Target's Marketing Strategies

In today’s world, especially in Canada, consumers generally want to satisfy all of their needs in a way that saves them the most time and energy. In order to meet this need, Target offers their customers the chance to buy different products that they would normally have to go to two or three different stores

Above all, as an extension of Target’s in-store differentiation strategy, the company needs to implement strong customer service features on all its digital platforms as well. This will include friendly, well-English speaking customer service reps available 24/7 customers can talk to about questions or technical problems with little or no waiting time.

Target Corporation is a retail chain specializing in household goods, clothing, food, and accessories at discounted prices. The retail chain’s history started back in 1902 as Goodfellows and in 1910 as The Dayton Company. Initially, the chain specialized in “furnishings, fabrics and decorations for business and other public institutions” (“Target Corporation,” 2016, p. 5). Eventually, Target went public in 1967 and on to acquire Mervyn’s in the 1970s where they became the seventh largest retailer in the United States. Target operates in the United States, where it is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and as of January 31, 2015 Target employs over 300,000 people. “The company recorded revenues of $72,618 million in the financial year ended January 2015, the operating profit of the company was $4,535 million, [and] the net profit was $2,449 million” (“Target

Target sells a wide variety of general merchandise and food through the store and with the use modern technology. Target’s broad-spectrum

Target is considered by many experts and industry analysts as the leading retailer using distributed order management systems, including their ability to continually make the Sales &

Target is one of the largest retailers in the United States. Target wants to be able to give guests better quality products for a cheaper price. They also want to be the one stop shop. Target relies on their team members to keep the guests happy so they always come back again and again. Target Corp. is the nation 's #2 discount chain (behindWal-Mart). The fashion-forward discounter operates about 1,765 Target and SuperTarget stores in 49 states, as well as an online business at Target.com. Target and its larger grocery-carrying incarnation, SuperTarget, have carved out a niche by

Target Corporation offers its customers a vast variety of products, well also providing a service. The corporation owns or has exclusive rights to many different brands ranging from groceries to clothing. For example, some brands that can only be found at Target are Archer Farms which provides food merchandise, Merona which supplies clothing and Room Essentials which provides home goods (Target, 2015, para.2). The shopping experience that Target provides can be defined as a service. The stores shopping experience is a service, since it cannot be patented, interaction with the customer occurs, it is heterogeneous, along with perishable and time dependent and contains the package of features (Chase & Jacobs, 2013, p.9). Target is a popular consumer destination because it provides both a service and goods making it ideal for one

Currently Target Corp operates nearly 2,000 retail stores that are sourced through thousands of vendors, and merchandise finds its way to the stores via 22 regional distribution centers located throughout the United States. Regarding imports, Target's strategy is to route most of the imported merchandise through a small number of import distribution centers on the East & West coasts (mainly Long Beach, CA) and than transfer the goods by truck or rail to the regional distribution centers. In 2001, Target revamped its distribution systems by hiring outside consultants NTE to replace manual operations with electronic inventory and distribution systems. Before the conversion, employees working in supply-chain management relied heavily on manual faxes for much of the sourcing functions completed at the regional distribution centers, which in turn gave employees and managment limited visibility of shipments and order histories. Now a system that links trading parters in a centralized online system is utilized that allows the company to concentrate on orders and their shipments in the early stages of the supply chain. By doing so, the company can take advantage of multiple transportation options, re-route transporation when necessary, correct overruns, and schedule shipments in full trucks. he reduction in costs for supply-chain management have been substantial, allowing Target Corp to continue offering its

As at 2015, Target 's North American distribution infrastructure consists 42 distribution centers totaling 55.5 Million square feet consisting of the following different facility types: regional general merchandised distribution centers, import / redistribution centers, perishables food distribution centers, E-Commerce fulfillment centers and returns processing facilities. Like many retailers, Target sources a significant volume of import merchandise from different countries around the world (approximately 500,000 containers of merchandise produced in countries like China, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, and Thailand). The import

Target Corporation is an evolving company. Target has great expectations for its future. For the year 2015, Target aims to expand its experience in order to effectively alter their customer’s expectations and shopping behavior. Target’s industry outlook starts with opening fifteen new stores for the year. The strategic store growth plans focus on localization and customer experience. Target will establish new store formats such as TargetExpress and CityTarget, while also offering new experiences, merchandising layouts and innovations in its general merchandising stores. (Target.com) The retailer’s TargetExpress is the smallest store format at approximately 20,000 square feet and aims to provide customers with effective quick trip shopping experience.

Headquartered in Minneapolis Minnesota, Target Corporation is one of the largest chains of retail stores in United States and Canada (Stone, 1995). Founded in 1902, the chain now has more than 360,000 employees worldwide. The company operates nearly 1925 stores out of which 1795 stores are in the US and 130 stores are in Canada (NASDAQ, 2014). The business prides itself in a diverse portfolio of merchandise that their outlets houses, ranging from dry groceries to electronics, furniture, apparel and much more. Its distribution networks make use of third party vendors, direct shipping as well as distribution centers. It also operates a successful e-store target.com which offers customers a virtual one-stop shop for their needs.

When the trucks arrive a small team unloads and bring product to their designated section of the store. For apparel, the clothing is put on racks and wheeled out. Where a small team folds, locates and displays them according to planograms and sets. The process of unloading, locating, displaying should be concluded before the store opens with no products on the sales floor. This is to keep the store looking clean and providing the customers with a clean, stocked environment. The effectiveness of Targets current distribution is good; however, inventory counts often have a crippling effect on the company. Since target launched their online pickup and ship from store the company has noticed an error in their operations. Their inventory counts did not refresh fast enough, if a guest just bought say a dress, it would not be accounted for, for 3-5 hours later in the system. Thus, issues for customer satisfaction would occur when a guest would either see online that we had it in stock, or order it for in store pick up and us not being able to fulfill their order. By improving their inventory management system, Target could see an increase in sales, customer satisfaction and online and in store customer traffic.

One of Target’s strengths is that it’s one of the largest retail outlets. Target is a one stop shop for its consumers. Target

This correspondences procedure focused on an up-market cachet with quality stock at moderate costs. They bring new patterns to racks quicker than other markdown retailers and incorporated "fast fashion" to bring about more regular customer visits. Publicizing efforts, for example, "Expect More, Pay Less" work to impart their intended interest group of more youthful, more wealthy, and instructed advertise. They have engaged their business sectors "classification require, mark mindfulness, mark disposition, and brand buy aim" with its IMC systems. Walmart has passed on a brand as a rebate superstore, which purchasers see as modest and low quality. Target upholds a solid trust in its purchasers of value and top of the line items. Through their coordinated showcasing correspondences procedures the brand has turned out to be seen as top of the line reasonableness. This separation is the manner by which target has wedged itself a specialty in the markdown retail

Target Corporation has recognized itself as one of the top retailers in the United States market on the basis of excellent service quality, customer experiences, operational excellence, strong financial position, and a wide array of product offerings. Through its high degree of service orientation at physical outlets and adoption of fair business practices, Target Corporation has become the most distinctive retailer in the eyes of its potential customers. Being one of the top-notch retailers in the United States, Target Corporation has to carefully strategize on its business operations and marketing tactics so as to keep itself in the row of competitive brands of the industry.