Target is offering free 1-year subscriptions to Target Circle 360 to some shoppers

Guests who have already signed up for Target Circle 360 are not eligible to redeem the offer, according to Target’s website, which also says the memberships will auto-renew at full price after one year. The offer is available to members who spend $200 on select items over a certain period, according to several shoppers, though it’s unclear exactly when that period began or if there are other qualifications to receive the offer or other ways to do so. Target representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This promotion comes as Target has faced several underwhelming quarters with declining or near-flat sales year over year overall, and is beginning to adjust its tactics under the leadership of incoming CEO and longtime Target executive Michael Fiddelke.

“This gives them a way to get people to try Target Circle 360 and gets them over that hurdle of bringing Target back into their homes as a retailer,” said Anne Mezzenga, co-CEO of Omni Talk and a former marketing leader at Target. Still, she said, she questions whether the membership will provide enough value to customers to convince them not to cancel it before it auto-renews. “Is it going to be a better value and convenience for consumers that they can get over a Costco or a Walmart right now? That is an answer that I don’t know.”

Other than a new growth tactic, it could also be a response to the fact that the rapid growth in Circle 360 began to fade last quarter. Since the launch of the program in 2024, Target has consistently reported year-over-year growth in “same-day delivery powered by Target Circle 360″ during its quarterly earnings. In the second quarter, Target reported that this figure grew by more than 25%, down from the 35%-plus growth that Target reported in the first quarter.

The company has said 13 million new members have joined Target Circle and Circle 360 since launching the paid membership program last year, but it does not split the two out.

Brad Jashinsky, a retail analyst for Gartner, said tying the deal to how much customers are spending helps the company hone in on “shoppers that are going to actually take advantage of [Target Circle 360], instead of just utilizing a free trial for a couple of times for free shipping but not really see the full benefit of utilizing it longer-term.”

In another big push to grow the membership program, Target announced in May that it removed price markups from the third-party retailers available through Shipt. Free same-day deliveries from such retailers through Shipt were already available through Circle 360 but with additional fees.

Still, Jashinsky pointed out that other retailers have made bigger announcements over the last few years with new additions to their programs that go far beyond adjusting prices. “They are definitely behind, in terms of where Amazon and Walmart are in offering more of those ancillary products and services,” Jashinsky said.

For example, Amazon Prime has evolved into a bundle of various perks and partnerships, from free Grubhub+ access and fuel savings to live sports and streaming entertainment. Walmart just announced it’s adding Peacock subscriptions as a streaming option as part of its paid Walmart+ program; this is in addition to a slew of other perks the company has been adding to Walmart+, like discounts on gas and even Burger King orders.

Target Circle 360, on the other hand, doesn’t bundle in deals from partners as Amazon and Walmart have done. Its perks pirmarily center around Target and the retailers that offer delivery through Shipt.

“The most important thing is ensuring that … Target is messaging value across that trial,” Jashinsky said. “That’s messaging it in the app, in emails and during the shopping experience, so then — at the end, when that renewal comes up — the average shopper has an idea of, ‘Oh, this is how much I’ve saved, and these are the benefits I would be losing.'”