A Detailed Report on the Failure of Target Canada and Its Lessons

This report examines the failure of Target Canada, which closed its 133 stores in less than two years after its Canadian expansion. The report identifies the rush opening of numerous stores, supply chain disruptions, and merchandise issues as key factors contributing to the company's downfall. The analysis highlights the importance of identifying the target customer demographics, selecting appropriate business partners, and focusing on core merchandise offerings. The report concludes that a lack of coordination in the company's expansion policies and a failure to adopt a slower, more organized approach were critical mistakes. The report suggests preventative measures, such as careful market analysis, strategic partnerships, and a focus on core business competencies, to avoid similar failures in future expansions.

Running head: FAILURE OF TARGET CANADA
FAILURE OF TARGET CANADA
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Rush Opening as A Reason for Failure of Target Canada
Target Canada which had opened 133 stores closed down in less than two years
disheartening its huge range of customers who had responded to the close down as a totally
heart-broken one. The CEO of the company, Brian Cornell thought of closing down the company
as he has found the company would not gain any profits even at the close of 2021. The Canadian
expansion was declared in the month of January 2013 when Target bought a total of 220 leases
of Zellers. The one of the reasons for the failure of the Target is hugely the rush opening of the
company (Chibba). The locations of the stores in some places were often not accessible for the
local customers. Since the company has launched a huge number of stores in a small span of
time, the merchandise produced by the company failed to attract customers in the newly
launched stores (Boone, Louis and Kurtz). A huge rush for opening several stores at a time,
disrupted the supply chain of the company and as a result the company failed to bring in trendy
merchandise in their stores. When Target opened its 124 stores in the Canadian market, it has
also launched three national distributors. This had created a massive drawback for the company
as it could not meet the demands of the customers and hence failed to fulfill its business terms.
Even before Christmas it failed to attract customers to their stores and the stores were mostly
empty. Thus, it can be concluded by saying that the expansion policy of Target is an influential
reason for the shut-down of the company.
Measures to Prevent Such Failures
The failures of Target Canada as discussed above could have been avoided if the
organization had executed its expansion policies in a much systematized manner. The first major
preventive step that could have stopped the closure of the company is the identification of the
customers. The company failed to identify the demographical advantage of the country and

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hence the products of the company could not attract customers as it had expected while
launching its stores (Steele, Jana, Maserolle, and Bartlett). Had the company recognized the
economic classes of the company, it could have easily avoided the failure. The second major step
that caused the failure of the company was the Target’s choice of collaboration. The company’s
collaboration with exclusive brands of both US and Canada led to the deflation of the company
in Canada. The closedown of the company could have been escaped had it chosen the right
business partners. The third step that could have stopped the failure if the company had
concentrated its business only on the merchandise (Vachon, Kabatoff, and Quinn). In a country
where there are competitors like Walmart and Loblaws selling grocery items, Target’s attempt to
sale groceries was a total failure for the company.
Hence, in the conclusion it can be mentioned that there was a lack of co-ordination of
powers and policies in the company. The entire process of execution of the company’s model
was not at all acceptable for such expansion. The major step that could have stopped the
shutdown of the company if Target could have executed its expansion in a much organized and
slower approach.

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Reference
Boone, Louis E., and David L. Kurtz. Contemporary marketing. Cengage learning, 2013.
Chibba, Michael. "Contemporary perspectives on international business and
culture." International Journal of Business and Globalisation 14.4 (2015): 408-419.
Steele, Jana, Angela Maserolle, and Mel Bartlett. "Target-Benefit Plans in Canada–An
Innovation Worth Expanding." (2014).
Vachon, Paris W., Chad Kabatoff, and Robert Quinn. "Operational ship detection in Canada
using RADARSAT." Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2014 IEEE
International. IEEE, 2014.