Target Corp. is ramping up investment in its third-party online marketplace, Target Plus, as it searches for growth in a turbulent retail environment marked by cooling consumer demand and persistent economic uncertainty.
Target leans into third-party online marketplace growth
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As the retail job market contracts, the analysis found companies in the sector also have not released hiring plans this year to date — a noteworthy development given that the holiday season is around the corner. Tariffs, inflation and economic uncertainty have prompted retailers to close stores and lay off employees, the report said.
Many of those same challenges are impacting industries more broadly as well.
“Closings of stores, units, or plants have led to 120,226 layoffs so far this year, while restructuring efforts have resulted in 66,879 job cuts. Bankruptcies accounted for another 35,641 layoffs,” according to the report.
Indeed, multiple major retailers have shuttered locations amid broader corporate restructurings. Between 2024 and February 2025, retailers closed more than 9,900 stores, but they only opened 7,700 locations during that period, a JLL analysis found.
While some retailers have issued pink slips to a fraction of their staff, others are shutting down most or all of their storefronts.
Two Sides are excited to announce its newest member, the Marketing Agency, Edit, part of the Kin and Carta plc. Edit are a bunch of talented data scientists, media experts, and technology architects who create marketing that matters by obsessing about less. They provide print media to their clients around the world, with a focus on accurately targeting the right audience, with the right message, at the right time. “Edit is delighted to become a member. We look forward to working with Two Sides to promote the sustainable story of print media and enhance our own sustainability story,” says Head of Media Solutions, Sarah Burns.
In what appears to be a first-of-its-kind boast, Cox Media Group claimed in marketing materials that it can use microphones in smartphones and other web connected devices to listen in on people's conversations, and then target ads to people based on those conversations. “It's True. Your Devices Are Listening to You,” the Cox Media Group (CMG) Local Solutions division wrote on a website (now archived) touting “active listening” technology. “With Active Listening, CMG can now use voice data to target your advertising to the EXACT people you are looking for.”