Leadership at Target Corporation has changed drastically in the last several years. The company went through a major financial crisis which ended up filing for bankruptcy and closing 124 stores in Canada, one of the most severe credit card data breaches in the United States, and a transition of a new chief executive officer.
In 2013, Target acquired 124 locations in Canada from a failing retailer called Zellers (Wahpa, 2015). Target began to experience major problems. The Zellers store locations were in awful locations, which was one of the reasons Zellers was failing. Target began to suffer from supply-chain problems that yielded empty shelves and high prices, and it added up to a downright disaster. According to Taylor & Ho (2013) Canadian shoppers were disappointed with prices above those it charges in the United States, and shoppers would rather go to Canadian Wal-Mart. Target began losing millions of dollars, CEO Gregg Steinhafe turned his attention away from Target Locations in the United States and focused his attention on the Target locations in Canada. A year after Target had begun operating in Canada they lost over one billion dollars (Taylor & Ho, 2013). In January of 2015, Target Canada was placed under bankruptcy protection, underscoring the severity of the mistake by one of the largest retailers in the
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Target moved away from introducing new products and selling products that made them unique. Target’s offerings became more commonplace, offering more items like food and other consumer staples. The once famous marketing strategy Target used to lure in customer looking to spend $20 on the basics and leaving with $100 in impulse purchases was put on hold. Target’s senior leadership team is strong. So strong they felt comfortable complaining about his predecessor to the board of directors, and issuing an ultimatum: Gregg Steinhafe leaves, or we
Target’s first foreign store investment was in Canada; American stores look to Canada as their first foreign investment because the differences between the two countries are relatively minor. Other stores that have expanded to Canada include Wal-Mart, and Sears, each of these companies proved to be prosperous in Canada. Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and is dominated by the service industry, Wawa would have no trouble fitting into the culture Canada has and dominating the market as they do here, in the United States. After reading about Canada and Wawa, we have realized this move could only benefit Wawa and help their reputation and build their company.
According to Kantar Retail, most of Target’s shoppers are younger on average than its rivals, and more educated. That means it has to consistently offer something different and appealing; it emphasizes more on the latest-trend apparel, eye-catching home décor and exclusive designer merchandise than its competitors. This results in a willingness to pay a bit more for items by customers who are willing to pay a bit more. Moreover, this successful
For the most part, Target Corporation’s performance is positive and has been consistently growing in sales. The company has increased its stock value through additional sales resulting from a deliberate
Target, a high-end discount department store, hoped to continue expanding and adding to the company’s 1,752 stores, by purchasing 200 Zellers stores, located in Canada. One of Target’s, longtime goals was to expand into Canada , and after a decade, the company took a jump across the border (Shaw, 2011). Because many thousand Canadians hold a Red Card, Target’s reward card, Target assumed this would be a successful expansion, increasing the amount of US brands that encompass Canada’s market. Target spent a year converting the Zeller stores, altering and renovating them to transform them into Target Canada, a subsidiary of Target (Shaw, 2011). They opened 124 stores in locations all over Canada, hiring back only one percent of the former Zellers employees, desiring to make a fresh start for the department store chain (Target Refused Zellers Workers).
Target has seen consistent growth since its inception, and has confidence that future growth will continue (see attached financial statements). In 2004, Target sold two of there business units, Mervyn's and Marshall Field's for approximately $4.9 billion. This allowed for extensive aggregate pretax cash that will be used for future store sites (as well as upper management bonuses). Target's Board also approved a $3 billion share repurchase program which they expect to complete in two to three years.
In order for Target to have been successful, first and foremost, the retailer should have known that they would not be able to beat their competitor, Walmart, in a price war. That alone, is a losing battle. So, a higher quality of products, fewer locations, and a better understanding of Canadian tastes could have propelled the retailer into establishing, for the long term, a profitable global presence with our Canadian neighbors.
Founded in 1962 by George Dayton of the Dayton Corporation, the first store was opened in Roseville, Minnesota, and served as the prototype for all Target stores opened since then and changed how consumers thought about discount shopping.1 Each store was designed with the customer in mind; the founders of Target realized that the appeal of clean, organized, and well-designed stores would set them apart from all others in the industry. In every store, related departments are conveniently placed next to each other. In 2000 the company was renamed the Target Corporation and now has over 1300 stores in 47 states, including more than 140 SuperTarget stores, as well as a consumer-friendly website. Many stores now have a pharmacy and Club Wedd and Target Baby gift registries. SuperTarget stores even have a separate side devoted to groceries. The corporation also offers the Target Visa Credit Card and the Target REDcard, which is a credit card that can only be used in Target stores or through the website.
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 bank is called the Target National Bank. It is owned by the Target Corporations itself and all the receivables go into Target has approximately 1,600 million dollars worth of lines of credits from twenty five different banks, approximately half the worth of the line is used and is due back for payment June 2005, with an extension all the way up to June 2006. The other half of the payment is due June 2008. The expected long term rate of securities rate for October 31 2004 was 8.5 %.
The Target Corporation formerly known as “The Dayton Dry Goods Company” is a major retailing company that was founded in 1902 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by George Draper Dayton. It is ranked the second largest discount retailer in the United States and ranked thirty- sixth on the Fortune 500 as of 2013. The Target Corporation has been serving this nation with the best price possible goods since their expansion from “Dayton” and is continuously winning the hearts of consumers with their dedication and service. A phenomenal merchandising strategy and cross channeling has enabled this upscale discounter to serve their purpose of customer loyalty and fulfill their promise of “Expect more and Pay less”.
Compared to its rivals Target has not diversified in the retail industry, which makes the company vulnerable to changing shopping patterns and economic downturns.
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.
Target Corporation's strategic structure plans are continuing staffing the organization and assemble a well-talented management team. Also, continue recruiting and retaining employees with the needed experience. Another option is to acquire, develop and strengthen resources and capabilities in performing critical value chain activities to match changing market conditions and customer expectations. Target Corporation needs to explore multidivisional or matrix organization structure to facilitate strategy execution, delegate authority, and managing external relationships (Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble and Strickland, 2016).
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.