When I lived in a smaller suburban town Target was a great responsibly priced alternative to Amazon for many things, especially consumables like cleaning supplies. Now that I lie in a busy city its not worth the horribly busy parking, checkout lines and crowds to go to Target. If I could simply order everything from Amazon I would. If Target sold better quality I still wouldn't go. Prime Now seems to be improving but the selection is pretty spotty.

> There are many products at Target that are simply inferior and more expensive than their alternatives on Amazon.

And there are many products on Amazon that are fake. At least I know what I'm getting at Target, and returns don't involve negotiating for a shipping label and figuring out where there's a package drop-off nearby.

> As a quick example, is Bic still the best manufacturer of the best available pens?

Probably not, but luckily they're not the only brands that Target carries in-store: Paper Mate, Pilot, BIC, NPW, Pentel, Staedtler, Sugar Rush, Uniball, up&up, Write Dudes, and Yoobi are all advertised as pen brands sold by Target.