Target Executive Summary: Target

Lululemon’s primary target customer is a sophisticated and educated woman who understands the importance of an

Over the last 10 years’ gym memberships within the United States have increased from 41.3 million to 54.1 million. The biggest trend over the last few years is becoming fit, more and more each day people are finding ways to live fit and healthier lifestyles. From eating the right nutritional foods, working out and people just wanting to follow the latest and greatest trends. The increase in gym memberships and the amount of people working out leads to the increase in athletic attire. For this exact reason athleisure wear was born, it is the newest fashion trends were people wear athletic clothing regardless if they intend go to the gym or not that day. People are wearing it to the office, shopping, to run errands and other social events. Athleisure wear consist of articles of clothing such as spandex, leggings, yoga pants, sports bras and fashionable sweats. Over the last 10 years an increase in athleisure wear has spread at a rapid rate globally, particularly in the women’s fashion industry. Since 2013 the increase in athleisure wear apparel has grown by 14% and accounts for 18% of the total clothing retail market. With this trend still catching on, active wear is expected to continue to grow at an average rate of 3.3% annually. Due to this rapid increase in purchasing athleisure wear the apparel industry will continue to grow especially Nike because they are the market leaders in active sportswear. For that exact reason I believe that Nike is a

The athletic apparel industry has shown a large increase in popularity. Global sales of sport clothing have increased from 146.1 billion US dollars in 2007 to 162 billion US dollars in 2012(Global Participative Sport as Consumption). Particularly in the United States, sales of sport apparel have increased by 7% from 2013 to 2014 (Wingus). There has been a large trend in healthy living, as “activewear accounted for $33.7 billion in sales and made up 16 percent of the apparel market” (Wingus). The industry is booming, as sportswear, specifically yoga pants, has transformed into people’s daily apparel. (Refer to Appendix Table 1) Huffington post noted, “people are wearing trendy workout clothes all day, every

Headquartered in Minneapolis Minnesota, Target Corporation is one of the largest chains of retail stores in United States and Canada (Stone, 1995). Founded in 1902, the chain now has more than 360,000 employees worldwide. The company operates nearly 1925 stores out of which 1795 stores are in the US and 130 stores are in Canada (NASDAQ, 2014). The business prides itself in a diverse portfolio of merchandise that their outlets houses, ranging from dry groceries to electronics, furniture, apparel and much more. Its distribution networks make use of third party vendors, direct shipping as well as distribution centers. It also operates a successful e-store target.com which offers customers a virtual one-stop shop for their needs.

Lululemon is one of the Canada’s best retailers of technical athletic yoga apparel. Lululemon’s yoga inspired apparel is marketed under the two brand names Lululemon Athletica for more mature women and Ivivva Athletica for younger girls. Lululemon primary target customers are educated and hard working women, who understand the importance of healthy and active lifestyle. Majority of these women are Caucasian who are mainly urban and have higher income, since Lululemon is an expensive brand .Most of their products are design to offer fit, performance and comfort while incorporating both style and function. On another hand, American Apparel

BYS targets the tween and early teenage female market, tweens make up large proportion of the market and are highly sought by the cosmetic industry due to their beliefs, which as suggested by Hair, McDaniel and Lamb (2014, 144) includes a growing need to remain a kid with the inclusion of having the fun of a teenager correspondingly tweens aim to look more mature at a younger age. BYS would target the ages between 12-15, these females would have a low income; from either pocket money or a low paying causal job, they would still be living at home with their parents and attend school and have active social lifestyle. The consumer would have a pursuit to be fashion and appearance savvy, from circumstances such as maturation or peer/ social pressures or alternatively they may hold a keen interest in beauty and cosmetics. BYS would form a basis on usage segmentation as it focuses on consumer actions rather than that of intentions, opinions and attitudes (Sarel and Marmorstein 1996, 39)

While Target is effective in their approach to vast market segments like age and gender relation segments, with the increase in technology and social views the need for innovation and change is consistent. Target currently has their clothing products merchandised on racks in stores, with little displays. If Target were to use manikins, differently lighting and product location tablets between sections Consumers would be able to visually see products that they might have not been able to see before. The customers would be able to quickly look up items on the tablet, which is innovative for both age and gender segments. The customer would be able to look up different color schemes, sizes and located them quickly while

To further support Target’s Ethics Disclosure, their managers took those same goals and analyzed their Annual Report. The responsibilities of a Target manager is to maintain comprehensive systems, to provide reasonable assurance and controlling cost based off of established procedures. The management statement reveals its importance to stay in alliance with The Board of Directors, but strives to come to an agreement to satisfy all

We feel that it would have been easier to shop if all leggings styles were next to each other, all tank top styles were next to each other, all sports bras next to each other, and so on. We found the same exact pair of leggings on two different sides of the section. This could keep a customer from finding an appropriate size, which could result in Target losing a sale. Thus, although the active wear section itself was very easy to find, making shopability easy, the styles of clothing themselves were very spread out making shopability difficult. Therefore, we believe Target deserves a grade of a three for this topic, as it isn’t terrible but definitely could be improved.

Target Corporation is a well-known American discount retailing company, founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the U.S. (Walmart being the largest) (Target, 2014). Target’s analysis will provide an insight into the corporation and its working. It look at and evaluate it in terms of terms of its effectiveness in each of these areas, such as: the structure, goals, agendas, boundaries, control, culture, politics, and decision-making processes. Based on the evaluation, this paper will help to provide suggestions for improvements within the different areas, if the need arises.

The target market for Topshop lives in Toronto, Ontario specifically in the Church-Yonge Corridor (see Appendix A, Figure 7). These women live in apartments that are more than 5 storeys, however a small percentage lives in apartments less than 5 storeys (see Appendix A, Figure 8). For Topshop’s consumers aged twenty-five to thirty, 82% have a postsecondary education, diploma or degree (see Appendix A, Figure 9). Generation Y prefers stimulating work that offers variety in their daily work and opportunities for advancement long-term career progression (Guillot-Soulez, 2014). 71% of Generation Y has either a part-time or full-time job (see Appendix A, Figure 10), and they hold the highest percentage of the labour force (see Appendix A, Figure 11). The average household income for Topshop’s market is $80,000 to $124,000 annually (see Appendix A, Figure 12). Topshop’s base price for garments range from $29.99 to $400.00. This income level allows the target market to spend within the range of $70.00 to $250.00.

The U.S. women’s apparel industry market is mature, given that the average growth rate from 2005 to 2007 was 4.66%. Within the industry, there are 6 categories of clothing in which companies compete: haute couture, designer, bridge, better, moderate, and budget. Each category targets customers with different needs and different price ranges, with haute coutre and designer clothing ranging upwards from $10,000 and moderate

in the clothes a parent and kid wear; thus there is no conflict brought about by perceptions of an

Sportsmen and women wear specific clothing for particular reasons, which include freedom of movement, physical protection of the body, personal identification, performance enhancing purposes, comfort and also fashion (Barton, 2015). Sportswear is defined primarily as apparel made for sports participation, however there now seems to be growing trend of consumers purchasing these garments as casual clothes worn for day-to-day activities. The connection between sportswear

Mark and Spencer has always provided clothes for a wide range of customers. One of its core business strategies has continuously been to supply good quality clothes at affordable prices, targeting everyone. The idea of appealing to everyone is sometimes reflected in the company’s advertisements; were a diverse group of people is usually presented, wearing M&S products (Belinda White, 2013).Nevertheless, this technique has its limits; in this highly competitive market, where price sensitive consumers have a wide range of store choices, brands have to differentiate themselves in other ways. Nick Bubb, a retailing analyst is skeptical about this method. He states that:” M&S tries to be all things to all people, to young and old, but by definition it is impossible to appeal to everybody: if you go for the older vote, you will alienate the younger customer and if you go for the younger vote you will antagonize the core older customer” (Nick Bubb, 2012).