Target’s Triple Threat
You know how walking through Target makes you want to buy all of the things? Three reasons why, articulated by this 2004 Harvard Business School article:
ONE: DOPE ADS
This “cheap-chic” strategy enabled Target to become a major brand and consumer-shopping destination, articulated around two main interrelated branding activities: designer partnerships and clever, creative advertising.
Seriously: Have you ever seen a Target ad that didn’t make you want to buy something?
Also:
Wal-Mart spends 0.3 percent of its revenue on advertising. Target spends 2.3 percent.
TWO: DOPE DESIGN PARTNERSHIPS EXPLOITED IN THE BEST WAY
Although many retailers have design partnerships … what matters is not that you have some exclusives with specific designers, but rather how you exploit them.
Target’s current design partnerships are called “The Shops”—they’ve partnered with five “mom and pop” shops around the country and have installations (with such great branding) throughout the store. Pretttyyy things in prettttyyyy packages.
THREE: CLEAN AND PRETTY STORES
Target avoided competing against Wal-Mart head-to-head and was perceived as outperforming it on specific dimensions: cleanliness of stores, shopping environment and experience, and shorter waiting time to pay.
Also: I’m pretty sure I’ve been exposed to 50% fewer crying children in Target than in either of the marts. And the lighting right? They’ve got great lighting.
PS None of this sorcery worked on me this weekend, and I got in and out without a purchase. Thank you, thank you.
Photo: flickr/zooboing
My boof and I were talking about local businesses vs. big box stores this weekend in a purely economical way. I’d like to read some papers about the wage and employment differences (we both think that big box stores hire way more people). Also the packaging and waste differences between big box stores and local stores would be interesting to read about. We didn’t come up with any conclusions because neither of us are economists but we both suspect that local vs chain is more of an aesthetic choice than an economics one.
Also, unlike food where I’m really concerned and make a point to buy as local as possible I don’t really care where I buy a ream of paper or a notebook.
tl:dr I really like Target
Ugh, “boof”.
@Reginal T. Squirge It depends on which wages and employees you’re talking about? The actual in-store employees at Target may do as well or better than employees at local stores in terms of benefits and salary/wages, but probably the people in third-world countries making the actual stuff you buy are doing worse than people making locally made stuff in twee little stores.
@jfruh Oh! Maybe someone reading this can answer a question. We all know it’s easy to hate Wal-Mart, because killing small businesses and bad treatment of employees and stuff. But at the same time, everyone loves Target. Is Target really any different than Wal-Mart, or do we just forgive it more because the stuff is cuter? This is a legitimate question–I really don’t know, and I’ve been vaguely trying to find out.
As long as I don’t think too hard about their labor practices, I love me some Target. I am absolutely a sucker for the “everyone can afford good design!” ploy they’ve got going, which is what gets me in the door every time. But on top of their oh-so-seductive branding and product design, their prices on a lot of household goods is really competitive (I never buy cat litter anywhere else) and their store brand generic goods are f’ing awesome. I also really love the way they’ve expanded their food selection – their house brand food (the Archer Farms stuff)? HELLA GOOD. Of course, I mostly buy their Indian simmer sauces and artisan crackers, which speaks to the market share they’re going after, but still – quality stuff! And the cheapest Gardein products on the block to boot.
So yeah, I come for the adorable patterned sheet sets, but I stay for the cheap toilet paper.
/this is not a paid sponsor message
Um, let’s not forget their terrifying ability to predict when you’re pregnant.
@jfruh I’ve decided to stop taking pregnancy tests and will just examine my Target criculars very closely.