Target ends price matching, betting customers will stay for the brand, not the discount.
Target just pulled the plug on one of its most customer-friendly perks—and it’s because….customers were actually using it? 🚨
Target ends price matching with Amazon and Walmart
Starting July 28, 2025, Target will officially end its price matching policy with Amazon and Walmart. That means no more bringing in screenshots or playing the 14-day refund game to get the lowest price. According to Retail Dive, Target claims customers “overwhelmingly price match Target and not other retailers,” so the program simply stopped making sense.
This change nukes one of the last major price-match safety nets in big-box retail. Walmart already killed its Savings Catcher back in 2019. Amazon never offered price matching to begin with.
Target is making a bigger pivot
Target is in the middle of a broad turnaround effort after sliding sales, customer backlash, and brutal tariff pressure. The retailer missed Q1 revenue and cut its full-year forecast back in May.
Former CEO Brian Cornell said in May that price hikes are a “last resort” as tariffs pile on. But ending this price match policy tells us exactly where they’re trimming fat to protect margins.
They’re betting on brand power, not price games. Think Target Circle perks, exclusive house brands, and the in-store experience that’s kept suburban moms calling it “Tar-jay.”
What this means for ecommerce operators
This shift matters for anyone selling in, around, or against big-box channels:
- 📈 Margins just got breathing room. Price matching kills profit. Ditching it lets Target hold pricing power.
- 🧵 It’s a loyalty gamble. Target’s assuming brand equity offsets the friction. But for deal-hunters, that loyalty is fragile.
- 🧼 Competitive positioning tightens. Amazon just pulled off a $24.1B Prime Day, Walmart leaned into school-supply deals, and Target froze some prices to stay in the mix.
But freezing prices is short-term. Killing price match is structural. It sets the new tone: no more racing to the bottom.
The real takeaway
If you’re still handing out price matches to keep up with Amazon, you’re doing it wrong. Target saw what most brands ignore: price matching trains customers to disloyalty. It conditions them to shop around, not stick around.
So Target’s killing the crutch. The bet? Customers will stay for the experience, not just the receipt math.
In an era of tariff tension, AI-fueled buying, and margin-thin operations, this move is less about PR and more about survival. Watch how shoppers react. Then ask yourself: Are you building a business on lowest prices, or strongest brand value?
The Weekly Rundown for Ecommerce Insiders
