The first Target store opened in 1962 in the Minneapolis suburb of Roseville. This company grew and became the largest division of Dayton Hudson Corporation, leading the company being renamed as Target Corporation in August 2000. In early 2013, Target expanded into Canada and now operates in more than hundred locations through its Canadian subsidiaries. To be more precise, Target has 1,797 stores in the United States, 127 stores in Canada and 37 distribution centers in the United States. The company employs more than 361,000 people worldwide.
Today, Gregg Steinhafel is the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Target Corporation. The main objective of this company is to offer their customers exceptional shopping experiences, by providing quality products at a highly discounted price. Target “remains committed to providing a one-stop shopping experience for guests by delivering differentiated merchandise and outstanding value”.
Target is currently the second largest retailer in America. Their website, Target.com, is ranked as one of the most visited. Target’s revenue from online sales in 2012 was approximately $1.93 billion dollars. It is also important to note that Target has its own app. This allows to “Target wherever you are”. They can shop through their app, find the latest weekly deals, locate the nearest Target store and even check rating and reviews about products. This app also allows the customer to have access to more coupons that they can simply redeem at the register by showing their phone.
Another advantage about Target is that is has a very broad inventory. In effect, customers can find literally everything they need in this store: clothing and apparel for men, women and kids; toys and other accessories for kids an...
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...s a matter of fact, this company earned revenue of $19 billion and a net income of $562.6 million in 2012. Censosud does not operate in the same way as Target, because everything is not condensed in one store. However, Target will have to overcome this competition by creating a strong comparative advantage: lower price and increased convenience.
Could Wal-Mart be a threat?
Columbia is a growing market, and the world’s largest retailer does not own anything there. At one point, Wal-Mart was talking about buying Carrefour, but the deal did not close. For now, Wal-Mart does not represent a threat for Target because they have no intentions opening a new business there, especially after some of its recent failures in their international section. However, it is important to keep in mind that if Target enters this market, Wal-Mart will maybe have the incentive to follow.
As I have outlined in the charts below, there are various similarities and differences between Wal-Mart and Target. Wal-Mart is Target’s primary competitor, and vice versa. Wal-Mart has a strong market presence in its global markets and has a diverse range of products and services that are affordable and available in stock. Target, on the other hand, does not have a strong market presence or efficient product supply; however, Target’s physical environment and innovative products further the brand’s image and value. Unfortunately, Target and Wal-Mart are both e-commerce laggards with major competitors such as Amazon. Target faces complications with their pricing strategies and their product availability, which hinders their strength when competing
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
Target must compete vigorously and fairly in the marketplace using our independent judgment to make the best decisions for the Company.
Target, the nation's #2 discount chain, now operates more than 1,500 Target and Super Target stores in 47 states, as well as an online business called Target.com. Target and its larger grocery-carrying stores, Super Target, have carved out a niche by offering more upscale, fashion-forward merchandise than rivals Wal-Mart and Kmart. After years of struggling to turn around its Marshall Fields and Mervyns departments stores divisions, the discounter sold them both in 2004. Target also owns apparel supplier The Associated Merchandising Corp. and issues Target Visa and its proprietary Target Card (www.Answers.com/topic/target-corporation).
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.
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.
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.
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 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 %.
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.
Professor David Soberman describes his disappointing experience, “I have gone into Target stores looking for things, and the product line is not where it needs to be. You want certain things, but you can’t find them. You can find them at Wal-Mart. I just took my child down to school at Queen’s, and I was trying to buy things. I got 95 per cent of what I wanted at Wal-Mart. The other five per cent I got at Canadian Tire. I did go into Target, but I couldn’t find what I needed”
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.