This month, Target will begin letting shoppers pay for their online orders of food using SNAP benefits, joining their competitors Amazon and Walmart.
Target customers will receive food orders through the company’s delivery service platform Shipt, and the option to pay with SNAP benefits will most likely begin in late April, Target told Reuters. Customers will be able to use their electronic food stamp transfer, or their EBT card at the time of checkout, identical to when they would use a regular debit or credit card.
“That’s why the digital SNAP payment option we’re rolling out this year is so important to food and beverage,” Target chief food and beverage officer, Rick Gomez said earlier this month during an earnings call. “It’s going to make our entire experience, in-store and online, accessible to all families, allowing them to shop on their terms, regardless of how they pay for groceries.”
Target officials stated earlier this month that revenue from food and beverage sales is growing very quickly as more shoppers order their groceries online. Food and beverage transactions generated $20.3 billion in revenue for Target in 2021. Increasing from the 2019 $15 billion.
Several Target locations already accept EBT payments in-store. Walmart began offering food stamp payments for online purchases in June 2019, Amazon did the same a year later.
It’s still unclear if SNAP will be charged the same $7 delivery fee as customers who use a debit or credit card.
Last October, the Biden administration increased food stamp benefits by 25% for 42 million Americans who use the Supplement Assistance Program, which markets the largest single increase in the program’s history. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, each person on average saw their benefits rise by $36. The USDA reported that a family of four now qualifies for food stamps worth $835 per month.
