Target Corporation or Target specializes in the retailing business is an American company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, The company was first founded as Dayton Dry Goods Company, which was later on converted into Dayton Hudson Corporation, The Dayton Corporation started its first Target discount store in 1962,Target grew and eventually became the largest division of Dayton Hudson Corporation, culminating in the company being renamed as Target Corporation in August 1990. Target has represented a simple motto, which is Expect more. Pay less. Target wants the shopping experience to be the easiest and fastest way without paying more then other retail stores. Target experiences can be enjoyable, but also surprising at times because of the ability get low deals, and discounts on products. Target has a variety of everything, from food, to electronics, and there are even items that are sold under a private label brand. The biggest source of services that Target offers is the credit and debit card. To keep up the pace of today’s consumer of there needs and wants, Target always maintains a Target.com website for easier ways to shop and get the satisfaction needed. Through Target’s Market share and brand naming, there are competitive forces, and strategies that are followed.
Target focuses on many key factors, but the important ones are having growth, Innovation, Alliance, Cost leadership, and differentiation. Target is an ongoing growing corporation that has greatly been shown in all areas. Target gives an expansion to be markets that are on South and Northeast, where there are no Target stores around. More Urban areas give Target a new territory, but with that mind there were size limits, and a higher cost on land for building, which made it harder for urban areas. Target would be a better retailer for this and would give demographics and different style preferences to an average customer. Once Target grows in size, it would be able to enjoy any futher economics with new advertising and variations of sourcing making it more competitive with the different social media strategies. With the exclusive designs, gives the company a quality at reasonable prices. The brand takes the approach that social media should be used to advocate for your brand and make people love it. Target spends strategy across the nation, and more so in enterprise business, and social media.
Purpose Statement:
Target’s corporation states that, we fulfill the needs and fuel the potential of our guests. That means making Target your preferred shopping destination in all channels by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and exceptional experiences—consistently fulfilling our Expect More. Pay Less. Brand promise. There are specific competitive forces that Target deals with, that are all represented by Porter’s five forces. The five forces presented by rivalry among established competitions, barraging power of supplies, power of buyers, products or services, and new competitors. Target also have competitive strategies through their organized layout of the store, merging designer labels, marketing ads, donating to schools, and red cards. Target also used a Business enterprise system in which they use for data recording, and analysis.
Targets social media strategies can be scene on Twitter, Facebook, Instgram, Vine, Google, YouTube, Snapchat, Blogs, Phone Apps such as Cartwheel, and Target Mobile. Joe Curry says that Target's main focus on social media isn't to "sell, sell, sell." Target is one the nation’s lowest cost retailer stores, which gives Target a benefit to be set apart from other competitors by their competitive forces, advantages, social media trends, and the enjoyable shopping experience guests get.
Body:
Target Corporation has had a strong brand for years; the Target color red and the bull’s eye logo are recognized by more than 97% of the United States population. Targets competitive forces and advantages are what keep Target striving to be on top. Taking a deeper look into the competitive forces, we can Use Michael Porters forces to help outline the structure. The first force internal rivalry. The level of different competitions is the most important in retail industry. Target has a lot of competitors, but three most competitors are Wal-Mart, Costco Wholesale Corp., and Home Depot. When all these stores are being looked at they have similar products, and the same services to consumers. In this landscape, Target’s strategy has been to position itself as a higher- quality, fun and chic alternative to discount stores. Rather than compete strictly on price, Target focuses on competing on value. As shown in Figure 1 of the Appendix, it demonstrates how the different sales are broken up according to the department throughout the store (See Figure 1 in the appendix).
The next force is the power of supplies, these supplies help to drive sales, and drive their profits up. Target uses many suppliers to help meet the many requirements it takes to run a corporation. Some the range of suppliers also give discounts and incentives to maintain the challenges that other supplier might have in the same market. The products that the suppliers give to Target share a set of high standards, and they give the suppliers the supply needs. Capitalizing on its bargaining power, Target has taken measures to lower costs by (1) pressuring vendors to absorb merchandising costs and (2) eliminating distribution and inventory costs through improved supply chain management controls. The next force is the power of buyers, Target does not only have one buyer that is the main pressure for target, the potential buyer may start with small purchases to accumulate a volume of sales. As Target is making there quote for sales, they are the only retail store that carter to younger and educated well-off clientele. The next force is products and services, which also correspond with the advantages that Target contributes. In this force, it can be advantage for Target to get the different products from various retailers, because the market is competing with each other. Target gives a higher degree of services at a higher rate. The last force is a new competitor coming into the market. There can be many barriers when beginning a new entry for the market, it can give threats of new competitors to make it low, there are trade restrictions, which can keep new restraints of new products, or something that is becoming the normal service.
Based on Porter’s five force strategies, it can help relate the strategic advantages, Target focus on two: The first one is Growth, in growth we can how there is room to expand into other countries. This expansion can be an attraction for markets, and can populate for an income base corporation more then it already is. Differentiation in Target shows the growth will unequivocally have a positive impact on Target’s future. Target’s strategy of differentiation may have some pitfalls. In terms of differentiation, Target has long had a strategy of portraying itself as a fun, trendy alternative with exclusive product offerings. Targets Enterprise Business system helps with the advantages in Data, and analysis. In Targets Enterprise system, there is a intelligence that helps with the leverage skills of the company, the technologies that are helping the market, the application and how the performance keeps the company coming out with new products, the system is able to help with decision making, and can gather and analyze the store.
Social Media has bloomed more then ever for Target. They are on billboards, Ads, TV commericals, Snap Chat, Facebook, Twitter, and much more other medias. Target uses these to Target markets to produce more people to come into the store. Through Targets discounts, deals, coupons, Newspaper Ads, people will be willing to check out the new deal. Target social media has become more upcoming in the past 3 years. Target promotes a seasonal social media depending on what season it is. Social Media is becoming more important for Targets revenue. For example, when Target has a black Friday, they advertise their “Black Friday” Ad online only, since they previous have an Ad out for the beginning of the week, they don’t bother printing out a new one till that day. Target finds way to better the store by offering and promoting items online, and even making it convenient for costumers to get online shipping sent to the store via Target’s website. As Target continues to grow it will eventually have most of everything electronically in the new few years, making all there social media advantages paperless.
Conclusion:
Target will always stay on top for sales, marketing advantages, competitive advantages, social media trends, and anything else that gives Target its name. Target encourages everyone to be part of their shopping experience with gives the customers the best service. As a customer they should feel welcomed as they shop, knowledgeable on the deals, and products, and also amazed at the cleanliness of the store as a whole. Expecting more, and paying less is not only just a motto it’s also enforced with every trip to Target. Target has low prices, but gives quality back with there products. Guests are given the option to take a survey at the end of their receipt, in which helps the store to look better, according to Target rating they have more 5 star reviews then anything less then that (see figure 2 in Appendix). Without the competitors to look out for Target would not be one the best retailer stores, it keeps the company seeking new outlooks on the stores internal and external needs and wants. As the Ceo Brian Cornell states, Target will continue to be uplifting in the features years, but still continue to “Expect more, and pay less”, there will be new stores opening in urban cities, and new express Targets making its way into the marketing shares. Costumers will continue to be satisfied with the quality of products they see in Target stores, as well as keep Target on top of the charts. Target can only grow, and seek new abilities, and strive to be even more successful with the competitive advantages and forces it takes on the marketing values.