Target's Argumentative Essay

Target is one of the largest retailers in the United States. Target wants to be able to give guests better quality products for a cheaper price. They also want to be the one stop shop. Target relies on their team members to keep

With the down turn in the economy, many consumers have turned to Dollar General and Dollar stores; this has caused a decrease in Target’s revenue. Another threat is Wal-Mart and their ability to offer lower prices on their products compared to Target which makes them the low cost leader. (ehow.com)

Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) is the leading large-format general merchandise and discount retailer in the U.S., challenging Wal-Mart in electronics, toys and apparel while also seeking to differentiate with higher-end fashions and products for an upscale audience. As of the close of their latest fiscal year (FY2011), Target operated approximately 1,760 stores encompassing 233,000 square feet in 49 states and the District of Columbia. The company is divided into the retail and credit card divisions and moves the majority of its products through a highly integrated network of 37 different distribution centers, which include four food distribution centers. Target is one of the most well-entrenched large format retailers in the U.S., has the ability to manage their pricing strategies at a level of accuracy and precision that is comparable to Wal-Mart (Henderson, 2001). Unlike Wal-Mart, Target concentrates on a value-based message that concentrates on quality and price differentiation to sustain their gross margins while Wal-Mart concentrates on supply chain efficiency and a continual reduction of supplier and transaction costs (Krishnamurthi, 2001).

Supercenters, such as Wal-Mart and Target, offer both experiences of budget-based department store items, drug store items, home goods, office supplies, furniture, and groceries. This enables the store to grab the attention of the shopper with multiple purchases to make, and who

In today’s world, especially in Canada, consumers generally want to satisfy all of their needs in a way that saves them the most time and energy. In order to meet this need, Target offers their customers the chance to buy different products that they would normally have to go to two or three different stores

Target seems to be handling their inventory better then Kohl’s, though both are not as good as the industry average.

Target sells a wide variety of general merchandise and food through the store and with the use modern technology. Target’s broad-spectrum

Target achieved its differentiation in the marketplace by positioning its products and store experience as higher quality than its main discount competitors Wal-Mart, with lower prices than department stores. Target’s main focus is QUALITY product and at a LOW PRICE. It all began with the idea of, “fashionable, smart design…delivered at a competitive discount prices.” Target strives to deliver to customers a unique shopping experience. Target grabs customer’s attention by their big red bulls eye and customers keep going to target. But at the same time Target need to make sure that their shelves are stocked, they gave good customer service,

The prices at Wal-Mart are always low. They even price match other stores. ThisWhich means if you bring in a sales paper with, for instance, a microwave that’s $45 and Wal-Mart has the same one for $65, they will sell it to you for $45. If they have something marked lower than what it really is they sell it to you for that price, even if it’s a big difference. You definitely get more for your money at Wal-Mart.

Thus, Target operations thought that opening over 100 stores all over Canada would be a great opportunity for the company to expand its profitability. However, the exact opposite happened. Instead of reaching their profitability goal, there is an estimated loss between $800-$900 million, since the opening of stores in Canada (Austin, 2014). The cause of this failure was due to a lack of inventory in most stores; leading to empty shelves and many of the favorable brands from U.S. Target’s did not make it to the stores in Canada. Another problem was that prices were higher in Canadian stores compared to U.S. store prices due to shipping costs and tax (Austin, 2014). Target failed to think this whole process through before acting on it. Starting with the 124 stores who all had to be remodeled and up and running in less than a year due to Canada’s policy of not letting any store stay vacant for any longer than that; to having the ability to furnish and fill the stores with all of their merchandise (Nolan, 2014). Soon they came to realize they could not. Target’s lack of looking into the higher prices they would have been paying making it able to get the merchandise over the border into Canada, was another issue leading to the company’s ineffective plans. Having noticed early on that the extra costs of tax will lead to a price mark up on in store products,

Walmart has kept its prices so low by cutting-edge technology, corporate culture and put in their efforts to make the suppliers to lower the prices and sell goods as low as possible. The basic goal of Walmart is to keep their prices low and it has always been successful at this.

Another important aspect is a limited selection of goods. Whereas Walmart or Target may have upwards of 150,000 items sold in their stores. Costco will have less than 4000. They also have their own private label which is only equal to 15% of what they carry in the stores, but it equals out to over 30% of their total sales currently. Another aspect of the product selection is that instead of buying many

If you have noticed, most of the time we would go for a quick errand to buy necessities we would usually go to Wal-Mart, Sam 's Club, King Soopers, Safeway, Walgreens, or Costco. Of course, there are other retail markets out there, but we 're going to focus on the "two leading American retailers, posting more revenue than any of their rivals" (Bowman): Wal-Mart and Costco. For many years, Wal-mart has been growing instantaneously and is the number one retailer in the world for many years. Although, when it comes to employee benefits, Costco 's would be considered a better choice for employees. Costco may be treating employees better when it comes to

Target knows their customers want merchandise on the shelves. Target is always working on sourcing and adjusting their supply chain to make sure production, quality, capacity, pricing, and

They almost have complete control over their suppliers’ prices. In many ways it is a double-edged sword. Companies and entrepreneurs are able to reach their highest sales and profits once they get their products on the shelves of Wal-Mart’s stores. However, they have little to no say in the price at which their products will sell. Wal-Mart has used their incredible market power to dictate prices in the retail industry. Appropriately, Wal-Mart uses their advantage in terms of price in their marketing and advertising campaigns. If you type in the simple phrase, “low prices” into a Google search, the first hit that appears is Wal-Mart. Whether or not Wal-Mart actually offers lower prices on all of their products is a topic up for debate, but the battle where Wal-Mart has clearly emerged victorious has been in the arena of public perception. When the average consumer thinks of the simple phrase, “low prices” the first thing that comes to their mind is Wal-Mart, as evident of the Google search experiment.