Maximizing Target Circle Offers
Target is a somewhat overlooked store when it comes to miles and points lovers. Most people know about grocery stores, office stores, gas stations and the like, but what about Target? You may be leaving a lot of value on the table leaving this tool out of your toolbelt. That is where maximizing Target circle offers comes into play. I’ll go over why I love this Target program, and how to best take advantage of these semi regular offers. Update 8/10/26: A new round of offers have gone out. Mine takes a bit more spend than the last few.
What Are Target Circle Bonus Offers
Target Circle offers are deals that will show up in your Target app / account from time to time. You may even have it pop up on the screen when performing self checkout in store. I am not talking about getting a $15 Target gift card if you buy a lot of Kleenex, or any of those standard deals. I am not even talking about getting Target Circle 360 for free, although it plays in the same area at least. No, I am talking about spending offers that are locked to your Target Circle account. You can check your account for Target Circle bonus offers any time at THIS LINK.
The Different Kind Of Target Circle Offers
Before we can get into maximizing Target Circle offers we need to discuss the difference between the two types of offers you will see.
Target Circle Awards
The most prevalent one is where you earn Target Circle Rewards, or Target store credit, after spending so much money 1 or more times.
Up Front Discount
The other kind that comes around less frequently is where you get a discount off of your purchase. This comes at the time off checkout, and is not offered up in Target Circle Rewards. This is the lesser of the two offers.
Why It Matters
You may be wondering why an automatic discount is worse than store credit essentially. It is because of what triggers one offer versus the other. The Target Circle Rewards offers can be triggered by buying 3rd party gift cards in store (not Target or Visa gift cards). While the instant discounts can not. They need to be earned with normal merchandise (with some exclusions like Apple etc.).
Target Circle Card Amps Things Up
If you really want to start maximizing Target Circle offers then the Target Circle card (previously RedCard) plays a huge role. Don’t worry, you don’t need to blow up your Chase 5/24 count – the debit Target Circle card works just as well.
You normally get 5% taken off automatically when using a Target Circle card. This is a bit different from what we are used to, where the rewards hit the account later. The good news is that the 5% discount is not calculated when they are tracking these offers.
For example, let’s say your offer requires $100 in spend. If you use your Target Circle card for the purchase then it will settle for $95. The program will count the $100 total before the payment discount towards the Target Circle Rewards bonus offer though. That means whatever the deal is you see below, it could be 5% better!
Recent Offer Details
Let’s get into the latest offers then, shall we. I’ll share the most recent offer(s) directly below. I’ll also share a historical list of previous offers lower below.
- Spend $100 (or more) 4x and get $40 in Target Circle Rewards (by 8/29)
These are Target Circle Rewards offers, so third party gift card purchases should work to trigger them. You could mix them in with your regular purchases as well.
Historical Offers
Here are some offers we have seen / had in the past.
- Spend $90 (or more) get $10 in Target Circle Rewards
- Spend at your own pace – and earn $10 in Target Circle Rewards for every $100 you spend.
- Activate to get $15 back in Target Rewards when you spend $150.
- Activate to get $20 back in Target Rewards when you spend $200.
- Shop 4 times on qualifying purchases of $120 or more to earn $50 in Target Circle Rewards
- $20 reward when making 3 X $70 purchases
- $20 reward when making 3 X $60 purchases
- $15 reward when making 3 x $50 purchases
- $15 reward when spending $140
- $15 reward when spending $100
- $15 reward when spending $70
- $20 reward when spending $180
- $20 reward when spending $150
- $10 reward when spending $90
- $15 reward when spending $30
- $20 reward when spending $160
How To Maximize Target Circle Bonus Offers
Hopefully this post gives you a better understanding on how to maximize these Target Circle bonus offers. I get excited every single time a new one hits my account. It is a great to lock in a substantial discount at tons of places you probably already frequent anyway. Just realize that this is kind of like giving those stores / restaurants an interest free loan if you don’t use them right away. Make sure you know you can use them fairly quickly before diving in.
Will online purchase of 3rd party gift card trigger the circle rewards bonus? Or must it be in store purchase?
I believe people have had luck online, but I always just do it in store myself.
[…] Spend $100 three times to earn $30 in Target Circle Rewards. (HT: MTM) […]
Last time I tried, gift cards did not trigger the bonus for me. My local Target, which is small, also has a terrible selection of gift cards. I’ll give it another try but I also don’t get great offers usually.
Depends what type of offer it is. If it is an instant discount then gift cards won’t work. If it is in the form of Circle Rewards – then they should.
I only use target for offers like 5 off 25 for things like groceries. Then an additional 5% off when I use the target debit card.
You can stack the 5% off with the debit card on these offers too. And they base it off the pre 5% discount price. So $100 in 3rd party gift cards trigger it even if you pay $95 with the Circle card for example.
These deals are very underrated. Bought some Cheers to You GC which convert to HD. These are already on sale with $10 target bonus card and they triggered the offer
Great stack there!
For some reason these updated articles don’t post to rss feeders like feedly, so I end up missing so many updated posts unless I happen to stumble upon them. Please consider having them as new posts.
Unfortunately Google dings you for having multiple articles that are the same / similar so that isn’t really an option.
I would sign up for our email blast that goes out every evening with all of our articles for the day attached. May be a good way to ensure you don’t miss anything.
$10 reward when spending $90
Meh…
My offer is $10 off $60, with gift cards specifically excluded.
I bought a $50 Delta and $25 Chipotle gift card for mine and the $10 was in my target circle app once they shipped. Didn’t read the terms though (assume they are the same)