Target-owned Shipt, Eagan's CaringBridge forge partnership

Target's Shipt delivery service has formed a new partnership with Eagan-based CaringBridge in the hopes of helping caregivers quickly secure groceries and drugstore items needed by the family.

About 300,000 people use CaringBridge's website each day to provide health updates about themselves, family members or friends.

Under the new arrangement, users or their readers can navigate from a CaringBridge page to the nonprofit's "Ways to Help" page, link to Shipt's website and order products for home delivery, said Katrina Wallmeyer, senior digital marketing manager for CaringBridge.

CaringBridge users can also create a list of what they need.

The new digital platform between the two firms took two years to develop and underwent a partial soft launch in May, the company said. The nationwide launch was Wednesday.

Shipt requires the purchase of a single-shop pass or an annual membership, which is $99. CaringBridge community members will receive a $20 discount on the membership, the companies said.

Shipt Chief Business Officer Rina Hurst said the new partnership is unusual for her firm because it focuses on an in-depth and long-lasting relationship with a nonprofit and not the traditional for-profit retail establishment.

"It can often be hard for caregivers to ask for help or for their friends and family to know the best way to help them," she said. "CaringBridge is a great tool for those going through a health journey to put different ways for their community to support them all in one place."

Hurst said Shipt has interviewed customers and learned that many identify as a caregiver and have noted that home delivery services offer an important convenience during a stressful time.

"We're excited to partner with Shipt and tap into its network of trusted personal shoppers who we know will go above and beyond to get items delivered to our users," said CaringBridge Chief Executive Tia Newcomer. "Our priority is to ensure no one goes through a health journey alone."

Shipt, which is based in Alabama, has 120 retail partners and offers same-day personal shopping and home delivery services. A sampling of retail partners include Target, CVS, Fresh Thyme Market, Hy-Vee, Lunds & Byerlys, Kowalski's, CVS and Rite-Aid.

To increase awareness about the new Shipt alliance, CaringBridge is hitting social media, e-mailing its website users, installing a promotional ad on its website and inserting three Shipt information tabs on the most-used sections of the CaringBridge website.

During one interview, Shipt customer Wendy West said the delivery service helped her throughout her mother's illness. Her mom's diet kept changing as medicine altered her ability to eat. West was still able to order meals daily for her mother.

"Having last-minute meals that she could eat was vital," West said.

Wallmeyer. the CaringBridge manager, said she'd like to attract more users like West with the new outreach.