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Products and image
Target Corporation competes directly against other discount retailers, mainly Wal-Mart and Kmart. Since its founding, it has intended to differentiate its stores from its competitors by offering what it believes is more upscale, trend-forward merchandise at lower costs, rather than the traditional concept of focusing on low-priced goods. Douglas J. Dayton, one of the Dayton brothers, explained John Geisse's concept:
| “ | "We will offer high-quality merchandise at low margins, because we are cutting expenses. We would much rather do this than trumpet dramatic price cuts on cheap merchandise."[10] | ” |
As a result, Target stores tend to attract younger and more educated and affluent customers thanWalmart, among other competitors. The median Target shopper is 41 years old, the youngest of all major discount retailers that Target competes directly against. The median household income of Target's customer base is roughly $63,000 USD. Roughly 76% of Target customers are female, and more than 45% have children at home. About 80% have attended college and 48% have completed college.[15][54] 97% of American consumers recognize the Target Bullseye logo.
In October 2008, Target announced plans to fight the perception that their products are more expensive than those of other discount retailers. It planned to add perishables to their inventory, cut back on discretionary items, and spend three-quarters of their marketing budget on advertising that emphasizes value and includes actual prices of items featured in ads. Target also planned to slow its expansion from about 100 stores a year down to 70 stores a year.[69][70][71]
Target stores are designed to be more attractive than large box-department stores by having wider aisles, drop ceilings, a more attractive presentation of merchandise and generally cleaner fixtures and store personnel. Special attention is given to the design of the store environment: Graphics reinforce its advertising imagery, while shelves are dressed with contemporary signage, backdrops and liners, often printed on inexpensive material such as paper, corrugated and foam boards. Some stores, particularly those in the vicinity of major airports, have a bullseye painted on the roof that can be seen from above: the stores in Rosemont, Illinois, near O'Hare International Airport and Richfield, Minnesota, adjacent to Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport are among such locations.[72] Target doesn't use music in their stores, nor does it promote items or services through its public address system.
Some people jokingly give Target the pseudo-French pronunciation /tɑrˈʒeɪ/ tar-zhay, as though it were an upscale boutique. This trend is incorrectly believed to have been started by Oprah Winfrey, when she used the French pronunciation to refer to the store on her television show; it has actually been traced back to 1962, the year the first Target store opened; this was reinforced by a 1980s television advertisement starring Didi Conn. This pronunciation has also led some people to incorrectly believe that the company is French-owned.[7] In recognition of the nickname's popularity and cachet, Target Corporation licensed its name and logo to Brand Central LLC in 2006, complete with accent over the letter "E", for a new line of clothing intended for more up-scale fashion customers. The line, "Targét Couture" was originally sold at Los Angeles-based store Intuition, which deals with high-end brands.[73][74]
Target uses a practice that was derived in 1989 from The Walt Disney Company[7] by calling its customers "Guests", its employees "Team Members", and its supervisors "Team Leaders". Also, managers are known as "Executive Team Leaders (ETLs)" and the Store Manager is known as the "Store Team Leader (STL)". Further up the "chain of command" are "District Team Leaders (DTL)," "Group Team Leaders (GTL)," Regional Team Leaders (RTL) (Sometimes also Regional Vice President), then corporate-level executives.
Target stores do not sell firearms. In the early 1990s, they stopped selling toy guns that looked realistic and limited its toy gun selection to ones that were brightly colored and oddly shaped. They do not sell tobacco products and have not sold cigarettes since 1996.[75] This is a key point of differentiation with Target's chief competitor Wal-mart which offers firearms and tobacco at many stores.
Target has many exclusive deals with various designers and name-brands, including Michael Graves, Isaac Mizrahi, Mossimo Giannulli,Fiorucci, Liz Lange, and Converse among others. To further increase their fashion profile, Target also created its fashion-forward Go International line, which hires famous designers to design collections available only for a few months. Target, after hiring architect Michael Graves to design the scaffolding used to renovate the Washington Monument and contributing $6 million USD to the restoration plan, introduced its first designer line of products in 1999, the Michael Graves Collection of housewares and home decor products.[76] Wal-Martand Kmart have followed Target's lead by signing exclusive designers to their stores as well. Target also partners with well-established national brands to create exclusive collections for its stores. Recently, Sony created a line of electronics under the Sony LIV name geared toward women. The collection included a CD player that resembled a purse and a CD player that was equipped to be mounted under the kitchen counter. Another example of this is Target having an exclusive deal with Food Network for selling DVDs of TV shows featuring popular chefs such as Rachael Ray, Alton Brown, and Paula Deen. In July 2006, Target started selling two-tone pink edition Apple iPods through a partnership with Colorware. Sometimes manufacturers will create red-colored items, exclusively for Target. In 2002, Nintendo produced a redspecial edition variant of the Game Boy Advance, which featured the Target logo above the screen.[77]
In 2005, IFC began a partnership with Target to promote a selection of independent films, both in Target stores and on IFC Monday nights at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. Originally titled IFC Cinema Red, the promotion was rebranded on air asThe Spotlight in 2007. The in-store headers refer to the selected titles as IFC Indies - Independent films chosen for Target by the Independent Film Channel.[78]
[edit]GiftCards
The Target GiftCard is the retailing division's stored-value card or gift card. Target sells more gift cards than any other retailer in the United States and is one of the top sellers, by dollars and units, in the world.[79] The unique designs of their cards contribute to their higher sales, as well as Target's policy of no expiration dates or service fees.[80] Past and current designs include lenticular, "scratch and sniff" (such as peppermint during the Christmas season), glow in the dark, LED light-up, a gift card on the side of a bubble blower, a gift card that can function as a CD-ROM, and even a giftcard that allows the sender to record a voice message. A current environmentally friendly giftcard is made from bioplastic manufactured from corn.[81] Target rolled out a new MP3 player giftcard for the 2006 holiday season. It holds 12 songs and must be purchased with an initial value of at least $50.
Beginning in January 2010, Target Stores will roll out Mobile GiftCards, through which one can produce a GiftCard barcode on any web-capable cell phone. This data matrix barcode can be scanned at a Target POS like any physical card barcode, and balances can be stored, retrieved, and gifted with the convenience of a cell phone.[citation needed]
Some of these unique design ideas are patented, and these patents are assigned to the Target Brands subsidiary. For example, some such Target GiftCard designs feature a wooden front side. On May 24, 2005, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted U.S. patent D505,450 for the "ornamental design for a credit or stored value card with wood layer" to inventors Amy L. Lauer and John D. Mayhew.[82]U.S. patent 7004398, for the "stored-value card assembly including a stored-value card, an edible product, and a wrapper", was granted to Michael R. Francis and Barry C. Brooks on February 28, 2006.[83] Both patents have been assigned by their inventors to Target Brands, Inc.
Target GiftCards are also collectors items. Some of the first gift cards issued are valued at over $300 (even though the card doesn't have any money on it). Every year Target introduces new Holiday GiftCards. In 2007, Target's Holiday GiftCards featured a wind-up flashlight, a musical gift card, a gift card that lights up, and a scented gift card.
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