Score Significant Savings With This Target Hack
I love Target. I am such a Target fan that I once convinced a woman in the checkout line at Target to get a RedCard. I will also evangelize about the RedCard to anyone, as if there weren’t obvious. And combining Cartwheel with the RedCard? I MEAN.
I use the Target app throughout Target when I’m shopping, because you can just scan a barcode and if there’s a deal on Cartwheel for that item, it will pop up and automatically add that deal to your account. Normally, when you bring up an item on the Target app when you’re in the store, it tells you what the in-store price is, if it’s in stock, and what aisle you can find it in. The other day I was shopping and I noticed that all the items I was scanning were showing up with the online price, BUT there was a note I never noticed before that said Target has a price match policy, where you can show them the online price of any item and they’ll match it in-store. As someone who will ONLY buy Real Techniques from Target’s website because they cost HALF AS MUCH as in the store, this was great news.
Take, for example, my favorite brow pencil. In store, the Cover Girl Easy Breezy Brow Pencil is $7.79, but online it’s $4.79. THREE WHOLE DOLLARS LESS. I showed the team member at checkout the online price, and asked if the price match policy was for everything. She said yes, and neither of us could believe the prices were so dramatically different between the store and online. I mean, I have a theory, but more on that in a bit. Oh, and I checked elsewhere to see if this is just some weird Target fluke, but at Ulta this same brow pencil is $7.99.
And I love Real Techniques, but until now I solely bought their brushes and sponges online, because the in-store markup was ridiculous. This set of mini sponges is $7.89 in-store but just $4.79 online. Again, I did an Ulta price check, and they sell this set for $7.99.
If you’re like me, this price disparity is driving you bonkers. I have only noticed it with beauty products, but I did a little scanning and searching in other areas to see if I could get the same results. Food was the same in store and online. Toothpaste was generally the same, or a few cents off. The closest non-cosmetics item I could get to ring up differently in store vs online was women’s deodorant, which was two dollars less. I feel comfortable assuming Target is selling their makeup, and, from what I can tell, only makeup at a significant markup in-store.
I was always fine with this, because I’m a research-oriented shopper and I knew to buy certain items online. There was an easy workaround! Our only relief from the weight of capitalism is feeling like we have hunted down some savings! But once I started scanning around the whole store, I started to get a bit pissed. It feels like Target is capitalizing on that scenario so many makeup wearers are familiar with - a need for mascara, or a lipstick, or whatever, that you need to attain easily and quickly. You have a date/job interview/plane to catch in a half hour and you can’t order online and save $4, you need it NOW. And Target makes some extra cash.
And that price match policy? It’s not easy to find! If you’re not using the app in-store AND scrolling down on the page, AND THEN clicking on “Price Match Policy” how are you to know? Well, now you will, because I’m telling you. Get that price MATCHED. And Target? Maybe stop hiking up the price of makeup. I love you, please love me back.
