Target Review Ebz 304

Target was initially known as the Goodfellow Dry Goods company when it was opened by George Draper in Minneapolis back in 1902. Target is the fourth largest retailer in the United States and the tenth largest retailer in the world with annual sales of $73.1 Billion in 2013. In 1910, the company was renamed to "Dayton Company" and thrived under the the leadership of Nelson Dayton.

In 1962, the first Target store opened in Roseville, MN. By 1968, The Dayton Company had 11 Target stores generating $130 Million in sales revenue. In 1969, Dayton Company merged with Detroit-based J.L. Hudson Company to form Dayton-Hudson Corporation.

In the 1970’s Target grew to 80 stores surpassing $1.0 Billion in revenue in 1979. In 1978, Dayton Hudson acquired Mervyn's, a California-based chain of 50 moderate-priced department stores which would later be sold off in 2004.

Between 1980 - 2000, Dayton-Hudson grew to $33.66 billion. In 1990, the company acquired The Marshall Field & Company, a Chicago-based department store. In 1995, Target introduced its first SuperTarget store offering an extensive product assortment in grocery, fresh produce, bakery, dairy, deli, and frozen foods. In 1998, the company acquired the Rivertown Trading Company, a Minneapolis-based mail-order firm in order to enter into the e-commerce market.

In January, 2000 the company changed its name to Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT). In 2000, the company launched Target Direct as a separate company to oversee Target’s e-commerce business operations. In 2002 Target.com was originally launched in partnership with Amazon’s Enterprise Solutions; Amazon provided order fulfillment and the technology platform. August, 2011 when Target.com launched its own platform independent of Amazon. The 2000s brought the sale of Mervyns and Marshall’s for $4.9 Billion in cash proceeds. This was seen as an important move in order to focus on Target. Since 2004, Target has achieved consistent organic growth by converting close to 800 traditional general merchandise stores into Expanded Food Assortment stores; by adding over 100 new SuperTarget stores nationwide; and by introducing smaller footprint CityTarget stores.

In 2011, Target launched Target Canada Corporation by acquiring 189 Zellers store locations across the country. In January 2015, after spending billions to establish its business operations in Canada, Target exited the Canadian market and closed all of its stores and distribution centers. This decision has resulted in the loss of over 17,600 jobs lost. (www.mwpvl.com)

Immediate Customers

Target's advertising has always appealed to low-end customers that may have shopped at competition such as Walmart or K-Mart along with high-end customers that are trying to be thriftier. Target gave the illusion of