In a viral video, a TikToker showed shelves of a Melbourne Target store stocked with Anko mugs, cups and water bottles, with the caption, “the collab we don’t need.”

The two retail stores are subsidiaries of Wesfarmers. Kmart Group revealed the pilot scheme was introduced to tackle cost of living pressures on Aussies.

Kmart Group Managing Director Ian Bailey told The West Australian that this change was implemented to provide “greater value on everyday items that are not brand specific, however, Target’s core business of apparel and homewares will remain unchanged.”

“If you think about coat hangers, or plastic tubs, they're going to be under the Anko brand but it's not a product where you're really brand conscious in the same way that you can be with clothing,” he continued.

“We don't anticipate there's a cliff coming where there's a marked drop in consumer confidence on any given day, but ... equally we're not expecting that there's suddenly going to be a resurgence in customer expectations and customer sentiment.

Disgruntled shoppers took to social media to share their disdain for the change.

“Guess I won't be shopping at Target anymore,” one wrote, while another hated that they were “disappointed” to see Anko on Target shelves because they “hate Kmart quality.”

Kmart’s ‘&Co’ was rebranded to ‘Anko’ in 2019. The house brand name is an acronym for "a new kind of.”

Last year, Wesfarmers revealed plans to merge Kmart and Target as running the businesses as separate entities made challenges to improve the use of technology in Target.

Bailey explained that the merging of the two stores will lead to significant cost savings and productivity improvements.

@miss___minchin The collab we don’t need 🥺 #target #kmart #australia #fyp ♬ Originalton - 𝐀✨