Walmart Vs Target

INTRODUCTION

Since 1962 and the beginning of the discount retailer market Wal-Mart has been ahead of the retail game. By 1967 there were 24 Wal-Marts that had grossed 12.6 million dollars. In just 7 years Wal-mart had spread into 9 states. By 1979 Wal-Mart was the fastest store to reach a billion dollars in sales. In 2005 Wal-Mart has 3,800 domestic stores along with 3,800 stores internationally, and had made over 312 billion dollars. As you can see the Wal-Mart empire has grown monumentally. To move into this segment of the market would be tough.

The first Target store was also opened in 1962. It was started under the Dayton Hudson Corporation. As you can see the Target corporation has a decorated past as well. Target now has 1,300 stores in 47 states. The store count itself is still a lot less than Wal-mart. For every one Target store, there is three Wal-Marts. To put together a plan of action we must first research many facets of the Wal-Mart corporation such as: Marketing, Products, and Services provided. From these main areas we will be able to put together a plan for immediate implementation.

Products/Services/Marketing

The first area to be observed is the products that Wal-Mart sells compared to Target. Wal-Mart offers products in the areas of: Apparel, Baby, Books, Electronics, Garden and patio, Gifts and Flowers, Home, Jewelry, Pets, Sports, Toys, Video Games, Automotive, as well as groceries, and cleaning supplies.

Along with being the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart is also the world's largest grocer. A full grocery center has been added to many of the Wal-mart's nation wide. Wal-Mart's most current goal is to become a player in the organic food market. Adding organic foods to...

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...nd many not covered by health insurance. On recent visits to both stores I noticed the Target store was cleaner, and the customer service was better than Wal-Mart.

Summary

After looking at the Business practices, marketing, products, and services of Wal-Mart I no longer have a doubt that we can compete with Wal-Mart, but the new question is do we want to? In order for Target to be a competitor with Wal-Mart, Target would have to lower its store standards, treatment of employees, and target market. Along with these things Target would also have to go against one of its store standards, and start buying products that were made using slave and or child labor. A few ways that Target could improve by imitation would be through increasing its in store services. The recent addition of the clinic in store is a new and innovative idea a step ahead of Wal-Mart.