Background As the nation was changing in the 1962 so was the idea of the supermarket, taking hold was a new competitor. A new store entered the market in the small town of Roseville, MI called Target. Target since its beginning has been committed to being a “one-stop shopping experience” for its customers across the world (Target, 2015). Over the years, Target has grown across the U.S. with 1795 stores, 38 distribution centers and 348K employees (Target, 2015). Target’s mission is to be the “preferred shopping destination” for their guests, not customers, and fulfilling their brand promise of “Expect More. Pay Less.” (Target, 2015). Target is recognized as an industry leader. From their store design to the designer partnerships they created (Isaac Mizrahi, Missoni, Michael Graves, Lily Pulitzer and Emily Henderson to name a few), Target has leveraged their brand to cater to a cost conscious, yet high end …show more content…
• Political: Target received some negative press back in 2010 due to donations that their CEO at the time made to a GOP organization. The group was endorsing a candidate that was against gay marriage (Huffington Post, 2010). This caused unrest among many shoppers across the country. Was a support of Target a vote against Gay Marriage? Also, Target is also facing some negative feedback due to their closing of over 130 stores in Canada this year (Townsend, 2015).
• Economic: Target felt a sharp drop in profits and support after the 2013 data breach shook customer confidence during its busiest season, Christmas. Steinhafel resigned and was succeeded by Target’s current CEO, Brian Cornell, formerly of PepsiCo, Wal-Mart and Michael’s Craft Stores in 2014 (Tabuchi, 2015 and Townsend, 2015). Target has also lost over 2 billion in profits from their Canada expansion (Townsend,
Target has many competitors in the market, and the level of competition is highly intense. Some of its main rivals are Wal-Mart stores, Home Depot and Costco Wholesale Corp. All of them produce similar products as well as offer almost the same services to their consumers. Naturally, the organization would need a strategy that helps it to stand out and to distinguish it from its competitors, thus, Target 's positioning was based on more than just pricing; it combined quality and style. This was the differentiation strategy that have always been applied since the launch of the organization.
For example in the economic forces they work to provide higher end discounted items to keep the profits up by allowing shoppers to have quality and cost savings. In the technological forces, Target has used the increase use of mobile platforms to allow their customers to shop online and pick up in the store by saving time. With the political-legal forces Target works to provide a safe and non-discriminating environment for all customers. Environmental forces are taken in to effect by looking at better waste recycling management to decrease their carbon footprint. Target works hard to represent the values and mores of their customer base, by being actively involved within the community and addressing current social
According to www.targetcorp.com, Target is an upscale discount retail chain that sells quality products at attractive prices, and prides itself on clean, spacious, and guest-friendly stores. Target is the second largest "general merchandise" retailer (behind Wal-Mart); selling almost anything one would need to complete the "one stop shop", especially with the addition of the SuperTarget stores. The first Target opened in Roseville, Minnesota in 1962. Since then, 1,330 stores located in forty-seven different states, which includes the 141 SuperTarget stores, have opened nationwide. Target also has twenty-two distribution centers located in nineteen states. In addition to the vast number of store locations, Target also has other businesses that include: Target.com, Target Financial Services, Associated Merchandising Corporation, and Target commercial Interiors. Through all the key businesses, Target employs nearly 300,000 people from diverse backgrounds. The current Chairman and CEO of Target is Bob Ulrich.
Target is also a company that is built on ethics. With integrity instilled in all of their team members, everyone helps to uphold Target’s great reputation and maintain their morals of honesty and family. Another big part of Target’s company culture is their focus on community service. After working for Target, one is truly able to understand the meaning of giving back. At Target, team members dedicate their volunteer hours to work with schools, nonprofit organizations, charities etc. to make a difference in the world.
Nearly everyone is at least somewhat familiar with Target stores; the famous bullseye logo is identifiable all across the United States. With the motto "Expect More, Pay Less", the company suggests that customers can expect more of everything, at more reasonable prices.1 Target's commitment to the consumer, as well as it's employment consideration and management style led Fortune Magazine to name it as one of the Most Admired Companies in 2005.
1. The Discount Department Store. Target prefers to be called as the latter instead of just department store. Expect more, pay less. With this tagline, the customers expect to purchase more items and pay the least amount possible. Not like other retail industries like its competitor Kmart and Wal-Mart, Target maintains retail value in terms of product offerings. They are known in their designer’s items in clothes, exclusive beauty products, categorized and functional goods, and seasonal offerings. It also sells the greatest number of gift cards among its rival business.
Target Corporation is the biggest discount retailing business in the US which comes just after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The headquarters are located in Minneapolis in Minnesota in the USA. George Dayton founded it. It initially started as a family business with a regional retailer shop and later grew into a national full retailer store. The company’s main aim is to offer retail services at friendly rates and, its main attracting feature is discount rates offed on different products in the business. The company has indicated tremendous growth in the retail business. It has a target to outgrow its market and achieve competitive advantage over its competitors. This essay seeks to discuss the competitive analysis and
Target is one of the America’s top retailers, but still has a few things that can be improved upon before it can overtake its top competitor. Although Target may not be the top ranked retailer at the moment, it’s not hard to see why this company has stood the tests of time and continues to thrive today.
Target business is based on big box centers and supercenters, which are not preferred by many shopper who normally like shopping in small convenience store within the neighborhood.
The main one is the established and loved brand name that is well liked by customers. Along with this, Target has the perception of being a fun place to shop that comes with an experience. Unlike Wal-Mart, Target has the ability to position themselves as a middle class, hip and more fashionable store to shoppers of this generation (Target Corporation SWOT Analysis, n.d.). Target’s weaknesses include tis business model based on supercenters and other big box stores which make it more difficult for them to reach shoppers who appreciate the smaller convenient stores. Along with this, they have been unable to change their business model to adapting times (Target Corporation SWOT Analysis, n.d.).
The purpose of this presentation is to provide a comparative analysis of business activities of two well-known representatives of the US retail industry, Target and Walmart. My research is focused on a business strategy of these largest and most experienced American merchandising companies; particularly, on their activities in Canada. Based on the data collected from the various sources, I would like to detect, analyze, and demonstrate the obvious causes that have lead to a catastrophic failure of Target in its unsuccessful attempt to win a Canadian market.
In December 2013, Target was attacked by a cyber-attack due to a data breach. Target is a widely known retailer that has millions of consumers flocking every day to the retailer to partake in the stores wonders. The Target Data Breach is now known as the largest data breach/attack surpassing the TJX data breach in 2007. “The second-biggest attack struck TJX Companies, the parent company of TJMaxx and Marshall’s, which said in 2007 that about 45 million credit cards and debit cards had been compromised.” (Timberg, Yang, & Tsukayama, 2013) The data breach occurred to Target was a strong swift kick to the guts to not only the retailer/corporation, but to employees and consumers. The December 2013 data breach, exposed Target in a way that many would not expect to see and happen to any major retailer/corporation.
Target Corporation pioneered value chain activities like focusing on customer experience through superior marketing, ability to attract global talent, sustain in and outbound supply logistics, develop supplies with a high-quality vendor and partners, a great customer service, extend return by 30 more days if purchased through Target brand store cards, and a skilled workforce supports its generic strategy of "Expect more Pay Less" improves competitive position that its rival cannot match. --
According to Schafer (2013), Target Corporation desire is to improve Target Brand and be a better version of Target with an incremental products and services. Target Corporation acquisitions counter any threat from other rival online retailers and allow Target Corporation to cross promote between Target and the new entity strengthening its
One of Target’s goals is to provide more organic foods. Target is aware of how society is shifting their interest towards organic foods and health. Another one of Target’s goals is to reduce water waste by 10 percent in 2015, whih was met in 2014 by 13.1% (Target Corporate). The company is aware of the possible damage that water waste can cause to the environment and is actively working to prevent them. So far, Target has not had much attention surrounding their social responsibility, but there was one incident in December of 2013 where data of at least 70 million customers were leaked (Target Corporate). This breach allowed criminals to access credit card and debit card information. There is an entire FAQ page on the corporate website answering any questions or concerns that customers may have. Target has recently agreed to a $10 Million settlement in the lawsuit that came after the data breach, in which people will have to provide proper documentation showing their losses during the hack (Parks). Despite this compensation, some customers may not be comfortable shopping at Target