Introduction
Target is an American transnational retail organization with a highly diverse business strategy. The corporation is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and has about 30 years of retailing experience. Target acquired its current name in the 1990s after separating from its parent organization, Dayton-Hudson Corporation (Alghalith, 2018). The present brand operates a series of hypermarkets, grocery stores, and discount department supplies across America. The mode of operation makes Target one of the retailers in the American economy, despite handling ordinary low-budget household products. Target’s primary mission is to meet the needs of many middle and low-class American citizens. According to Alghalith (2018), the retail’s motto “Expect More, Pay Less” vividly reveals this concept. The mission guides Target to realize continuous growth even during recession periods.
Target’s Marketing Strategy Before the Pandemic
Retail business organizations such as Target rely on different marketing strategies to facilitate the sales of its product. There are several methods used by the company to ensure it reaches its prospective customers. The advancement in technology has enabled Target Corporation to combine both physical and online approaches to promote its brands in the industry. Effective marketing is significant for enhancing overall growth and increasing the performance of the business in the retail sector. Some of the techniques used by Target to spread awareness of their brands in the market include brick and mortar, the use of house brands, and a digital platform.
Brick and Mortar
Most business organizations such as Target that have physical local depend on the brick and mortar as a marketing strategy. The main aim of the technique is to attract more consumers to the firm’s stores. It encompasses practices such as signage, rewards programs, promotions, and other related events that have the potential of raising traffic. The criteria enable consumers to have easy access to the company’s products and services within the facilities.
Target is a transnational retail company that operates a range of businesses. It has over 1,800 active physical stores where consumers can access its products and services. The business organization relied on the brick-and-mortar strategy to increase its brand awareness in the market. The platform enabled the enterprise to adjust its practices to meet the needs of the organization. Target has been using the plan in different ways to increase its position in the market among other well-established corporations. There are various approaches used under brick and mortar to facilitate the sales of products.
Optimizing the In-Store Customer Experience
Generally, a positive shopping experience is a significant tool that enables retailers to attract more customers. When consumers encounter enjoyable services within the stores, they are motivated to visit the enterprise in the future. Target has adopted this strategy by ensuring its workers deliver quality services to the clients. The company has also made its salesroom convenient and easy to navigate when clients are looking for different products. These practices make the company lure more buyers into its facilities.
Conducting In-Store Events
In-store is a practical approach that has been used by Target to enable customers to interact with its products. The practice enables the company to offer its experience to potential consumers. In most cases, when clients interact with the products in the store, the likelihood of purchasing them is high. Target has embraced this approach by launching new commodities in the market and celebrating anniversaries.
Issuing Branded Equipment
This technique is essential in promoting the image of the company as well as the brand to different customers. Target’s products have a brand logo; thus, when the commodities are purchased, it is easier for another party to access the merchandise, making them familiar with it. Similarly, the company has been issuing t-shirts and pens to their customers who visit their stores, thus making the clients feel welcome in the industry.
Click and Mortar
The advancement in technology prompted Target to combine the online experience with physical shopping. The approach allows the company to post the arrays of inventory on its website, where customers can make orders wherever they are located. After purchasing the products, the business organization distributes them to the doorstep of consumers. Sometimes, clients may choose to pick the commodities themselves from the stores after placing an online order. Therefore, the technique enhances consumers’ experience, making them shop continuously from the firm’s store.
Changes to Target’s Marketing Strategy Due to the Pandemic
The emergence of COVID-19 impacted the normal operation strategies of the retail company. Before the pandemic, Target relied on the brick-and-mortar marketing technique to increase its presence in the industry (Lecointre-Erickson et al., 2021). However, the virus and its mode of spread made it difficult for the business organization to maintain its normal approach. The condition prompted the firm’s management to formulate different techniques to facilitate their way of advertising the commodities.
To remain competitive in the industry during the pandemic, Target implemented e-commerce to facilitate online shopping. The movement restrictions and lockdowns lowered the number of customers accessing the physical stores. Therefore, Target shifted its focus to the online platform where it could communicate and share the content of its stores through Facebook, emails, and other social media apps. According to Machtiger (2020), the future of the retail industry will be transformed differently from the pre-pandemic. The company invested in the use of Google ads to enable it to reach many potential customers in the industry. Similarly, the business organization advertises its commodities through its applications and website, where customers can view different categories of goods and services being offered.
The platform has been effective because it allows Target to access its clients and attend to their queries as well. The company provides a complete description of the products, prices, and related offers available on the internet to enable consumers to have an insight into their services. The changes in shoppers’ behavior, such as buying patterns, played a significant role in facilitating the company’s need to adapt and meet its needs. Target enterprises developed the tendency to provide detailed descriptions of products to show customers the products the way they are presented in the physical store. The organization is currently marketing its products on a digital platform to attain a significant market share.
Target’s Potential to Compete with Amazon
The pandemic has influenced the rate at which business is adapting the online business operation. Companies have invested heavily in the digital platform to increase their ability to increase customers’ experience in the market. Target is not exceptional; it has improved its online presence, which is vital for its survival in the competitive retail market. The changes in business strategies have enhanced the ability of business organizations to compete with other well-developed firms.
Despite the efforts of Target’s business organization in venturing into digital marketing, it is challenging for the company to compete and meet the standards of well-developed firms such as Amazon. Amazon has been in e-commerce even before the pandemic, and its services are conducted through the Internet (Kotler et al., 2020). This makes Amazon have proper experience in managing and dealing with online shopping compared to Target, which is launching the practice. The objectives and goals of Amazon are properly aligned with the system, unlike Target’s, which is on the verge of transformation to digital marketing.
In the industry, Amazon provides its clients with several services such as ease of search, one-click ordering, re-ordering, and other essential offers, which makes the company most preferred by the consumer. Furthermore, Amazon’s system is high-tech, and its employees have the required skills and knowledge to handing the needs of customers (Kotler & Keller, 2016). This exposure is limited in the Target Company, making it unable to compete with Amazon effectively in digital marketing. However, with proper advancement and constant training of workers about online business operations, Target will be in a position to challenge most of its competitors, including Amazon.
Conclusion
COVID-19 brought a significant change in the world of business. Organizations are forced to formulate new approaches to enhance their ability to remain active in the competitive industry. Before the pandemic, Target Company relied on the brick-and-mortar marketing strategy to increase its presence in the market. However, during this situation, the business organization has been forced to adopt new marketing techniques to meet the changing behavior of clients. Target shifted to the digital platform through the use of applications and websites to provide details of the products and services they offer. Despite the transformation, Target cannot compete with Amazon because of the unlimited experience Amazon has in e-commerce.
References
Alghalith, N. (2018). Targeting IT opportunities at Target. Journal of Strategic Innovation and Sustainability, 13(4), 10-19.
Kotler, M., Cao, T., Wang, S., & Qiao, C. (2020). Marketing strategy in the digital age: Applying Kotler’s strategies to digital marketing.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing management, 15th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Lecointre-Erickson, D., Adil, S., Daucé, B., & Legohérel, P. (2021). The role of brick-and-mortar exterior atmospherics in post-COVID era shopping experience: A systematic review and agenda for future research. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 1-15.
Machtiger, K. (2020). What will the retail experience of the future look like? Harvard Business Review.