Battle for the Last Mile: Target Acquires Grand Junction
by Benjamin Gordon, Cambridge Capital
Target recently announced they were acquiring Grand Junction. Why would a retailer be buying a logistics technology company? In a word: Amazon. This move gives Target an important capability with which to compete with Amazon in last-mile logistics.
To take a closer look, let’s start with Grand Junction. Who are they, and what to do they do? Grand Junction is an e-commerce solution for last-mile logistics. They were founded in 2014, and have grown to the point where they handle 6 million local deliveries a month. In addition, their network includes more than 700 carriers.
Target cares tremendously about the last-mile. Like Amazon, Target is expanding in the grocery sector. Amazon acquired Whole Foods. Amazon also can leverage its Amazon Prime service to give members in 30 cities a solution that can be as quick as an hour.
Target, meanwhile, generates 20% of its revenue from groceries. One important question is how to boost Target’s ability to fulfill direct-to-consumer for grocery purchases. Target’s e-commerce is growing rapidly. They expanded by 22% this quarter…
