Target Company Case Study

Target

Target is a large corporation that was founded in 1902 as Dayton Dry Goods Company. It all started in 1876 when founder George Dayton built a six story building in downtown Minneapolis. He convinced Ruben Goodfellow to move his department store into his building, and then when Goodfellow retired, the name was changed to Dayton Dry Goods Company in 1903. In 1911 it was changed to Dayton Company. In 1962 the first Target store opened in Roseville, Minnesota. Target had its first financial gain in 1965 with sales reaching $39 million, which allowed them to open their fifth store. By 1970 there were 24 stores, reaching $200 million in sales. In 1979 they opened 13 new stores to make a total of 80 stores across eleven states, with $1.12 billion in sales. By 1982 there were a total of 151 stores, with $2.05 billion in sales. Target expanded to the west coast of the US in 1982, and they had expanded to a total of 167 units and $2.41 billion in sales. As of today, there are 977 stores across 46 states, and sales reaching $29.7 billion by the end of the year.

Target is now growing to Canada. They expect to have one hundred to one hundred and fifty stores open there by 2013. Target wants to provide Canadians with a "true Target -brand experience". Ten percent of Canadians have shopped at their stores in the past 12 months. So they had to travel to the United States to shop there. They are also going to be opening City Targets, which are intended for downtown, or smaller cities instead of their huge stores. This will be a smaller version of Target, based in the city. The first City Targets are expected to open in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago by 2012. They also expect another one in Puerto Rico by 2014.

Target now has many extensions off their retail stores. A few of them include Target Brands, Target.com, and Target Sourcing Services. There is the main store, Target, which offers mainly clothes, shoes, jewelry, beauty products, bedding, kitchen supplies, sporting goods, pet supplies, and electronics. They also offer a limited selection of food items. Target varies its store types, some are two stories, and some are in malls. They are not all one, big, single story, warehouse type buildings. In 2009 Target began offering meats, and produce as a test run, and now many stores are changing so they can carry meat and produce as well. It was a success. Target also offers a photo lab which used to be owned by Qualex, and not by Target. In June 2005, Target took that over too, and now it is staffed with Target employees instead of Qualex employees. Target photo also partners with Kodak, Shutterfly, and Photobucket. Target stores stopped running their garden center with live plants by September 2010.

There are also other chains off of Target. Some others are Target Greatland, and Super Target. These differ from the normal Target because they are larger, and carry more products. The Super Target offers a better selection of groceries, and fresh produce, bakery, deli, and a few even offers an eye doctor. Some Super Targets have a Starbucks inside or Pizza Hut Express or Taco Bell Express inside. Some may offer Wells Fargo Banks, or U.S. Banks. Super Targets only fall back would be that it is not open twenty four hours like Wal-Mart. Also not like Wal-Wart, their groceries come from companies that they have partnered with, and not their own distribution centers.

Target competes mainly against Wal-Mart and Kmart. Target sells higher end things, while Kmart and Wal-Mart sell cheaper quality things. Because of this Target attracts younger buying crowds, who is more hip and know better what is good and what is not. Target didn't like that they were considered more expensive than their competitors, so they have cut down their expanding to seventy stores per year instead of one hundred. Target stores have wider aisles, and an eye-catching presentation. It is also much cleaner than Wal-Mart. On some of the stores close to airports, there is the signature bulls-eye painted on the roof so those landing can see there is a Target near them. Target calls its customers "Guests", its employees "Team Members", and its managers are known as "Team Leaders" or "Executive Team Leaders".

Target has gone crazy with their GiftCards, making one that is an MP3 player also. There are some that have LED lighting, and play music. There