Walmart Vs Target Research Paper

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 the guests happy so they always come back again and again. Target Corp. is the nation 's #2 discount chain (behindWal-Mart). The fashion-forward discounter operates about 1,765 Target and SuperTarget stores in 49 states, as well as an online business at Target.com. Target and its larger grocery-carrying incarnation, SuperTarget, have carved out a niche by

Wal-Mart founded in 1962 by Sam Walton is now the largest American retail corporation. With thousands of chains of stores and warehouses Wal-Mart monopolized the American retail industry. In addition, Wal-Mart is the second largest retail corporation in the world employing of two million employees world-wide. As one of the most valuable corporations in the world Wal-Mart continues to improve their sales annually while offering some of the lowest prices available. Wal-Mart’s famous low price guarantee, come at a high expense of the environment, the small businesses, education, the rights and safety of the consumer, but most importantly their employees. Although Wal-Mart has plays a dominate role in American economy, this “American”

Wal-Mart and Target are both great retail stores to go and find a good bang for your buck shopping experience. After researching both companies, it appears they have the same ideas as a mission, saving the customer money. Wal-Mart Mission statement reads;

There is this particular Target store located at the city of Signal Hill that I really enjoy shopping all the time. I love the nice organization of the store, it has excellent lighting, useful new products to my everyday necessities, and I always find tempting good deals. Throughout the years I have notice some population changes and racial diversity among the residents that shop at target, which I think is very interesting. Around ten years ago, Target used to be different, there was not much variety in clothing, no groceries section, and Black Friday was not as popular as it is today. One interesting fact about Target now days, is that it is the third largest discount store in the world, based on sales. Back when I was younger, I clearly

Target’s business-level strategy is one that does not strictly focus entirely on one plan to gain a competitive advantage over competition. It encompasses various strategic and meticulous planning and decision making that is implemented in order to position the company at the top of the retail industry. With competition from the likes of Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and Costco, Target uses several clever and “out-of-the-box” ideas to attract consumer attention and ultimately increase market share within the industry. Most of the company’s ideas centered more on the differentiation of products and services provided to customers than lowering prices. For quite some time, the company’s plan was to not compete head-to-head with Wal-Mart in terms of lowering prices but instead to provide their customers, who they identify as “guests”, with a special experience every time they visited a Target location. One idea that was implemented was to market and sell upscale, trendy clothing and unique merchandise at discounted prices.1 This strategy, known as the “cheap-chic” strategy, focused on providing good quality clothing from various well known designers and fancy products from high-profile manufacturers for prices lower than their competition. This plan was vital because it began essentially began the concept of customers referring to Target as “Tar-zhay” which according to Patrick Barwise and Sean Meehan, who are university professors, as a “connote its trendy sensibility”. Target

When it comes to Services, Wal-Mart also has the upper hand. In many stores they offer: a Bakery, Meats, Photo Centers as well a on site photographers, Automotive services, Hair Salons, Banks, Optical Offices, Pharmacy, Nail Salons as well as restaurants such as McDonald's, and Subway. Target has rivaled many of these services providing in store Starbucks, Taco Bell/Pizza huts, and the most recent advance is an in store clinic. Even with these amenities it is still far behind Wal-Mart in the services department.

Research shows that 96% of people recognize the Target bulls-eye. This surpasses brand recognition for both Apple and Nike Swoosh. (Target.com) Target has centered their marketing strategy on the brand promise, “Expect More, Pay Less”. Its brand is known as the stylish alternative to discount shopping. John Remington, the vice president of marketing stated, “We wanted to be much more than just another discount store, we wanted to be the place that our guests lovingly refer to as “Tar-zhay”. Remington credits Target’s design from flagging to fabulous to both marketing and merchandising. Target knew that it had to distinguish itself to survive. This has been accomplished through their product offerings and marketing strategies.

Global competition has a direct impact on Wal-Mart. Global companies offer competition for consumer business and companies within the United States and other countries who compete with Wal-Mart. The global competition for consumer business primarily takes place in the e-commerce domain that Wal-Mart dominates. Wal-Mart offers their consumers a convenient one-stop website with all the merchandise and products offered in the store, and some that are not. The exchange is significantly sped up by the convenience and availability of the internet. The internet allows transactions to take place at a faster pace than the standard face-to-face or telephone method. Target, a major competitor of Wal-Mart, also has a Website that is reached by consumers all over the world. This added competition, especially from a competitor in the same industry, forces Wal-Mart to keep their prices low while offering

Target Corporation is a retail chain specializing in household goods, clothing, food, and accessories at discounted prices. The retail chain’s history started back in 1902 as Goodfellows and in 1910 as The Dayton Company. Initially, the chain specialized in “furnishings, fabrics and decorations for business and other public institutions” (“Target Corporation,” 2016, p. 5). Eventually, Target went public in 1967 and on to acquire Mervyn’s in the 1970s where they became the seventh largest retailer in the United States. Target operates in the United States, where it is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and as of January 31, 2015 Target employs over 300,000 people. “The company recorded revenues of $72,618 million in the financial year ended January 2015, the operating profit of the company was $4,535 million, [and] the net profit was $2,449 million” (“Target

Target may have a bigger selection on some products, but their store is such a big hassle. To have a well managed store you need good customer service, a good atmosphere, and low prices. That’s something Target has none of and Wal-Mart has plenty of.

Target Corporation has recognized itself as one of the top retailers in the United States market on the basis of excellent service quality, customer experiences, operational excellence, strong financial position, and a wide array of product offerings. Through its high degree of service orientation at physical outlets and adoption of fair business practices, Target Corporation has become the most distinctive retailer in the eyes of its potential customers. Being one of the top-notch retailers in the United States, Target Corporation has to carefully strategize on its business operations and marketing tactics so as to keep itself in the row of competitive brands of the industry.

Target is known for their approach to the public as a retailer that offers “design and innovation” and “value as more for less”. Since more consumers are stretching their dollar by purchasing store brands these days, Target has use an excellent marketing strategy by being one of the pioneer in its field developing, launching and integrating more than a dozen store brands. One of its most well-known store brand is “Up & Up” which replaced the general “Target” brand couple of years back. The company’s massive success in recent years has been attributed to their diverse store brands, expanding from three different food brands which include “Archer Farms”

Best Buy is widely established as one of the leading consumer electronic stores across the globe, labeled as a category killer retailer within the consumer electronics genre. Target, a discount store, acts as one of the many competitors within the electronics field despite the store having a wider breadth of available merchandise for the customer to consider. Ranging from clothing to furniture to even a section for groceries, Target aims to meet many needs that the consumer may have. Best Buy caters to a more narrow selection of needs such as appliances, television and home theater, car electronics, and more. Their focused range gives them the benefit of being able to provide a better selection of products within each respective category so the customer is able to find specifically what they are searching for, while Target has a lesser product breadth and depth since they possess a larger range of merchandise categories.

As a result, stores were under-stocked and failed to entice shoppers with empty shelves and uninviting locations (Wahba). Customers were not experiencingTarget’s “Expect More. Pay Less.” brand, and with a competitor like Walmart;Target stood little chance for success. Walmart’s popularity in the Canadian community threatened Target because it offered better discounts and benefits to customers and the community (Valenti, McGlashan). Not only were customers disappointed, butthe community was appalled by the way Target behaved towards the union and Zellers employees.

Kroger competes with Neighbor market and supercenters of Wal-Mart especially on the grocery product line. Target competes with Discount stores and supercenter shopping formats of Wal-Mart with Target commanding a small premium on prices as it follows fashion trend. Market segment of Target is the high-income customers leading to higher margin realization. ($ 50,000 of target vs. EDLP strategy of Wal-Mart by leveraging purchasing scale has pushed down prices compared to other retailers.