...Interpreting Financial Results: Walmart vs. Target FIN/571 July 27, 2014 John Kushner Abstract Walmart and Target both are discount retail one stop monster shops, but they each cater to different customers. Walmart, which according to CBS News Money Watch in a November 2012 episode says its customers' average household income ranges from $30,000 to $60,000, hammers its low-price message and focuses on stocking basics like tee shirts and underwear along with household goods. But Target, whose customers have a median household income of $64,000 a year, is known for carrying discounted designer clothes and home decor under the same roof as detergent and dishwashing liquid. Of the two discounters, I prefer Target, I personally name this, my one hundred dollar store. No matter the trip, the minimum I spend per visit is $100 dollars. The purpose of this paper is to perform a horizontal analysis and review Walmart’s financial statements from the past three years and then interpret those results against company historical data as well as industry benchmarks as compared to its biggest competitor, Target. This paper will be interpreting financial results: Walmart vs. Target over the last three (3) years looking at Balance Sheet, Cash Flow and Income Statements. Interpreting Financial Results: Walmart vs. Target For the first part of this assignment and review of Walmart’s finances, I will highlight the...
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...Case Study: Target Laval University 01/10/2013 To understand the struggles of Target during the economic crisis that started in 2008, one has to comprehend the relationship Target has with the biggest discount retailer in the United States; Walmart. The two stores are very often paralleled, so much that when one store is brought up, the other one is also brought up for a quick comparison. However, they still have one big difference in the fact that Target is considered to be more up scaled. Often described as “Cheap Chic”, the products at Target are of higher quality for a slightly higher price, while still staying affordable. Before the economic crisis, Target sales were always increasing and the business was growing at a faster rate than Walmart. Target’s profits and sales were increasing from one period to another, while Walmart was basically lagging; not decreasing in sales but not increasing neither. That situation alerted the biggest discount retailer so much that its top manager decided to change their marketing strategy and copy Target. They started to have more and more designer clothing and house furniture lines as well as more gourmet and organic food in its aisles. The well known “Always low prices. Always.” slogan was even changed to “Save money. Live better.” That new catch phrase was designed to take away the...
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...Wal-Mart VS Target Group Analysis [Type the author name] 4/21/2013 [A group analysis of the two top retailers; Wal-Mart and Target. This paper will discuss the SWOT of both companies as well as give an in depth analysis of both companies as big competitors.] 1962 was the year of creation. That is when two great companies were founded, Target and Wal-Mart. Target opening saying it’s a “new idea in discount stores”. Wal-Mart was the retailer who “focused on helping customers and communities save money and live better”. The two companies opened with the same ideas in mind. Sam Walton opened Wal-Mart’s first store in Rogers, Arkansas while Target was opened in Roseville, Minnesota by the Dayton Company. Later that year Target opened three more stores in St. Louis Park, Crystal and Duluth, Minnesota. Over the years the companies have managed to create household names for themselves that have lasted for over 50 years. Target and Wal-Mart have many things about their companies in common, strategy isn’t one of them. These companies seem to take two different approaches and it works in both persons favor. They both are leaders in different aspects therefor making them great competitors. Wal-Mart has 3 different strategies. Focus strategy is usually defined as: focusing on offering products and services to a particular market segment or buyer group, within a segment of a product line, and/ or to a specific geographic market. The differentiation strategy is defined...
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...| Wal-Mart vs. Target | Mission , Vision, Social Responsibility, and Strategic Planning | | Renita Springs | 3/6/2012 | | Wal-Mart and Target are both great retail stores to go and find a good bang for your buck shopping experience. After researching both companies, it appears they have the same ideas as a mission, saving the customer money. Wal-Mart Mission statement reads; “ If we work together “ we’ll lower cost of living for everyone.. We’ll give the world and opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.” (http://walmartstores.com/AboutUs/9538.aspx) Target’s Mission Statement; “To make Target the preferred shopping destination for our guest by delivering outstanding value , continuous innovation and an exceptional guest experience by consistently fulfilling our Expect more, Payless brand promise.” (http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-031699) A comparison in the mission statements implies that both companies show some definition on the purpose of the organization, to save money for the customers; however, Wal-Mart lacks how the company helps make its strategic decision. The Wal-Mart statement is too vague. It should be broadened to give detail on how they plan to do save the customer money and have a better life. Target’s purpose of the organization and strategic plan is made clear through reading the mission statement. Target speaks more in depth on how they plan to do this for the customer but not...
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...----------------------------------- Jul 31, 2005 Target versus Walmart, Walmart Competitive Analysis ----------------------------------- Can Target Surpass Walmart in Market Share? TARGET STORES, the crown jewel of the Target Corporation, would appear to have everything: zippy ads, fast-growing sales and exclusive merchandise that people rave about. But inside the headquarters tower here, where Target's decisions are made, no one is about to relax. With Kmart hobbled by bankruptcy, it is Target that now gets the attention of Wal-Mart Stores, the biggest retailer in the land and the biggest company, too. Every successful step that Target takes -- signing designers to make baby bottles and little black dresses, moving deeper into the grocery business, persuading more and more upper-middle-class shoppers to become upper-middle-class bargain hunters -- brings it into closer confrontation with the $218 billion behemoth that is Wal-Mart. At stake are the wallets of the growing number of consumers who shop discount stores by choice. In most respects, the Target Corporation -- which also owns the Marshall Field's and Mervyn's department stores -- is performing spectacularly well. It reported sales of $39.9 billion for the most recent fiscal year, mostly from its 1,100 Target stores, pushing it ahead of the beleaguered Kmart to make Target the nation's second-biggest discounter. Analysts are impressed with its earnings, which soared 36 percent, to $345 million,...
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...Project: Wal-Mart v. Target Target A. Background -Target is an upscale discounter that provides high-quality, trendy products, at attractive prices. The Company prides itself on having clean, spacious, guest-friendly stores. -Target operates stores under three main business segments; Target, SuperTarget, and its online business (Target.com). -In total the company operates 1613 regular Target strores and 218 SuperTargets stores in 47 states which compete with Wal-Mart and Super Wal-Mart. In addition to their retail stores, SuperTargets add upscale grocery shopping, photo processing, pharmacies, and Food Avenues Restaurants. http://investors.target.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=65828&p=irol-homeProfile B. History -Target was founded from three main company’s; Marshall Field & Company, D. L Hudson Company, and Dayton Company. George D. Dayton was an entrepreneur who tried his hand in banking, investments, and other business ventures before opening his first retail store. In 1903 Dayton built a six-story building in which a Minneapolis dry-goods store began operating out of. Mr. Dayton took over the business and renamed it The Dayton Dry Goods Company. He would lead the company until the 1960’s when he formed the Target Corporation. Dayton was renamed Target only a few years ago. It was the Dayton Hudson Corporation until fairly recently. http://www.daytonhouse.org/HouseHistory/Daytons/tabid/200/Default.aspx -Over the next 40 years, Target gradually expanded from...
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...Walmart It all began in 1962, Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas. This was when grocery stores were becoming popular and he wanted to take a different spin on the idea. He followed behind Kmart and Target. Today Walmart has over 8500 stores in 55 different countries and employees over 1.4 million people. Walmart has set a precedent that others have tried to follow, but have not been as successful. Walmart has built its empire on the “one stop and shop.” Walmart offers everything from groceries to clothes, cell phone service, tires, oil changes, and even gas at discount prices. Walmart’s organizational structure has been successful and is still growing. It is evident in the amount of revenue generated each year, their marketing strategy, and the number of new stores they open yearly. Walmart vs. Target vs. Kmart Walmart’s structure consists of a board of directors and below the directors is the senior management. This type of structure is vertical. The board consist of 15 members, including the head chairperson Sam Walton and Mike Duke the CEO. The committee also has inside directors. Target is another store that also has vertical structure with a board of directors. Kmart is on a smaller scale due to recent financial and restructuring of their organization. Target Target is also a discount store, but they offer a different spin. They are more focused on the style. Target’s corporate strategy is one that has changed little over the years: to provide...
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...Walmart Case Part A: A. The ROA dropped from 9.5% in 06 to 9.3% in 07, and 08. It reflects a drop in the profit margins from 4.0% in 06, to 3.9% in 07 and 3.7% in 08. The decrease in profit margin for ROA can be seen in cost of goods sold vs. selling vs administrative expenses. Where cost of goods sold to sales percentage continually decreased, while selling and administrative expense to sales percentage continually increased. The decreasing cost of goods sold to sales percentage can be from lower inventory shrinkage from more effective merchandising, and higher yielding international segment. The reason behind selling and administrative expense to sales percentage increase can be increased advertising from Walmart’s international branch as it expands. B. The reason behind the return on common shareholders’ equity decreasing from 06-07 and staying the same for 07-08 can be from steadily small annual decline in profit margin for return on common shareholder’s equity, except in 08 where an increase in capital structure leverage ratio offset the difference. The decrease in profit margins for return on common shareholders’’ equity positively correlates with the decrease in profit margins for ROA. Part B A. Walmart: Higher ROA is from larger assets turnover for accounts receivable, inventories, and fixed assets. Faster accounts receivable turnover can be from not having its own credit cards, thus receiving payments from consumers up front and immediately. Faster...
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...Organizational Structure of Wal-Mart Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, can be seen as a successful model to examine the internal structure of the organization from the inside. Comparing the different types of organizational structures provides an overview of the structure type Wal-Mart is composed of. As we take a closer look at the structure of the company allows us to better understand the functions of the management and control and coordination in place to achieve the objectives of the strategic planning and implementation in those actions. We will also explore how this structure affects the relationship between the various departments. I will discuss three objectives in this paper. I will first describe the organizational structure of Wal-Mart and make a comparison with other organizational structures used today to clarify the differences and similarities. Second, I will evaluate how organizational functions influence and determine its structure. Third, I will explain how the organizational structure helps to determine the best structure. Wal-Mart operates in three divisions, which are United States Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Wal-Mart International. Its overall business spans several continents with many subsidiaries in several countries geographically. These subsidiaries operate under various trade names, they include ASDA, Sam's Club, Seiyu, Massmart, Wal-Mart U.S., Wal-Mart Canada Wal-Mart in China Wal-Mart Brazil, Wal-Mart Argentina, Mexico Wal-Mart...
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...| How Walmart became a Super Power | E-Business EBUS308 | | By Dorine | 10/20/2014 | Table of Contents Business Model 2 Description of Stakeholders 4 Supply Chain Management 5 Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) 6 Supply Chain Flow 6 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 7 Customer Satisfaction 7 How Customer Satisfaction is Measured 7 E-Commerce Business Plan Template 8 Mobile Applications 8 Market Analysis Summary 9 Key Competitors 9 Walmart vs Amazon 10 Walmart vs WinCo 10 Data and Information Management Plan 11 Information Collected 11 How Information Collected Is Used 12 Policies to Protect Information 13 References 14 In today’s world shoppers like to have a one stop shop where they can go to get everything they need at a low price. Wal-Mart has provided that type of store for customer to be able to shop for groceries, clothes, house hold items, furniture, toys, pharmacy, and electronics. They are good at giving the customers what they want, they were the number one business of the Fortune 500 list for 2014 the second year in a row (Fortune 500 2014, 2014). Wal-Mart opened their first store in July 1962 in Roger, Arkansas. In 1991 Wal-Mart went international by opening up Sam’s Club in Mexico City. “Today, Walmart operates over 11,000 retail units under 71 banners in 27 countries (Our Story, 2014).” Walmart employs 1.3 million in the United States and 2.2 million associates around the world. Walmart’s mission statement...
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...implemented additional ideas in putting forth the voice of the customer project in considering conducting tests of utilizing direct mail opt-in strategies. Many organizations have dismissed direct mail altogether as too expensive, too slow, too outdated or all of the above. Such opt-in information can be used effectively in expanding our VOC Channel mix if it is utilized correctly. (Roman, 2011). With the amount of data we will be collecting through the Walmart rewards program, we should be able to access a database full of leads in conducting research to compare the results from doing a combined direct mail and email campaign, a direct mail-only campaign, and an email-only campaign (Kopecky, 2013). Provided below is such an example and break down results of tests that can be calculated. With Walmart’s growth internationally this form of opt-in VOC research can be beneficial for focusing on strategic planning and relationship marketing in culturally diverse countries. When conducting such opt-in strategies, Walmart must be made aware of the...
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...Labor Laws and Unions Walmart is one of the biggest retail stores in the world. Walmart operates worldwide with current total count of its stores reaching 9.667 stores worldwide (Walmart Corporate, 2011). Interestingly, Walmart is an organization that is currently non-unionized. This paper will provide brief background information on Walmart organization. Legal issues and obstacles that Walmart could encounter will also be identified. The writer will determine which federal, state, or local laws could be broken because of the legal issues and why. Finally, recommendations to minimize possible litigation will be provided. The second part of the paper will deal with scenario if Walmart joining a union. Effects of the union on Walmart will be discussed next on the paper. Organization’s benefits of joining a union will be analyzed. Process of unionization will be discussed. And ways on how a union bargains and its effects on Walmart will be considered. Walmart’s Background Walmart begins in 1962 along with other retail stores such as Kmart and Target. Walmart has a humble beginning, with its owner Sam Walton put up 95 percent of their money to open the first Walmart stores in Rogers, Arkansas. Walmart finally goes public ten years later in 1972 which brings more capital to the organization. Walmart starts booming in the 1980s, where in the period of 10 years, sales grow from $ 1 billion in 1980s to $26 billion in 1989. In 21st century, Walmart is serving more than 176 million...
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...opportunistic short-term investments based on proactive investment research and a disciplined strategy. Our Strategy Our company’s short term strategy is to invest in US Retail industry’s top performing stocks. We are specifically targeting the high retail stock returns during this US holiday season. The US Retail Industry The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates that U.S. retail sales will rise 3.9% during this holiday season, overshadowing last year’s growth of 3.5%. Sales during the months of November and December are estimated at $602.1 billion. NRF also forecasts a 13%-15% rise in online holiday sales to $82 billion, stronger than the 11.1% growth seen during the 2012 season. Stocks selected Companies we chose to invest in are Walmart, Target, Macys, Amazon. These retail companies have been around for years, and doing good business. Moreover these companies are industry leaders who’re giving higher returns compared to its peers in the industry. Performance of selected companies in the Retail...
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...Price waterhouse cooper | Qualitative Analysis of Target and Wal-Mart | | | Sophia Feng | 12/2/2013 | | Contents Introduction 2 Background 2 Figure 1: Comparative Statistics 4 Figure 2: Wal-Mart’s Stock Price from Year to Date 4 Figure 3: Target’s Stock Price from Year to Date 5 Companies’ success stories 5 Comparative Advantages 6 Problems with internal control 6 Figure 4: Document about Hispanic Employees 8 Future Challenges 8 Conclusion 9 Work Cited 10 Introduction Every year the management of Price Waterhouse Cooper will choose from a list of ten successful companies to invest one-third of their company’s profit into the stock market. From these ten companies, a team of people will select two companies that are in the same industry that they believe would be worth investing in. From these two companies, Price Waterhouse will have a team of researchers to do an extensive research on the two companies’ qualitative aspects. This year Price Waterhouse would either invest their money in Target’s or Wal-Mart’s stocks. Both these two retail companies are very successful that still continues to grow each day because of their low and irresistible prices on their merchandises. Not only do they provide their consumers with these prices, but their offer a wide range of merchandises from garden supplies to toddlers’ clothing. The CEO of Price Waterhouse, Eliza Smith, have assigned the accounting department with the task of deciding which...
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...The Target Corporation Symbol | TGT | Current Share Price | 72.53 | 52Wk-Range | 66.46-85.81 | Market Cap | 44.68B | EPS | -1.11 | Div. & Yield | 2.24(3.13%) | Beta | .615273 | Next Earnings Date | 24-Feb-16 | Quick Stock Information Quick Ratios ‘14 | Target | Competitor Avg. | Current Ratio | 1.20 | 1.01 | Inventory Turnover/Year | 8.00 | 10.00 | SG&A | 20% | 14% | Gross Margin | 29% | 23% | Profit Margin | -1% | 2% | Sales Growth | 2% | 8% | ROE | -12% | 15% | Quick Ratios Target Vs Competitor Avg. ‘14 Company/Report Overview Target Corporation (TGT) is a general merchandise retailer currently operating in the United States and formerly in Canada. Its stores offer household essentials, including but not limited to the following: pharmacy, beauty, personal care, electronics, sporting goods, and fresh groceries. As of January 15, 2015, the company operates 1,934 stores, including 1,801 stores in the United States. The 133 stores in Canada are currently in liquidation. Figure 1.1 Figure 1.1 The company’s new CEO, Brian Cornell, has taken Target in a different direction from his predecessor. Cornell has decided to end Target’s campaign in Canada, a move spearheaded by former CEO Gregg Steinhafel. In addition, Cornell is looking to rebuild Target’s image, tarnished by a 2013 information breach, while simultaneously positing Target in an industry of increased competition. Drivers of Sales & Revenue Target generates...
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