Kmart Australia’s popular Anko Christmas products have launched in Target stores and many customers are furious.
Thousands of people across the country preferred Target’s exclusive products, which were described as higher-quality “Adairs knockoffs” but have been replaced by Kmart’s own brand.
The two brands merged in July 2023 to create a $10 billion business with the aim of delivering better value to customers and higher profits for Wesfarmers.
Ash, a regular Target shopper, walked the aisles of her local store and instantly noticed the difference.
‘I need a Christmas miracle and this isn’t it!’ she captioned a video of the new range stacked on shelves.
Hundreds of people agreed and expressed their frustrations in the comments.
‘The Kmart range always looks like it’s from Kmart. Target had pieces that matched Adairs and Myer. Devastated,” one wrote.
‘I don’t understand why they did this?! If we wanted things from Kmart, we would go to Kmart. The quality of the lens was much better,” said another.
Customers were furious after spotting Kmart’s Anko Christmas range at Target Australia. Thousands of people across the country preferred Target’s exclusive products, which were described as higher-quality “Adairs knockoffs.”
The two brands merged in July 2023 to create a $10 billion business with the aim of delivering better value to customers and higher profits for Wesfarmers.
“Target’s Christmas range used to be fantastic,” wrote a third. “I wanted to cry when I saw this.”
Anko, which means “A New Kind Of,” is well-known among regular Kmart shoppers and “represents the change the retailer has undergone since 2008.”
Long before the label appeared on shelves across the country, the retailer offered a wide range of items under multiple &Co brand names, such as ‘Home&Co’, ‘Kids&Co’, ‘Clothing&Co’ and ‘Active&Co’.
The different categories made products “clearly identifiable” in stores, from home and children’s items to clothing and fitness.
In 2018, the discount chain quietly transformed ‘&Co’ into ‘Anko’ after replacing the letter ‘c’ with ‘k’ to “pay homage to where it all began: Kmart Australia”.
Wesfarmers also confirmed that Target “remains profitable” with “relatively stronger performance in the textile sector”. However, the house and toy trade was considered “difficult” compared to clothing.
The company hopes to “leverage the scale of the Kmart Group” to support Target in this area.