...boulevards. But even with such strong similarities, ask consumers if there’s a difference between the two, and they won’t even hesitate. Walmart is all about low prices; Target is about style and fashion. The “cheap chic” label applied by consumers and the media over the years perfectly captures the long-standing company positioning: “Expect More. Pay Less.” With its numerous designer product lines, Target has been so successful with its brand positioning that for a number of years it has slowly chipped away at Walmart’s massive market share. Granted, the difference in the scale for the two companies has always been huge. Walmart’s most recent annual revenues of $408 billion are more than six times those of Target. But for many years, Target’s business grew at a much faster pace than Walmart’s. In fact, as Walmart’s same-store sales began to lag in the mid-2000s, the world’s largest retailer unabashedly attempted to become more like Target. It spruced up its store environment, added more fashionable clothing and housewares, and stocked organic and gourmet products in its grocery aisles. Walmart even experimented with luxury brands. After 19 years of promoting the slogan, “Always Low Prices. Always.” Walmart replaced it with the very Target-esque tagline, “Save Money. Live Better.” None of those efforts seemed to speed...
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...Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers Assignment No. 3 I.A.Mir VIDEO Case TOMS Shoes Principles of Marketing on how TOMS executes its strategy within the constantly changing marketing environment. After viewing the video featuring TOMS Shoes, answer the following questions about the marketing environment: “Get involved: Changing a life begins with a single step.” This sounds like a mandate from a nonprofit volunteer organization. But in fact, this is the motto of a for-profit shoe company located in Santa Monica, California. In 2006, Tom Mycoskie founded TOMS Shoes because he wanted to do something different. He wanted to run a company that would make a profit while at the same time helping the needy of the world. Specifically, for every pair of shoes that TOMS sells, it gives a pair of shoes to a needy child somewhere in the world. So far, the company has given away tens of thousands of pairs of shoes and is on track to give away hundreds of thousands. Can TOMS succeed and thrive based on this idealistic concept? That all depends 1. What trends in the marketing environment have contributed to the success of TOMS Shoes? 2. Did TOMS Shoes first scan the marketing environment in creating its strategy, or did it create its strategy and fit the strategy to the environment? Does this matter? 3. Is TOMS’ strategy more about serving needy children or about creating value for customers? Explain. COMPANY Case Target: From “Expect More” to “Pay Less” When...
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...providing an exceptional guest experience, licensing departments and diversity in all parties involved. Targets purpose is to make everyday consumers make all target retail locations their number one preferred shopping destination in all channels by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and exceptional experiences. In this analysis of Target Corporation we will discuss the areas of retailing activities. We will go in depth on how Target Corp. began into the one of the largest retailers in America by discussing a brief situational analysis providing information on Target’s sole mission to consumers, their distinctive retail strategy and to whom this successful strategy is targeting and as well their other monsoon competitors in the industry. We will provide information relating to terms and concepts learned throughout the semester. Once completing the situational analysis we will discuss Target’s tactics in customer service and pricing. We will then discuss multiple integrated marketing communications the company chooses to participate with and then going deep into an...
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...c. Competitive Position and Possibilities…………………………………...5-6 IV. Strategies used for the Company………………………………………….6-8 V. Implementation Plan……………………………………………………….8-13 VI. Risk Management Plan…………………………………………………….13-14 I. Executive Summary Target prides itself on its charitable contributions and being an environmentally friendly corporation. This is one of Target Corporation’s many strong characteristics. Their strengths include innovative techniques, branding, and design. With strengths, there come weaknesses for companies. Target’s weaknesses include the lack of geographic locations and numerous litigation cases. Competitor competition, along with a recovering economy, serves as threats to the retail industry. There are many opportunities for Target, such as expansion into the global market, continued growth in private label, and broadening their target demographic to increase the market share. II. Company Background and Mission, Vision, and Values Statement In 1962, the first Target store was opened by the Dayton Dry Goods Company in Minnesota. Target is one of the few franchises to have been established for such a long period. In 2002, Target became the second largest retailer in the United States (Target, 2013). Target could do this by adapting to the changing environment and meeting customers’ needs and wants. Even though Target’s revenue is not as much as Wal-Mart’s, Target’s customer base is attracted to the...
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...Current Market Value Measures Target’s stock performance has been relatively stable over the past 5 years given the economic turndown. Target reduced their outstanding stock shares by $40.6 million to $704 million and increased their EPS to $4.00 per outstanding share, a 21% increase over 2010. Net profit was $2,920 million, a 17.4% increase over 2010. Target Executives have a strong commitment to consistently return dividends and profits to its shareholders. CEO Gregg Steinhafel boasts in a statement taken from the corporation’s annual report that “Target has sustained a decades-long record of annual dividend increases, with a 47% increase of our quarterly dividend to 25 cents per share” (Datamonitor,2012, p.27). He goes on to say that “Combining dividends with shares repurchased, we returned $3.1 billion to our shareholders in 2010 (Datamonitor p.27). Target stock is currently selling for around $55.00 per share, which is lower than competitor Walmart ($58.00), and Costco ($84.00). In 2011, Targets 52 week high was $60.97, and the 52 week low was $48.23. Analysts in the industry consider Target’s stock a low risk because of the corporation’s consistent performance. Stock Valuation suggests the fair value of the stock to be in the mid-fifty dollar per share range , however MorningStar suggests that considering buying the stock at $40.60, and selling if the stock jumps to $78.30 (Feb 2, 2012). A stock comparison against Target’s competitors reveals that on the surface, it...
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...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 image of cheap products and convince customers that by shopping at Walmart, they could increase the quality of their lifestyle. But when the recession hit the United States in 2008, that tendency reversed and basically became the opposite. Instead of Target’s market increasing and Walmart’s decreasing, the former started recording decreases in profits and the latter started showing signs of...
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...Target’s Supply Chain Unit 2 Assignment GB570 Managing the Value Chain Dr. Rita Gunzelman Kaplan University December 12, 2011 Target’s Supply Chain The purpose of this paper is to show evidence of cohesive knowledge of the supply chain and how it works by the exploration of Target Corporation’s supply chain. Target, one of the nations largest retail chains, first opened in 1962 in Minnesota as key leadership were looking for new ways to move from a family-run (The Dayton Family) department store to a mass market national chain strengthening customer relationships by appealing to value-oriented shoppers in quest of a higher-quality experience. Today, Target operates approximately 1750 stores (including nearly 240 SuperTarget stores) in 49 states with Gregg Steinhafel as their CEO. We will review the effectiveness of Target’s supply chain and analyze if it meets the necessary expectations of their demand chain. (Target, 2011) Overview of Target’s Supply Chain Target, the 2nd largest discount-retailer in the U.S. has focused on their slogan, “Expect More Pay Less” and strategizes to increase optimal value and growth for global networking, an exclusive upscale and trendy product line, and value added service that creates a distinctive niche throughout the world. This multi-billion dollar company set out to change how consumers thought about discount shopping by offering a more upscale shopping experience. In 1998, Target purchased Associated Merchandising...
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...Background and Description of Major Issues Target actually began as Dayton Dry Goods, a department store - focus on high quality feel at lower prices - Customers have a more pleasurable shopping experience • However, many customers are willing to forgo aesthetics for lower costs in tough economic times. o Because Target is following a “Cost Leadership” strategy, it is important to play the game, because the target market will not respond to largely excessively higher costs in the name of differentiation. • Additionally, it is important to make sure that an efficient supply chain is maintained and that inventory is turned over as quickly as possible. Target’s gross margin is higher than the industry average and Wal-Mart’s, which implies that Target is relatively efficient in this area. o Wal-Mart’s large amount of stores, both within the United States and internationally, help the low-cost retailer bring in revenues. ▪ Target could improve by stepping up against this strategy. • As the world becomes more inter-connected, Target needs to stay on board o For example, the potential revenues gained by reaching foreign markets can be seen as an opportunity. ▪ However, PEST analysis shows that this can also pose problems: • U.S. Export Tariff on Chinese goods • Risk of instability in other countries o Both politically...
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...refer to the Preparing Assignments page (a link is also provided in the Evaluation block on the course homepage). Read the case “Target: From ‘Expect More’ to ‘Pay Less’” on pages 103 to 105 of the textbook and prepare answers to the questions below. Do not answer the questions at the end of the case in the textbook. Question 1 (20 marks) Identify four actors in the microenvironment that have affected Target’s performance over the past few years. Over the past few years there have been many actors that have affected Targets Performance, the four major ones are, Competitors, Customers, Publics and The Companies Operations. The first major Actor in Target’s microenvironment is the Competitors. When the economic crisis hit in 2008 Target lost market share to its major competitor Walmart. The reason for this Loss was because Walmart positioned themselves in the marketplace as always having low prices on their products, whereas Target positioned themselves as having better brands than Walmart. In this case Walmart as the competitor is a major actor in Target’s microenvironment kick starting a change in philosophy to a more of a Pay less side of things. The second major actor is the customers. When the crisis hit it caused the customers to have a more “frugal” approach to their spending...
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...Cracking the Growth Code in IT-BPO Mergers As the market matures, consolidation can be the key to growth. Most IT-BPO companies in India have a focused M&A strategy to build growth momentum. But what will it take for these strategies to pay off? Cracking the Growth Code in IT-BPO Mergers 1 India has been the world’s dominant destination for information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) services. However, as the market matures the industry has experienced a slowdown in growth, pushing IT-BPO providers toward focused M&A strategies to build and sustain growth momentum. Growth through M&A is now a core strategy influenced by the need to: • Fill gaps in service portfolios or geographic presence, to meet client demands and compete with the global majors; examples include Infosys’ acquisition of Lodestone to tap its European customer base, Wipro’s acquisition of Opus CMC to tap into its capabilities in high-end mortgage BPO, and Genpact’s acquisition of Triumph Engineering to bolster engineering capabilities • Manage cash reserves more effectively to meet shareholders’ expectations • Capture opportunities from client divestitures of services assets; examples include Cognizant’s acquisition of ING’s and CoreLogic’s captives, TCS’ and Wipro’s acquisition of Citigroup’s captives, and Tech Mahindra’s acquisition of Hutch BPO Done well, M&A strategies can help Indian players tap into $2 billion to $4 billion in revenues each year. Yet, about 70 percent of...
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...The Target Corporation: Strategic Analysis A Comprehensive Report By: Nick Gysberg Kelsey Lee Richard Cline Table of Contents: Target Analysis 3 Wal-Mart Analysis 18 Sears Holdings Analysis 27 Moderate Growth Strategy 39 International Strategy 42 Financial Data 43 Appendix 46 References 50 Strategic Profile The Target Corporation, founded by George Dayton, is now one of the top general merchandise retailers in the United States. The company’s mix of stylish products and everyday essentials at low prices give it a unique strategy; it is one of the only companies to simultaneously incorporate price leadership and differentiation as its strategic business model. Strong private label brands have allowed Target to capture high profit margins. The company also utilizes its large size to achieve economies of scale so as to better compete with merchandising giants such as Wal-Mart, one of Target’s main competitors. PESTL Analysis Political The ever changing international political situation affects both domestic and international firms. International trade policies, political movements and global events all affect the manner in which firms operate within the market. The general retail industry has greatly benefited from the liberalization of international...
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...reflection of a business’s individual values is illustrated in Target’s organizations plans and action’s. The preparatory point of this paper will identify on several areas that will analyze the origin of the Target store and the sub sequential of its values in the workplace. Explaining how the individual values drive his or her actions and behaviors and analyzing the alignments between the actions, values and behaviors. Following that, which will be the analyzing of the degree of the alignment that, which Target’s stated values and Target’s actual plans and actions are defined. In addition to, the explanation of all the analyzed differences of his or her individual values and Target’s values as reflected by Target’s plans and actions will be expressed. In the lead above the many places one may go to obtain their everyday needs from pet supplies, to electronics are only a few stores that would come to mind first. Among these top organizations is Target that, which is known for its prices, the services and the cleanliness, with a red sign as a logo that no-one, can mistake that, which is the Target bulls eye and this choice for shopping rises to the top of most consumers favorite destinations to shop. The existence of Target is pure, and to be the preferred shopping destination for all consumers and to appeal to all demographics is the drive for Target. When viewing the Target website and researching what the mission statement conveys is to formulate Target as the preferred...
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...B7 Eric Dowling Alex Davydov Matthew Melnicoff Soledad Querol Molly Rotsch Contents Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................................3 Marketing Analysis .............................................................................................................................................3 The Target Brand ............................................................................................................................................3 "The Guest" ....................................................................................................................................................4 Target's Competitors ......................................................................................................................................4 Expect More, Pay Less ....................................................................................................................................4 Rise of the Store Brand ...................................................................................................................................5 Up and Up......................................................................................................................................................6 The Introduction of PFresh....................................................................................................
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...of the actors and forces outside marketing that affect marketing management’s ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers. Like Xerox, companies constantly watch and adapt to the changing environment. b. More than any other group in the company, marketers must be environmental trend trackers and opportunity seekers. Although every manager in an organization should watch the outside environment, marketers have two special aptitudes. They have disciplined methods-marketing research and marketing intelligence-for collecting information about the marketing environment. They also spend more time in customer and competitor environments. By carefully studying the environment, marketers can adapt their strategies to meet new marketplace challenges and opportunities. 2. List some of the demographic trends of interest to marketers in the United States and discuss whether these trends pose opportunities or threats for marketers. a. Changing Age Structure of the Population Changing American Family Geographic Shifts in Population A better-educated, more white-collar, more professional population Increasing diversity b. The first trend( The changing age structure of the population), poses a threat because defining people by their birth date may be less effective than segmenting them by their lifestyle, life stage, life stage, or the common values they seek in the products they buy...
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...as the company itself, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer markets, competitors and publics (Kotler and Armstrong, p.66) The company itself definitely played role in affecting its performance over the past few years. Target wanted to be perceived as a discount retail store but also carry top designer products (Kotler and Armstrong, p.94). The marketing plans for the company affected its sales negatively and compared to the retail giant Wal-Mart, it was not doing as well as expected. At one point Target was continuously struggling that one of its biggest shareholders openly chided them and sought to take control of five of the board’s seats (Kotler and Armstrong, p. 95). The competitor retail store Wal-Mart is what had the most impact on Target’s microenvironment. Many Target stores are build right across the street or in the same vicinity and many consumers compare the two and usually assume Wal-Mart is the cheapest and better buy. Wal-Mart’s revenues have always exceeded that of Targets’ and during the recent economic issues it was posting quarterly increases of up to 5% along with larger jumps in profits (Kotler and Armstrong, p.94). This became a big issue for Targets success because according to Kotler and Armstrong, the marketing concept states that, to be successful, a company must provide greater customer value and satisfaction than its competitors do (Kotler and Armstrong, p.68). Media publics have also had an effect on Targets performance. Media publics...
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