Target Opens Holiday Push With Interactive Toy Catalog

Target launched its interactive Holiday Kids Catalog on Monday, Oct. 5, featuring nearly 500 toys, games and gifts across Target.com and the retailer's app. The retailer positioned the catalog as a discovery tool, pairing video content with digital wish lists and a scanner that converts handwritten wish lists into digital shopping lists.

The catalog stands apart from Target's separate, curated toy list. Target ranks No. 5 in Digital Commerce 360's Top 1000 Database of North America's largest online retailers by annual ecommerce sales, and No. 54 in Digital Commerce 360's AI Commerce Rankings.

What can shoppers do with the new catalog?

Target designed the catalog to function like a shoppable content platform rather than a product grid, according to the company. Shoppers can:

• Watch toy demonstrations and video reviews
• Add items directly to a cart or save them to a wish list
• Share wish lists with family members and gift-givers
• Scan a handwritten wish list from the printed catalog in the Target app to convert it into a digital list

Each page of the physical catalog also carries a unique QR code linking directly to the corresponding page in the digital version.

"This year's digital experience helps families discover toys together, create and share wish lists and find gifts they'll be excited about all season long," said Cassandra Jones, senior vice president, Fun101, Target.

How does Amazon's rival gift book compare?

Amazon launched its own Holiday Kids Gift Book on the same day as Target's announcement, Oct. 5. Now in its ninth year, Amazon's version features more than 600 toys and gifts, an original illustrated story and family activity pages. Amazon ranks No. 1 in the Top 1000 database.

The two retailers took different strategic paths. Target's experience is app-native and built around social sharing and creator content. Amazon's selling point is Alexa integration: families can unlock a choose-your-own-adventure audio experience through a partnership with Readyland, with kids interacting with the book's Forest Friends characters via any Alexa-enabled device.

Amazon's book also includes a curated list of top toys chosen by an in-house team of toy experts alongside AI shopping tools:

• Alexa for Shopping lets parents make requests like "holiday gifts for my 10-year-old daughter" and receive personalized recommendations based on follow-up questions about interests and hobbies
• Amazon Lens allows shoppers to scan a product spotted in person or on social media and find it immediately on Amazon

How strong is Target's ecommerce business going into the season?

Target's online sales grew 8.7% year over year in its fiscal Q2 2026, outpacing total comparable sales growth of 3.8%. Same-day delivery drove more than 25% growth in the quarter, and Target fulfilled about 30% more same- and next-day units year over year.

Total net sales in Q2 increased 5.3% to $26.7 billion, though the quarter's results were boosted by nearly $1 billion in tariff refunds that Target recorded as a reduction to cost of sales.

The Fun101 category, which covers toys, sporting goods and entertainment, reported double-digit comparable sales growth in Q2, making it the strongest-performing category of the quarter. With toys already leading Target's comp sales and a head-to-head launch against Amazon on the same October day, the interactive catalog signals where both retailers expect the holiday purchase journey to start this season: inside an app, not a store aisle.