What is Target? Target Review, Features

Target (Target Corporation) is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second largest retail department store group in the United States after Walmart and is also a component of the S&P 500 Index.

About Target

In January 2000, Dayton Hudson Corporation (founded in 1962) changed its name to Target Corporation.

As of February 3, 2018, Target has 1,822 stores in the United States, providing customers with today's fashion-forward retail services at affordable prices. Whether in offline Target stores or online at Target.com, customers can choose from thousands of unique items and enjoy a fun, simple and convenient shopping experience. The company gives back $2 million to local communities every week through donations and other activities. Since opening its first store in 1962, Target has worked with many non-profit organizations, customers and organizational members to help meet the needs of local communities.

Target offers a wide range of products including women's clothing, men's clothing, shoes and boots, bags and handbags, jewelry, home accessories, furniture, bedding, beauty and skin care, sports products, pet products, electronic appliances, etc.

Logo Meaning

Target means "bull's eye" or "target" in English. The Target logo is a striking red bull's eye. In the United States, the Target logo has become as familiar and loved by the public as the Nike tick and the Coca-Cola circle logo.

position

Target's market positioning is: high-end discount retail store.

Customer positioning: Target positions its customer base as 80% female, with an average age of about 40 and an average annual household income of $51,000, slightly higher than Walmart's $40,000 and much higher than Kmart's $20,000.

Serve

1. Exclusive products: Target's product strategy is to provide exclusive products that can only be bought at Target, especially designer products. This not only meets customers' quality requirements, but also greatly enhances Target's high-end and fashionable image.

2. Product concept: Target is not like ordinary low-price discount stores (such as Wal-Mart) that deliberately confuse customers in the design of aisles when planning large branches, so that they can spend more time shopping to buy unexpected products. Target's strategy is to help customers buy what they want as soon as possible, so the floor planning and various sign designs are easy for customers to find the direction. Its product channel signs have three intersecting facades that customers can see from any angle. Everything is based on helping customers save time. In addition, Target has gradually reduced the national brands that other discount stores also sell, and instead sells its own brands that only Target has.

3. Service First: Target has added a "decent" atmosphere that was lacking in mass retail stores - not only the comfortable and decent decoration, but also the treatment of customers as guests of honor. Target employees' polite and efficient service is quite rare in ordinary discount stores. Since this series of changes, Target seems to have been stamped with a stamp of excellent quality. High-end customers compare how much money they have saved by shopping at Target, and show off their recent purchases at Target everywhere - new clothes, cookware sets, TVs or DVD players. The message Target wants to convey to customers is: We have high-quality products that you can't find in other stores, and the prices are not expensive.

Acquisition

-In the first quarter of 2011, Target expanded internationally for the first time and adopted a familiar merger approach, acquiring 220 stores from Canadian retailer Zellers for $1.8 billion.

-In 2017, Target acquired the delivery startup Shipt for $550 million.

Important Events

In August 2002, Target recalled clothing items bearing the "88" logo after angry customers and the Southern Poverty Law Center accused the items of being a white supremacist symbol.

At the end of 2013, the US retail giant Target announced that the company had been hacked, and 70 million users’ personal information and 40 million credit card data were stolen, involving user names, phone numbers, email addresses, credit card information and other private data. According to estimates at the time of the incident, Target’s losses had reached $148 million, and could eventually reach $1 billion.

Development History

-Target was founded in 1961.

-In 1962, the first Target store opened in Minnesota, the first store in the United States to introduce the concept of discounts.

-In the 1970s, Target managed its inventory by using electronic cash registers for in-store merchandise, improving its customer service efficiency. At the same time, the company began to hold an annual shopping festival for the elderly and disabled.

-In the 1980s, Target continued to grow and opened many more retail stores.

-In the 1990s, Target opened the first Target Greatland Store.

-In 1995, the store was converted into a wedding gift shop. In the same year, Target opened its first Target supermarket. At the same time, the company launched a credit card service project.

-In January 2000, Dayton Hudson Company (founded in 1962) changed its name to Target Corporation.

-In the summer of 2002, there were 75 super Target stores in 17 states in the United States.

-In March 2013, it began to open branches in Canada and now has 127 stores.

-In December 2017, Target said it would acquire Shipt, an online grocery same-day delivery company, for $550 million in cash, which was also Target's largest acquisition.