As some retailers raise their prices due to inflation and looming tariffs, one Target shopper believes it uses a sneaky marketing strategy to get customers to pay more.
In a video with over 1.4 million views, TikToker Katie Reckley (@katiereck) picks up a pair of Wild Fable shorts.
“This is so weird. Tell me why Target is literally ripping off all the tags so you don’t know how much it is when you’re buying it,” she says, pointing out that the small perforated price tag at the bottom of the barcode is missing.
On-screen text reads, “IDK this is sneaky and I don’t like it.”
She continues in the caption, “Target, do better. Price obfuscation is a marketing or retail strategy where companies make it intentionally hard for customers to compare prices or understand the original value of a product.”
Is Target changing its clothing prices?
Target has not released a statement indicating that removing the perforated price tags on clothing is an official strategy. However, one Target worker on Reddit says they noticed the pricing team staying after close.
“They said that because of their new system, where they’re removing pricing off of merchandise (presumably to practice dynamic pricing and change the prices whenever they want) they had to stay after close bc they couldn’t do it in front of customers,” the poster writes.
Other workers comment that Target implements the “emergency price changes” due to upcoming tariffs.
President Donald Trump placed a 90-day pause on his sweeping tariffs, which impact nearly everything the United States imports, NPR reports. However, that pause expires this Friday, Aug. 1, leading some retailers to panic about increased costs.
Have shoppers noticed the change?
In the comments of Reckley’s video, other Target shoppers say they notice price tags disappearing from stores across the country.
“I thought I was going crazy!!! I noticed this lately, like what!!” one exclaims.
“And then I tried to price check it and it said ‘ask a sales associate,’” another shares.
“Also I feel like it discourages people from buying it more than anything. When I was there yesterday anything that didn’t have the price on it I just put back,” a third laments.
Others recommend using the Target app to scan products for the current price.
“Jokes on them i’ll just scan it with the app and see how much,” one commenter says.
“If u have the target app u can scan the barcode on the app and it’ll tell u,” another writes.
@katiereck Target do better, price obfuscation is a marketing or retail strategy where companies make it intentionally hard for customers to compare prices or understand the original value of a product. #target #retail #retailtherapy #shopping #targetfinds ♬ original sound – katiereckley
The Mary Sue reached out to Target and Reckley for further comment.
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