If you’re a brand or vendor preparing to put product in Target stores, the display you use to merchandise and ship is just as important as the product inside it. Target has specific — and strict — requirements for every temporary fixture that hits their sales floor. Getting it right means your display hits store floors ready to sell. Getting it wrong means it gets sent back, gets damaged, or worse, never leaves the backroom.

At DeLine Box & Display, we’ve helped brands navigate the corrugated packaging and display requirements for major retailers including Target, Walmart, and club stores. This guide walks through what Target expects from vendor-designed temporary displays — and how to make sure your corrugated fixture meets the mark.

What Is a Target Temporary Fixture?

Temporary fixtures are vendor-supplied corrugated displays designed to merchandise product in Target stores for a defined campaign or program period. Examples include new flavor launches, seasonal campaigns, and more. Corrugated fixtures range from compact side caps and quarter shippers to full pallet drops in the seasonal foyer. Unlike permanent store fixtures owned by Target, these are designed, produced, and shipped by the brand or their manufacturing partner.

Target’s In-Store Marketing team reviews and must approve all concepts before any display goes to print.

Target Display Types: Know Which Format You’re Designing For

Getting the dimensions wrong is one of the most common — and costly — mistakes vendors make. Here’s a breakdown of the main display formats Target accepts:

Corrugate Sidecap

A compact, lightweight shipper designed for impulse purchases and limited-time programs. It mounts at the end of an aisle inside an endcap fixture or wire sidecap structure.

• Dimensions: 18″W x 56.75″H x 5″D
• Depth must not exceed the basedeck — oversized sidecaps will not be set
• Must arrive pre-filled
• Requires 3 L-brackets
• Requires an 11×7 price point display pocket, flush to the top right corner, pre-attached before arriving at store
• Scanning strips required: one sign holder per shelf, sized to fit a 2.75″W x 1.25″H standard pricing label

Rolling Rack / Quarter Shipper (Freestanding)

A multi-sided or single-sided freestanding shipper designed for E&E floorpads or aisle placement (with exception approval).

• Maximum dimensions: 24″W x 24″D x 68″H
• Most common footprint: 18″D x 18″W
• Freestanding shippers on floorpads for more than 2 weeks must have casters or wheels
• Must arrive pre-filled (or in partnership with Store Ops on exceptions)
• One-sided shippers are exception-approved based on space/asset

Pallet / Shipper Drop

Full or half pallet displays most often found in Target’s Seasonal Foyer, Food Foyer, or Rear Seasonal locations.

• Full Pallet: 48″x48″ (Standard Pallets 40″x48″)
• Half Pallet: 24″x48″
• Max Height: 60″ including the pallet
• Must be on a plastic pallet on the sales floor — stores have plastic full pallets but not half pallets, so those must be supplied by the vendor

Amplified Tower

A metal fixture used for high-visibility in-aisle placement near the home location.

• 2’x2′ footprint
• Corrugate containment and header art allowed; no side panels may be attached to the enterprise tower fixture

Art and Graphics Guidelines: Where You Can (and Can’t) Put Your Brand

One of the most important — and frequently misunderstood — parts of Target’s temporary fixture requirements is where your artwork is actually allowed to appear.

What Target Considers Acceptable Art

• Brand logo
• Single brand tagline or message
• Hero visual/image: characters, product shots, or brand assets
• Brand fonts, textures, or graphical elements as part of the identity

Color Rules

All fixtures should use Target’s recommended single color flood. These colors are determined by seasonality and campaign. If a branding conflict requires a different color, both versions must be submitted for review and approval.

Live Area Requirements

• Graphic live area: must not be lower than 12″ from the floor
• Copy live area: must not be lower than 36″ from the floor

Art Placement by Display Type

Sidecap with header: Art is allowed on the header and on the corrugate lip of each shelf. Art is not allowed on the sides when a header is present.

Sidecap without header: Art is allowed on the sides.

Quarter Shipper / Freestanding Shipper: Art allowed on header, on corrugate shelf lips, and on the 11×7 pocket (allowed on 2 sides). Art not allowed on sides when a header is present. If no header, art is allowed on sides.

Pallet Drop: Art allowed on header, corrugate shelf lips, and 11×7 pocket (2 sides). Art allowed on sides if no header. Large blank sides should not be guest-facing.

Amplified Tower: Art allowed on header and corrugate lip of containment only. No side panels allowed.

Material and Structural Requirements

Board Grade

All corrugated temporary displays for Target must be produced from ECT32 board or stronger. Weaker board grades are not acceptable. For heavier products, a higher grade may be required. Testing should always be done with the actual product loaded into the display.

Target recognizes two corrugated strength testing methods:

• Mullen Test — measures puncture resistance (e.g., 200#E Kraft)
• Edge Crush Test (ECT) — measures stacking strength (e.g., ECT 32B)

Heavy liners are recommended to minimize fluting and reduce warping.

Recyclable Materials Only

Target has strict sustainability requirements. All materials must be recyclable per Target guidelines, which means:

Approved recyclable materials include:

• Text and Cover Stock / Solid Fiber Papers
• Corrugated (standard and bleached)
• Sintra
• UV & Hybrid Inks

Non-recyclable materials that are prohibited:

• Foamcore
• PETG, Acrylic, High-Impact Polystyrene
• Rigid PVC, UV Coating
• Metallic & Holographic Foils
• #2 HDPE, #3 PVC, #4 LDPE, #5 PP, #7 PVC

Mixed materials should be avoided. Use corrugate instead of foam to hold product and eliminate “mixed product” scenarios. Limit plastic components such as Christmas tree clips, Viking clips, and brackets. The fewer ink colors used, the more recyclable the final display.

FSC and SFI Certification

Target prefers suppliers and printers with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certification. The baler-friendly logo is required on all materials that can be recycled in the baler. The recycled corrugate content goal is 75% post-consumer waste, 100% recyclable.

Shipping and Logistics: Partners Online (POL)

To ship displays to Target, vendors must be registered on Target’s Partners Online (POL) system as a merchandise vendor partner, with VMM updated with accurate order specs and point locations.

Key steps include:

• Creating a VMM Vendor profile
• Setting up your VMM ship location
• Completing an ICT to set up display items
• Initiating item setup in IMN

The POL Library provides carton specifications, conveyable dimension requirements, carton labeling, pallet requirements, and BOL requirements.

Target’s Preferred Corrugated Fixture Vendors

For reference, Target’s SEM-preferred vendors for corrugated temporary fixtures include Great Northern Corp., Imagine, and Process Displays (who holds the patent on the L-bracket hardware required for sidecap shippers).

As an independent corrugated manufacturer, DeLine Box & Display designs and produces displays that meet these Target requirements — and we can guide your team through spec compliance from structural design through print and fulfillment.

Why Work with DeLine Box & Display for Your Target Program?

DeLine Box & Display is a fourth-generation, family-owned corrugated manufacturer based in Denver, Colorado, with over 100 years of expertise in structural design and retail packaging. We specialize in:

• Retail-ready corrugated displays designed to meet major retailer specifications
• Structural engineering using ECT32+ board grades appropriate for your product weight and program duration
• Digital and flexographic print capabilities for high-impact brand graphics within retailer art guidelines
• Sustainability compliance — our materials align with Target’s recyclability requirements
• Program support from concept through production and fulfillment

Whether you’re launching a sidecap shipper for a seasonal program, a pallet drop in the foyer, or a full corrugated quarter shipper for your next Target initiative, DeLine Box can help you design and produce a display that gets set — and sells.

Ready to build your Target display program? Contact DeLine Box & Display to talk through your next retail program. We’ll help you get the structure, print, and compliance right the first time.