¶ … Target Retailer name, history of operation

Classification of Retailer

The Target Customer

Competition

Analysis of Store Building

Promotional Techniques

Method of Management

Selling Methods

Merchandise/Service Mix

Customer Services Offered

Comparison of Both Retailers' Overall Strategies

Retailer name, history of operation

Target Corporation

Target is among the leaders in retail trading in the U.S. The company offers perishables, dry grocery, dairy and frozen items and all food items comparable to traditional supermarkets. The company has three primary types of stores -- SuperTarget, CityTarget and TargetExpress. The company recorded a loss of 1.9% in 2014-2015 compared to the previous year with a fall in net earnings of 9.1%. The total sale in the period was $U72.6 billion.

The company has 1,799 stores in the U.S. along with 38 distribution centers. The company has staff strength of 347,000 worldwide. It also does business online through its website 'target.com'.

With the aim of easing the shopping experience for customers and discounted prices, the first store of Target was opened in 1962 in the Minneapolis suburb of Roseville (Target Corporate, 2015).

The company offers differentiated merchandise and value through its 'Expect More- Pay Less' program.

The company claims to be pioneer in innovation and first in the store design aspect in terms of innovation.

Meijer Inc.

The first store of the company was opened in 1934 by Hendrik Meijer, a barber by profession. Meijer initially wanted to take care of the customers who visited his barbershop and purchased $328.76 worth of merchandise and opened North Side Grocery.

Newspaper ads and fancy metal shopping carts were used by the company to broaden the reach of the store as the owner tried to innovative and find out ways to offer higher levels of service to the clients. The company utilized the baby boom era and the emergence of new technologies to ease ways of shopping for customers. For example, the company claims, it was the first to use the automatic conveyor belt to speed up shopping and reduce checkout lane (Meijer.com, 2015).

The signature store brand of the company "Thrifty Acres" was viewed as an innovative concept that helped the growth of the retail phenomenon.

The specialties of the company are its supercenters or hypermarkets which are a combination of groceries and department store goods under one roof. The company also has innovated into convenient stores in front of Meijer-branded gas station which often offer alternative fuels such as E85, biodiesel, and compressed natural gas.

Meijer was ranked 19th in the Forbes list of top 20 Private Companies in 2013.

Classification of Retailer

Target is a chain of retail stores that run across the length and breadth of the U.S. The company is completely focused and aims to exceed the expectations of the customers. As a part of this aspiration, the company continually innovates in its stores that include its reinventing its store layout presentation and merchandise offered to customers. The aim is to make the stores more comfortable for the customers to shop.

Meijer Inc. runs its business as a combination of a grocery shop and a departmental store. The super stores of the company offer the products from both the categories thus making the stores a one stop shop for customers. The company also lays special emphasis on the The Target Customer

Target Inc.

The primary customer targeted by Target Inc. is the typical mothers between the age group of 30-45 years and most are Caucasian. The company's targeted customer generally would belong to the middle to upper middle class as the company has tried to create a niche with quality for products as the priority.

In an interview to The Washington Post earlier in 2015, Target's new chief executive, Brian Cornell said that the company has been increasingly targeting the Hispanic shopper. The company is trying to focus on the baby department and wants to portray it as their one of four signature categories. The marketing campaigns are also directed towards the Hispanic millennial moms.

However the latest strategy for the company is put in the words of Brian Cornell as "we need more than just minivan moms" (Halzak, 2015).

"Our guest is going to be increasingly a Hispanic shopper," said the company CEO at the investor event earlier in 2015. This makes it abundantly clear target's target customer post the economic slowdown of 2008 (Halzak, 2015).

The company is also aiming to widen its base of customers and wants to set up stores beyond the suburbs (Halzak, 2015).

Meijer Inc.

Meijer is a convenience store that...

The company also has tradition of offering low priced products that are of a significantly good quality. Hence the target customers for the company would include people from the common household (Meijer.com, 2015). According to company documents, the company targets the moms who are walker shoppers and who go out for shopping on a regular basis to get their household goods or their weekly grocery shopping. The company is still driven by the concept about customers. The company believes that they need the customers and not vice versa. Hence while the company welcomes everyone as their customers with the offer of discounted products, the aim of the company is to meet and exceed the needs of the customers (Meijer.com, 2015).
Competition

Competitors for Target

Target is a retailer that offers both price discounts as well as niche products. With the Hispanic mom being the primary target customer for the company, it has a number of competitors in the market. Target's major revenues however come from the sale of discounted products. To of the major competitors that are in direct confrontation with the company in terms of market share are for Target are Wal-Mart, Costco and Meijer.

All the three companies in question here offer a broad range of products that are often competitive in terms of price discounts. All the companies generally rely on certain staple products like basic clothing, household products and food.

The companies are always competing against each other in discount pricing and the use of creative methods and strategies. The general economic conditions are closely and directly related to their sales and profitability.

One of the major advantages of Target in comparison to competitors like Wal-Mart and Costco is the staff of the company and experts claim makes a difference in the total shopping experience of a customer. The innovation that the company does with the stores often makes a difference in relation to competitors.

On the online platform Amazon is the biggest competitor for Target.

Meijer

The company stand about competition is stated as: "retailing is a fast-paced business that demands continuous improvement. Meijer is committed to keeping our competitive spirit strong and staying nimble and flexible to win in the marketplace" (Meijer.com, 2015).

The major competitors for Meijer include The Kroger Co and Wal-Mart. Like Meijer, Kroger is one of the more traditional retail-chain which specializes in grocery stores. Kroger has more than 3,800 stores that included 2,600-plus supermarkets and multi-department stores. Like Meijer, Kroger also runs more than 780-plus convenience stores and around 330 jewelry stores. Like the Meijer chain of stores, Kroger also has a combination of groceries, merchandise, and jewelry through the 130 supercenters of the company.

On the other hand Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the U.S. with 5160 stores that include 4,400 Wal-Mart stores and 650 Sam's Club warehouses. Similar to Meijer, Wal-Mart also pays special attention to its grocery business and hence is considered to be a competitor for Meijer.

However Meijer also has another set of competitors that are essentially very local in nature and yet among the some of the fierce competitors for the company. These competitors include the small locally-based retail chains in various regions of the country which are essentially small and cater to local communities through smaller utility stores. For example, in June of 2015, when Meijer opened 12 stores in Wisconsin, Wisconsin-based chains such as Festival Foods and Sendik's also prepared to provide tough contest for the company at the local level (Milwaukee Business Journal, 2015).

Analysis of Store Building

Target Store Review

The exterior of the Target stores looks fresh and modern even from the parking lot as one enters the stores through the parking lot. The parking lot gives a sense of safety during the day shopping experiences. However the area, especially the parking lot is darkened at night and as one walks the large darkened wooden space at night to reach the main store building, it feels relatively unsafe. Many customers prefer to park their vehicles outside of the building and not in the parking lot.

The store that was visited would have been better of the entrance of the store was more centrally located or that it had an entrance on either side of the building so it would not have been a long walk from the parking to the front gate of the store.

Despite the low evening lights in the parking area, the exterior is very clean and tidy. As soon as one enters the store, it is noticed that it is very well lit and has a pleasant atmosphere. The smell of Starbucks coffee permeates the air as a greeting for the customers. This generally spurs on the customers to get…