Detailed Marketing Plan: Target Corporation's Competitive Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive marketing plan for Target Corporation, a major retail corporation in the United States. It begins with a description of the company, its core products and services, and a brief history. The report identifies key current competitors such as Walmart and Costco and presents a detailed SWOT analysis, examining the company's strengths (including strong market presence and marketing expertise), weaknesses (such as dependence on suppliers and past data breaches), opportunities (like opening smaller stores and expanding services), and threats (including competitor strategies and rising labor costs). The report also discusses the company's service lines, particularly focusing on the potential of one-day delivery to enhance customer service and maintain a competitive edge. The analysis is supported by references to relevant sources.

Marketing Plan
4/30/2018
Target Corporation

Marketing Plan1
Contents
Description of selected company.....................................................................................................2
Core products/services company offer............................................................................................2
Brief history.....................................................................................................................................3
Key current competitors..................................................................................................................3
SWOT analysis................................................................................................................................4
Strengths......................................................................................................................................4
Weaknesses..................................................................................................................................4
Opportunities...............................................................................................................................4
Threats.........................................................................................................................................5
Service line for Target Corporation.................................................................................................5

Marketing Plan2
Description of selected company
The target corporation is second-largest discount store retailers in the US, behind the Walmart.
The company is well-known merchandise retailer who sells its products with the help of their
stores and digital channels. The company provides the food assortment to their customers that
include perishables, dry grocery, frozen items and dairy products. Target Corporation owned
different brands including Archer Farms, Market Pantry, Sutton & Dodge, Threshold, Smith &
Hawken and many others (Reuters, 2018).
Core products/services company offer
Target Corporation tries to offer every product to their customers under one roof. The company
operates its business operation in 4 major product categories. These categories are discussed
below: -
 Household essentials: - One of the major categories includes the household essential
products. It includes a pharmacy, personal and beauty care, cleaning, and paper products.
The company is able to achieve more than 20% sales from the household products.
 Food and pet supplies: - Along with the household products the company offers dry
grocery, food and beverages, dairy, frozen foods, candy, meat, pet suppliers and other
products. Target Corporation has achieved more than their 20% sales from the food and
pet suppliers product.
 Apparel and Accessories: - In the segment of apparel and accessories company offers
apparel for women, men, boys, girls, kids, toddles along with the jewelry through which
the company is able to achieve the approx. 20% of sales (Reuters, 2018).

Marketing Plan3
 Hardlines: - Company offers the products related to the Hardlines that include
electronics, books, computer software and many others.
 Home furniture and décor: - Target Corporation ensure that they are able to meet the
needs of the customers by providing them products under one roof which is essential to
achieve the goals and objective of the company.
Brief history
The company was established by George Dayton in the year 1902 with the headquarters in
Minneapolis, Minnesota. The first target store came into existence in the year 1962 at Roseville,
Minnesota. By the year 2017, the company had approx. 1,802 stores around the US. Out of these
1,535 are owned stores and 107 are leased stores (Reuters, 2018). The remaining stores are
owned by the company but on leased land.
Key current competitors
The key competitors of the company that are present in the market include Wal-Mart Stores
Costco Wholesale, Amazon and many others. All these companies deal in the same segment due
to which the competition among the companies is intensive. Walmart is giving strong
competition to the Target by keeping the low prices of the products (Kuang, 2018). On the other
hand, Costco offers a heavy discount to their customers which helps them in attracting
customers. This reflects that both the companies give strong competition to Target Corporation.

Marketing Plan4
SWOT analysis
Swot analysis is a strategic tool that is used by the companies to determine the strengths,
weakness, opportunity, and threats associated with the business (Chernev, 2018).
Strengths
 Strong presence: - Target Corporation is able to achieve the strong presence in the US
market because of its large-scale operations in the country (Kotler, 2015).
 Strong expertise in marketing: - Company makes use of the strong tool for the marketing
of the product. The major focus is on the highly profitable segment of the retail market
that is fashion and household furnishings.
 Loyalty Program: - The company initiated the REDcard Royalty program in the year
2010 in which the regular customer can avail the benefit of a discount on purchase. This
helped the company in attracting customers and generating customer loyalty.
Weaknesses
 Dependence on supplier: - Company is depended on suppliers for most of its products
which is one of the weaknesses of the company due to which they have to pay more
prices of products sometimes.
 Data breach: - In 2013, the company faced the data breach in which they experienced a
leak of details. This reflects the weakness of the company in the field of IT (Bhasin,
2018).
Opportunities
 Small neighbor stores: - Target Corporation has the opportunity under which they can
open new small neighbor stores for particular items in the US.

Marketing Plan5
 Reduce prices: - Company needs to focus on cost cutting of the products which will help
them in attracting the customers and increasing the market share.
 Adding service: - Target Corporation can contribute in adding more services which will
help them in making a profit.
Threats
 Competitors: - The change in the strategies of the competitors is one of the biggest threats
to the company.
 Rise in Labour cost: - The labor cost in the US is increasing which is leading risk for the
company as this will reduce their profit.
Service line for Target Corporation
In an era of information technology, the companies are becoming advance through technology.
Target Corporation is willing to add the service of one day delivery to their customers which will
help them in increasing customers and deal with their competitors due to which there is need of
the investment. The marketing plan should be developed on this service by doing so the company
will grab the opportunity.

Marketing Plan6
References
Bhasin, H. (2018). SWOT Analysis of Target. Retrieved from:
https://www.marketing91.com/swot-analysis-target/
Chernev, A. (2018). Strategic marketing management. Chicago: Cerebellum Press.
Kotler, P. (2015). Framework for marketing management. India: Pearson Education.
Kuang, C. (2018). Who are Target's (TGT) main competitors?. Retrieved from:
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/051915/who-are-targets-tgt-main-
competitors.asp
Reuters. (2018). Target Corp (TGT). Retrieved from:
https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/TGT