Low Price Isn't the Secret Weapon: How Retail Giant Target Competes with Walmart

Author: Laura Roper (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: When shopping in other stores, I always felt an uncomfortable sense of urgency, thinking, "Buy things and leave quickly." But at Target, it's more like, "Just browse around and relax." — Target customers
If you've ever shopped at Target, you might have had the same feeling—wandering the aisles for one or two hours, enjoying the great selection. Clean environment and perfect service. But affordable products are not the only reason Target stands out in the competition. Their "human touch"—something almost all other discount stores lack—keeps bringing people back to Target again and again.
In 1962, Target was founded by Dayton's, a department store in Minnesota. It gained widespread popularity in the mid-1990s and has continued to thrive to this day. Over the past 40 years, this target-logo has created a following among American consumers through its unique products, creative store designs, unforgettable branding, and extraordinary charitable donations. With exclusive product collaborations with designers like Michael Graves, Moleskine, and Todd Oldham, "Target"—as some like to call this one of America's most profitable retail companies—has made its frugal style of offering both affordable and high-end products fashionable.
In this book, award-winning journalist Laura Roper uses vivid storytelling, candid interviews, and in-depth research to skillfully reveal the strategy, motivation, and leadership behind the Target phenomenon. She explores how Target achieved such remarkable success. You'll follow Roper as she goes behind the checkout counter, along the aisles, and takes a close look: how the seeds of Target's unique retail culture were sown in its distinctive retail history. How Target redefined the concept of a discount store, carving out its own path and growing under the shadow of industry giant Walmart. How Target, through best-in-class operations in management, promotion, marketing, operations, and corporate donations, became one of the most successful retailers of the new millennium.
This book provides the first in-depth analysis of Target's extraordinary success as America's most fashionable discount store, offering insightful and engaging perspectives. It offers a detailed introduction to how Target bridged the gap between quality and cost and, in the process, created a highly successful concept.