbert Growth Partners. The company said it planned to use the funding to develop partnerships and scale. Shipt raised an additional $40 million in Series B funding in June 2017. The round was led by Greycroft Partners with participation from previous investors. At the time of the investment the company operated in 47 markets across the U.S. On December 13, 2017,

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

announced it would acquire Shipt for $550 million to improve its same-day shipping capabilities. After the acquisition, Shipt continued to form delivery partnerships with retailers other than Target. Following the acquisition, Target said it planned to use Shipt and its infrastructure to facilitate same-day delivery from a majority of its stores and that the service would be available for more than 55,000 products initially and that, by the end of the year, every major category of product would be included. In March 2018, the company announced it was launching same-day delivery from Target stores in

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Anchorage Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolita ...

, Fairbanks,

Juneau Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of wha ...

and

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, and the

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

region the following month with plans to deliver products in 170 markets by year-end. In March 2019, Shipt named Target veteran Kelly Caruso as its new CEO, succeeding founder Bill Smith, who continued with the company in an advisory role. In February 2022, Shipt announced that Kamau Witherspoon would join the company as its new CEO, effective March 1, 2022. Witherspoon held leadership roles with various companies including UnitedHealthcare,

Yum! Brands Yum! Brands, Inc. (sometimes called simply Yum!) is an American multinational fast food corporation. It is a spin-off of PepsiCo, after they acquired KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. PepsiCo divested the brands in 1997, and these consolidated as ...

, and

, where he most recently was senior vice president of operations. In that role, he was responsible for the company’s operational planning and prioritization, partner operations, M&A integration, and process improvement initiatives across supply chain, stores and properties. Previously, he was senior vice president, operational performance and readiness at UnitedHealthcare, leading new business integration, M&A integration, operational strategy, and field operations. And he also held the position of chief restaurant excellence officer for the

KFC KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...

US division of Yum! Brands leading the overall transformation of operations.

Service

Shipt facilitates same-day delivery from various retailers to its members through either a

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

app, available on

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

and Android platforms, or via their websites. Having a Shipt membership enables customers to place orders for products from local retailers such as ABC Fine Wine & Spirits,

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, Cos ...

, CVS, Harris Teeter,

H-E-B H-E-B Grocery Company, LP, is an American privately held company, privately held supermarket chain based in San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, with more than 435 stores throughout Texas and Mexico. The company also operates Central Market (Texas) ...

, Jewel Osco,

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinc ...

Lucky's Market Lucky's Market is a brand of supermarkets that are being used by two independent and unrelated regional supermarket chains, LM Acquisition Co. LLC in Colorado and Lucky's Market Ohio in Ohio. LM Acquisition Co. LLC , doing business as Lucky' ...

Meijer Meijer Inc. (, ) is an American supercenter chain that primarily operates throughout the Midwestern United States. Its corporate headquarters are in Walker, Michigan. Founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain, Meijer is credited with pioneering ...

Office Depot The ODP Corporation is an American office supply retailer headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. The company operates 922 retail stores in the United States under the Office Depot and OfficeMax brands, as well as e-commerce sites and a business ...

OfficeMax OfficeMax is an American office supplies retailer founded in 1988. As an independent chain, it was the third-largest office supply retailer in the United States. Following a 2013 merger, it is currently a brand and subsidiary of Office Depot. ...

Publix Publix Super Markets, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Publix, is an employee ownership, employee-owned American supermarket Chain store, chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, Publix is a Privately h ...

Safeway Safeway, Inc. is an American supermarket chain. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, delicatessen, floral and pharmacy, as well as Starbucks coffee shops, and veh ...

, Shaw's and Star Market,

, Roche Bros., ShopRite and

Winn-Dixie Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., is an American supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Founded in 1925, Winn-Dixie grocery stores and liquor stores serve communities throughout five southeastern states – Alabama, ...

. Customer orders are shopped and delivered by more than 300,000 "Shipt Shoppers" across the country. These shoppers are not employees but self-employed contractors who deliver on behalf of the company. The membership costs $99 per year.

References

{{Online food ordering Target Corporation American companies established in 2014 Retail companies established in 2014 Transport companies established in 2014 Internet properties established in 2014 2017 mergers and acquisitions Online grocers Companies based in Birmingham, Alabama 2014 establishments in Alabama

History

Service

See also

References