Target’s Discounts Undercut Rivals While Bringing Some Headaches

The company offered a 15 percent discount on almost all its products online Monday, a more widespread deal than in past years. It also lowered prices on many apparel and toy products by 30 percent, shifting away from the buy-one-get-one-discounted approach it used in 2014. The promotions were so popular that Target drew twice the traffic of its previous record-setting day, forcing the retailer to throttle back access to its website.

Target also has offered some of the industry’s lowest prices on toys, a key category during the holidays. Its toy prices were 1.3 percent below those of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. during Black Friday and 5.2 percent cheaper than Amazon.com Inc., according to an online survey by Bloomberg Intelligence. Target also undercut Toys “R” Us Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp.’s Kmart chain, the survey found.