Target Case Study

Case Study physical object Adriana Gonzalez Principles of market Statement of the Problem(s) In this particular case, thither is wholeness major dilemma and only other problems seemed to have risen from this one. For the quondam(prenominal) few years there has been a recession globally. In the year 2008, the recession was at its peak and all industries suffer tremendously. For many a nonher(prenominal) years point grew at a much faster pace than Wal-Mart, tho the economy do a radical turn affecting everyone. Target rapidly started to experience low sales as the time pass.As a result, the most beta shareholder, William Ackman, demanded a rapid and sound strategy to bring Targets sales up once again (Armstrong & Kotler, 2012). Summary of the Facts * Target is known for its products in personal manner and fashion. * Numerous designer product lines. * Customers view Target as a retail store with higher(prenominal) prices * Targets customers went for the decline prices at its contenders retail store * Wal-Mart changed is delegating statement to Save money. sound better. it mimics Targets mission statement (Armstrong & Kotler, 2012). While Targets public figure of higher lineament products remained, Wal-Mart use rollbacks to attract customers. * Target started to greet customers with value messages and big signs promoting sale products (Armstrong & Kotler, 2012). Targets mission statement has been, Expect More. Pay less(prenominal). After the recession the company focused on the Pay Less part of their slogan. At the middle of the year 2008, Target had experienced three quarters of same-store sales fruit (Armstrong & Kotler, 2012). Customers did not respond as rapidly as the company hoped.They seemed to be more interested in low prices than quality. Wal-Mart took over Targets customers during the recession. Analysis The CEO, Gregg Steinhafel, came up with a strategy to service of process the business. employ the same mission statement, they focus ed on the Pay Less part of it. On the other hand, Wal-Marts new mission statement seemed to fit perfectly with customers during this difficult economy crisis. Targets competitor closed its quarterly sale-store sales with an increase of five portion during 2008, while Target had no increases (Armstrong & Kotler, 2012).After months of gad the new strategy the company finally got results. New advertising help the company move forward-moving in the industry. Target launched a new brand named up & up, which was a thirty percent lower than comparable brand names. The company also decided to introduce fresh foods that were not as high-priced as its competitors. Targets stock went up twenty-seven percent since 2010, when they introduced fresh foods (Young, 2012). Now customers could to all their fundping at Target without hesitating to make another stop at the grocery store.For the past five years Target and Wal-Mart have been the strongest competitors in the retail industry. Target suf fered the first couple of years, but has climbed up to its competitors level. The company was in critical condition when the most important shareholder, William Ackman, demanded effective results. Ackman stated, It should be a business that does well, even in tough economic times (Armstrong & Kotler, 2012). After Ackmans statement the CEO, Steinhafel, sharpened its strategy by advertising new television commercials with catchy music.Promoting new ads and adding a Target brand helped Target to raise its sales to five percent with profits of fifty-four percent increase (Armstrong & Kotler, 2012). Meanwhile, Wal-Mart focused on low price strategy to save people money. Target on the other hand commits to a higher marketing expenditure and considers its customers guests (Wal-Mart and Target, 2011). After all, many customers continue to shop at Target because of its higher quality products. Recommendations Target is not the only business that was harmed due to the recession. On the contra ry, it was one of the businesses that survived those tough years. on that point were losses in the company, not just financially, it also lost many customers. There were obviously changes that pick outed to be made quickly and intelligently. The CEO, Steinhafel, made a wise decision when it came to stress differently the current slogan. Customers might have had a different perspective of the store and its products. They may not recognize Target as a high quality and fashionable retail store, but as a retail store that lost its faith in its mission statement. Expect More, is the most important part of the mission statement because customers expect more when they shop at Target.Targets customers still had that image of better quality but now at lower prices. When it comes to promotion and advertising, the company could have through more on this portion. As the company started to advertise more television commercials and weekly newspaper circulars, the customers shortly responded to them. Customers liked the idea of ads showing ordinary people consuming Targets products (Armstrong & Kotler, 2012). After eighteen long months of pushing forward the strategy Target finally got results. Customers would have responded positively if these promotions were at their get hold of months earlier.The companys number one priority needs to be our customers demands, wants, and needs. Targets strategies need to focus around our customers in order to maintain sales and profits. The shortages of concentration on promotion snuff it to a longer crisis for Target. By researching our customers wants and needs the company can accomplish greater profits. The company cannot organize aside the importance of marketing process and marketing mix. Managers have to motivate everyone in the organization to help built customer relationships. Targets success lies on strong customer-focused and heavily committed to marketing.References Armstrong, G. , & Kotler, P. (2012). Principles of Market ing (pp. 94-95). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey Prentice Hall. Wal-Mart and Target Strategic Differences. (2011). Retrieved February 19, 2013, from http//www. ftsmodules. com/public/texts/valuationtutor/VTehn3/tonic8/tonic8htm. Young, A. (2012 August, 23). Target Vs. Wal-Mart Target Wins on Pricing, Barely, And Probably Not for Long. Retrieved February 19, 2013, from http//ibtimes. com/target_vs_wal-mart_target_wins_prining_barely_and_probably_not_long_htm.