In: Finance
Target Corp. has a strong history of growth, however, its more recent history has not been as strong. Its failure in Canadian markets, the Christmas data breech a few years ago and its loss of market share (to Amazon most likely) are two of its recent challenges. Within the last month one industry analyst suggested that Target might be a takeover target for Amazon. Target was once the model for upscale discount stores but that no longer seems to be the case. Answer the following question : How should Target position itself in this new retailing environment and what changes will it have to make to get to that new position?
Target has lost majority of its business to Amazon which is mailnly selling to customers using e commerce channels. Since today customers prefer to buy all their daily needs through online channels mainly, Target should revise its business long term strategy by shifting from upscale discount stores to online selling gradually. To begin with Target can establish its selling channels online as well as continue selling through already existing discount stores as well.
To establish a robust online selling channel Target should focus on following improvement areas:
Infrastructure: Target should have robust IT infrastructure. An IT website which provides secure IT payment gateway and fast user interface experience. The website should be able to run seamlessly during peak hours like during Thanksgiving day etc. Development of such a website for online sales require heavy investment initially but the payoff received in subsequent years would be substantial.
Marketing: Target should focus on developing a good marketing team. The responsibility of such a team should be to expand customer base for Target. Since Target is planning to sell goods through online channel as well, business expansion into other countries apart from US is also very much possible. To increase customer base initially, Target marketing team can offer lucaritive offers, discounts for first transactions, referral programs etc.
Support: Developing an online sales channel would also require to set up a 24/7 customer support service. The support service should focus on solving end user queries, providing quick fix / solution to user queries who are using online portal for buying products.