Target Plus: marketplace guide

About this guide

This is a ChannelEngine guide on the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based marketplace Target Plus. Here you can find information on how to request a Target Plus account, how to configure this marketplace on ChannelEngine, what the specific requirements are, and more.

Table of contents

Commercial information

How to request an account

Associated costs

Marketplace features

Settings and configuration

Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions

• Setup
• Categorization
• Mappings
• Pricing
• Listed products

Additional information

FAQs

Commercial information

Founded	June 24, 1902
Founder	George Dayton
Headquarters	Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Area served (orders)	United States
Area served (shipments)	United States
Number of monthly visits	circa 200 million
Website	Target Plus
Setup cost	none
Commission	depends on the category
Other costs	none
Payment	weekly, every Tuesday
Product categories	books, music, films, cameras, auto/motorcycle parts, fashion, cooking, DIY/gardening, electronics, food, furniture/interior design, games/toys, healthcare, household appliances, jewelry/watches, kids/babies, musical instruments, cosmetics/perfumes, pets, shoes, bags, luggage, sports equipment, office supplies, telecommunications equipment, video games
Input language	English
Input currency	USD
Content creation	yes
Minimum number of SKUs	no
Advertisement options	yes
Commission via the API?	yes
Profile on ChannelEngine	Target Plus

How to request an account

If you are interested in selling your products on Target Plus, contact your customer success manager at ChannelEngine. A number of requirements apply before you can be considered for a merchant account. E.g.:

• Your business is registered in US, and you can provide W-9.
• All of your products have valid GS1-certified UPCs.
• You can ship within 24 business hours.
• You can ship with approved carriers (UPS, USPS, FedEx) and fulfill all orders from the United States.
• You can ship orders without branded boxes, packing slips, or marketing materials.
• You can accept palletized in-store returns delivered to a US business address as well as individual, mail-in returns directly from the buyer.

Associated costs

Target Plus does not charge setup or monthly fees. However, it does charge a category-based commission on each sale, which ranges from 5% to 15%.

Marketplace features

Supported	Not supported
Product content	Repricing
Product offers	Marketplace fulfilment service
Cancelations (marketplace)*	Sales channels**
Cancelations (merchant)	Returns (merchant)
Product variations	HTML formatting
Returns (marketplace)	Refurbished products
GTIN and SKU matching

* Buyers can cancel an order within 30 minutes of placing it while the order status is Pending. To allow ChannelEngine to import canceled orders, ensure the Include canceled orders setting is enabled on the Setup page.

** A marketplace that supports sales channels allows merchants to list and sell products across multiple markets (e.g.: countries, regions, and states), all from the same connection.

Settings and configuration

Setting up each marketplace on ChannelEngine follows the same flow, though not every marketplace includes the steps listed below.

1. Go through the Setup.
2. Create a Product selection.
3. Complete the Categorization.
4. Set up the Mappings: content, offers, and carriers.
5. Configure the Pricing: rules and currency conversion.
6. Finish the Activation.
7. Check the Listed products overview.

Marketplace-specific requirements and exceptions

Setup

On Target Plus

1. Log in to Target Plus Portal.
2. Go to Business info, Basic info, and copy the SMS ID value. Use this as the Seller ID on ChannelEngine.
3. Go to Partner settings, API tokens. Generate a new API token and copy it. You must have administrator access to generate an API token.

On ChannelEngine

Go to the Setup page of your Target Plus marketplace on ChannelEngine and enter the following credentials:

• Seller ID - your unique ID on Target Plus.
• Seller token - your unique token on Target Plus.

Advanced settings

• Include canceled orders - if enabled, ChannelEngine imports orders canceled by the buyer within Target Plus 30-minute cancelation window. These orders are then included in your ChannelEngine order import.

Categorization

Merchants are only allowed selling products from the categories they are contractually allocated to. This is defined during the onboarding at Target Plus.

Mappings

Content

All products (required)

• Brand - the product's brand.
• Bullet feature 1-2 - the product's main highlights. The maximum number of characters is 120, and HTML is not supported. For product variations, this attribute must be submitted on both parent and child level – and must be generic and applicable to all children for the parent and unique for the child.  
• Description - the product's main description. HTML is not supported. The requirements are:
  • Character length - 50 at minimum and 20,000 at maximum.
  • Submit descriptions for all products, including standalone and variations (i.e.: parent, child).
  • Parent product descriptions must be generic and applicable to all children.
  • Child product descriptions must be specific and include size or color information.
• EAN/GTIN - the product's valid 12-digit GS1-certified UPC or 13-digit EAN. ChannelEngine automatically maps this attribute to the product's barcode. Therefore, this attribute is not available for manual mapping. However, to avoid validation errors and issues with the product not appearing on Target Plus, the following Target Plus requirements apply:
  • UPC
    • Must have 12 digits.
    • Must start with 0, 1, 6, 7, 8, or 9.
    • Cannot start with 4 or 5.
    • If your UPCs start with 3, please contact Target Plus to approve them for use.
  • EAN
    
    • Must have 13 digits.
    • Must start with 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, or 9.
    • Cannot start with 0 or 99.
• Import designation - defines if the product was imported; made in the USA and imported; or made in the USA or imported.
• Main image URL - the product's main image. The requirements are:
  • File format - JPG or JPEG is preferred, but TIF, PSD, and PNG are also acceptable.
  • Color profile - images must be RGB. The Adobe RGB 1998 color profile is preferred, though sRGB is also acceptable.
  • Resolution - at most 6,000x6,000 px, but 2,400x2,400 px is preferred. The minimum resolution is 1,200x1,200 px.
  • Cropping - square cropped (1:1 ratio), with the product maximizing the space in the frame.
  • Each image should have its own unique image URL.
  • Although only one image is required for a product to launch on Target Plus, a minimum of three is preferred.
• Package depth - the packaged product's depth in inches.
• Package height - the packaged product's height in inches. 
• Package weight - the packaged product's weight in pounds.
• Package width - the packaged product's width in inches.
• Product title - the product's title. The requirements are:
  • Recommended character length - between 21 and 100.
  • Maximum character length - 150.
  • Avoid using trademark (™) or copyright (®) symbols for brands.
  • Submit titles for all products, including standalone and variations (parent, child).
  • Parent product titles must be generic and applicable to all children. These titles appear on the product listing and details pages.
  • Child product titles must be specific and include size or color information. These titles appear once the product is in the cart.
  NB: for more information on product titles, check out the Target Plus Portal article. 
• Proposition 65 - defines if the product is compliant with California's Proposition 65.
• Proposition 65 warning - the product's applicable warning, if any, in compliance with California's Proposition 65.

All products (optional)

• Alternative image URL 1-8 - the product's additional images. For the requirements, see Main image URL.
• Bullet feature 8-10 - the product's additional highlights. The maximum number of characters is 120, and HTML is not supported.
• Variation color - the product's variation color.
• Variation size - the product's variation size.
• Variation theme - defines the type of variation involved (i.e.: color; size; color and size). Note that if a product is not a standalone, the relevant variation attributes must be mapped.

Uploading product videos to Target Plus via the API is currently not possible. To upload videos, use email. Note that Target Plus only accepts videos for parent products, not individual child products. For more information on video requirements and submission instructions, check out the Target Plus Portal article. 

Offer

Required

• Eligible for 2-day shipping - defines if the product is eligible for 2-day shipping. This attribute must align with your setup in Target Plus Portal (i.e.: Shipping details).
• Export content - set it to 'yes' to export the product content to Target Plus. Set it to 'no' and the product's content is not exported, which is useful if you want to connect to existing marketplace offers. The default value is 'yes', even if the attribute is left unmapped. 
• Only eligible as add-on item - defines if the product is an add-on. If yes, the buyer's shopping cart total must be at least USD 35.00 when checking out. Otherwise, no minimum amounts are enforced.
• Return policy - the product's return policy, which must be set up in Target Plus Portal before it can be mapped to this attribute.
• Shipping exclusion - indicates if the product cannot be shipped to one or more locations in the USA. When shipping exclusion is set to Yes, customers with specific ZIP codes cannot purchase your product.

Optional

• List price - the product's regular retail price. This price should be higher than Offer price.
• MAP price - the product's minimum advertised price. This price is suggested by the manufacturer or wholesaler.
• Offer price - the product's discounted price. Discounted products are marked with a Sale tag on Target Plus. For items priced below MAP price, the discount is shown only in the cart and not on the product listing or product details pages.

Carrier

Carrier mapping is mandatory on Target Plus, and only shipments via USPS, UPS, and FedEx are supported. For the list of approved carriers and methods, check the Target Plus Portal article. If your preferred carrier is not included in the list, contact Target Plus to have it added. Additionally:

• Merchants are responsible for selecting the carrier method and service level for all shipments.
• Shipments are booked and rates negotiated directly by the merchant.
• Return slips must not be included.

Pricing

Target Plus requires prices to be submitted in USD. If you do not have pricing attributes in USD, you need to set a currency conversion.

Listed products

If you have problems with products not appearing on Target Plus (especially if you are trying to add products that do not exist yet), check the Listed products page for more information.

You can either filter on Channel status (Invalid for all products that ChannelEngine has not exported, such as products with an empty EAN or products that currently do not exist on Target Plus) or use the Validation and feedback tab to see all known validation/feedback errors for specific products, e.g.: if the value exceeds the maximum character length.

 

Additional information

Order extra data items

When an order is imported to ChannelEngine, ChannelEngine also fetches extra data items related to the order itself – or to order lines. This extra data is specific to this marketplace. An explanation of each can be found below: 

Order extra data

Keys	Description
ship_node_id	The ID of the ship node, which represents warehouses or distribution centers in Target Plus back-end.
vmm_vendor_id	The ID of the seller in Target Plus back-end.
requested_shipment_date	The date when the shipment was requested by Target Plus.
requested_delivery_date	The date when the product is expected to be delivered.
total_item_discount	The total amount of the item discount for all order lines.
total_shipping_discount	The total amount of the shipping discount for all order lines.
total_gift_option	The total amount of the gift option costs for all order lines.
item_discount_index	The discount description and the amount for that discount.

FAQs

How often does each task run on Target Plus?

Tasks run according to the following schedule on Target Plus:

Task	Frequency
Export product content to marketplace	every 60 minutes
Export product offers to marketplace	every 15 minutes
Import product offers from marketplace	every 15 minutes
Import orders from marketplace	every 20 minutes
Import returns from marketplace	every 60 minutes
Export shipments to marketplace	every 60 minutes
Export returns to marketplace	every 60 minutes
Export product images to marketplace	every 60 minutes

Why are my products not created on Target Plus?

It can take 3-4 days for Target Plus to check and validate new products. If the product is not created even after 5 days, and there are no errors related to it on ChannelEngine, contact Target Plus.

How can I deactivate my product on Target Plus?

To deactivate a product on Target Plus, remove it from the product selection on the Target Plus channel. ChannelEngine then deactivates the product, making it unavailable for purchase. If the product remains purchasable after this, contact Target Plus support.

Can I change the product's GTIN after it is approved by Target Plus?

Yes, you can change the product's GTIN on ChannelEngine. However, exporting a new GTIN to Target Plus may cause an error message: "Submitted barcode XXX does not match existing barcode XX on this item. To change barcodes, open a case in the Portal." To resolve this error, contact Target Plus support.

Why do I need to set up multiple stock locations to sell on Target Plus?

Target Plus works with distribution centers, which are set up in their Portal and imported as stock locations by ChannelEngine. Currently, ChannelEngine supports only one stock location. If you need to add more than one location, contact your customer success manager or the Support team.

Why does not ChannelEngine show the tax collected on my orders?

Target Plus does not expose tax collection and remittance information through its API to partners or integrators. You can track and download tax reports directly in Target Plus Portal.

Where can I check how much in terms of taxable sales I have per state, and how much tax has been collected and remitted by Target on my behalf?

Target Plus' partner sales and tax report can provide you with insights related to taxes. This report is also useful when reviewing your Form 1099-K. For more information on this, log in to Target Plus Portal and go through this article. If you have trouble downloading the report, contact Target Plus support.