Retail Service Provider Marketsource Ends Target Partnership

Stepping out of my usual coverage for this one, but I’ve been able to confirm with multiple people within the past day that retail service provider Marketsource and Target have officially ended their retail support agreement which began in 2012, ostensibly so the once popular retailer and chief competitor to Walmart could add wireless sales to its retail stores without tying up its own store employees with sales and activations. The last day for the current service agreement which was previously renewed in 2023 will be on May 30. As an aside, Target recently brought aboard dedicated AT&T sales reps within the same Marketsource agreement, and those positions are also said to be eliminated, with existing Target employees being assigned to handle what remains of wireless sales and electronics sales that were once handled under the Marketsource retail program.

Marketsource employees were told in an email explaining the end of the partnership that their positions would likely be eliminated sooner based on individual store locations, leaving them without a job sooner rather than later. Within the previous agreement, Target also gave themselves additional leverage to eliminate Marketsource support and reps across low-performing locations, which peaked at 1000 Target locations around 2015, which ironically was the same year that I was employed by the retail service provider, only to leave a year later due to being passed over for promotion, twice.

What does this mean for Target going forward in terms of wireless sales? Well, they still carry prepaid products from Verizon such as Tracfone and Total by Verizon, they just won’t have a dedicated staff for sales and activation, nor will their long-standing Retail Operations Center exist anymore. This also means that their once prominent carriage for Consumer Cellular will continue to diminish, as that virtual operator continues its push for dedicated retail stores at the expense of big box retail support, while Target locations continue to eliminate Consumer Cellular availability across the store footprint.

One thing’s for sure, the era of in-store big box wireless sales is changing, and this development heralds an era where big box stores step away from postpaid wireless sales in favor of simpler solutions that require less labor costs and retailer input. The dream of siphoning off wireless customers from third party dealers and corporate stores that seemed like a genuine opportunity in 2012 has ended up in wasteful contracts, employee confusion, poor training, and flat or negligible sales difference over the years.