'Target CEO claims customers are saying ‘a big thank you’ for locking up merchandise'

[ClownLoach]

Locking up merchandise really reduces sales. You get less theft, but many more customers will just walk away without buying those items. Then they might order online at Amazon and do home delivery. Then you have to hire more employees to run around unlocking the glass cases. What is worse is if customers then switch to ordering online to pick up in the store. Then the store has to pay a personal shopper to run around the store to gather up the online order. This is even more labor intensive.

...And what makes no sense is Target has pushed pickup and DriveUp so hard, even offering special promotions/pricing on items ordered for DriveUp. It's like they want to kill all their impulse sales, I don't quite understand it. IMO, they should be charging an extra fee for using that service.

This is the reason why all of these services make no sense. They are so deleveraging of payroll that they are forcing the near 100% self checkout model. The retailers think they are reaching new customers but I personally question the validity of their data especially in this age of Apple Pay and other untraceable payment methods. I think they make decisions based on false data.

[Romr123]

This analysis makes so much sense. My last engagement with Target corporate was about 10 years ago at a diversity MBA college recruiting fair in Chicago. They were one of the key sponsors, and were truly handling things in a verrry classy manner (swag bags, merch, etc etc etc). They were definitely on the "we are the elite" bandwagon.

At the store level, there are 5 stores that I visit with any regularity (4 in SE Michigan, 1 in Coachella Valley California). 2 of the 4 in SEMI are 1990 build original stores, and they are really more pleasant, cohesive, uniform experiences than the other 2 (1 a later build conventional I'd guess with the expanded food, other built late 90s as a Greatland). The pleasant 2 are in slightly more downscale suburbs, but both hang together nicely (though they have those irritating differences--one has the conventional 4 self-checkouts, the other has the "convertible" self/serviced checkstands which just feel awfully confusing to me to work them from the customer side.) They seem to have enough staffing (or expertise) to manage lines and keep throughput going. One of them has a significant Middle East clientele. They're also only about 2 miles apart (though on either side of the Macomb/Oakland county line which is a bit of a psychological barrier

The store in California is an old FedMart which feels similar (appropriately staffed, neat, tidy).

The other 2 stores are just altogether less pleasant to visit, though bigger. The later build conventional has the expanded food selection (there is no supermarket nearby) and has some expanded Kosher merchandise (it's got both a significant Jewish population and a significant middle class Black clientele), but the food is just not handled well (one time I found multiple packages of 18-month expired nuts in one of their Produce displays). The Greatland is in affluent suburbia and feels like it has affluenza...the staff isn't very good, they don't staff appropriately, and it's just best to be avoided (though it's large and airy). Meijer is just down the street, Kroger is in Target's strip center, so there's competition.

I suspect that their systems do not have enough sensitivity to staff the "upscale" stores correctly (using the smaller stores as baseline). Getting rid of some of the corporate distractions (small-format, primarily---not sure how helpful getting better with these translates to their other stores....I can certainly, though, see how improving the Super performance rubs off on smaller stores).

Not sure how necessary small-format is to lastingly build preference (they have a bunch of them in college towns--not sure if a frustrating small Target experience for a student is worth the effort for Target to provide)

[veteran+]

Wonderful analysis from Clown an Store!

But, Target and Walmart started in 1962....................why isn't Target almost as big as Walmart?

And, from my current myopic view of Target stores in my area................I'm NOT happy and I have been a loyal fan for decades.

When I recently visited 2 SuperTargets in Denver they were very nice stores but their skus (variety) in grocery (fresh and ambient) was not good.

[jamcool]

Wonderful analysis from Clown an Store!

But, Target and Walmart started in 1962....................why isn't Target almost as big as Walmart?

And, from my current myopic view of Target stores in my area................I'm NOT happy and I have been a loyal fan for decades.

When I recently visited 2 SuperTargets in Denver they were very nice stores but their skus (variety) in grocery (fresh and ambient) was not good.

Like KMart was a retail arm of Kresge (along with Jupiter), Target was started as another retail channel of Dayton Hudson-another way to sell goods. Walmart was a discount store from its beginnings.

[veteran+]

Wonderful analysis from Clown an Store!

But, Target and Walmart started in 1962....................why isn't Target almost as big as Walmart?

And, from my current myopic view of Target stores in my area................I'm NOT happy and I have been a loyal fan for decades.

When I recently visited 2 SuperTargets in Denver they were very nice stores but their skus (variety) in grocery (fresh and ambient) was not good.

Like KMart was a retail arm of Kresge (along with Jupiter), Target was started as another retail channel of Dayton Hudson-another way to sell goods. Walmart was a discount store from its beginnings.

Yeah, I'm familiar with their histories. Thanks

So are you saying that Target had to learn "discount" and that's why it is behind? That's a long learning curve

[babs]

Wonderful analysis from Clown an Store!

But, Target and Walmart started in 1962....................why isn't Target almost as big as Walmart?

And, from my current myopic view of Target stores in my area................I'm NOT happy and I have been a loyal fan for decades.

When I recently visited 2 SuperTargets in Denver they were very nice stores but their skus (variety) in grocery (fresh and ambient) was not good.

Like KMart was a retail arm of Kresge (along with Jupiter), Target was started as another retail channel of Dayton Hudson-another way to sell goods. Walmart was a discount store from its beginnings.

Yeah, I'm familiar with their histories. Thanks

So are you saying that Target had to learn "discount" and that's why it is behind? That's a long learning curve

Target isn't way behind, their growth had been different. Walmart built hundreds of stores in the 80s mostly in small town where land was cheap, competition was minimal and the big retailers ignored them. Meantime Kmart went all in on expanding as much as they could in the 70s and 80s, and then ignoring the stores figuring they had the market cornered.

Target did expand more slowly. I think for a long time, they were fine being a cousin to Dayton Hudson department stores. Their real growth came after they shed the department stores. Most stores opened in the 90s and 2000s. Also, what holds back their revenue is grocery. Walmart generates a lot more revenue from food than Target does. Food has always been an afterthought at Target.

[storewanderer]

Wal Mart has been a more aggressive retailer that has tried to do more things. They are not really excelling in any category (well, maybe grocery...) but are proficient in many things and their private label general merchandise programs are significantly better than many give them credit for. Over the years Target has dumbed down too many product lines and categories and eliminated too much. Wal Mart despite some of these product lines obviously being underperforming, does not drop product lines very often (look how long it took them to finally discontinue pet fish).

I really enjoy the SKU depth of Wal Mart. On the general merchandise side, it isn't the best quality, but it is functional. I've bought a number of items there, mostly on clearance sales, and been very happy with what I got for what I paid. Had I paid the full price I'd be satisfied but maybe not "very happy." I really think they know how to price appropriately for the quality of their product offer and set realistic customer expectations.

Wal Mart does not play games on prices with sales, loyalty cards, excessive mark ups to show some "image" of savings, percent off sales, or any of that other crap that all of these other retailers (Target included- and previously Kmart and Shopko) do.

Target in the 00's seemed to be more straightforward on price, like they were trying to be similar to Wal Mart in pricing strategy. They ran more "sales" but really their pricing was quite fair; they tried to get an extra $1 here and there on a decor item that looked better than the stuff at Wal Mart but on stuff like food, pet, toys, etc., they priced equal to Wal Mart.

Target has started to play significant games on price in recent years. Their clothing prices are excessively high for what they are selling, and they are doing a lot of sales. The "Target Circle" program runs hundreds of Digital Coupon % offers and I have noticed multiple times the items get a price increase right before a "Target Circle % off" promotion starts on various grocery items, especially frozen foods.

So I wonder how much a consistent, straightforward, no nonsense store pricing strategy has helped Wal Mart become so much larger than these others? Even though Wal Mart's prices aren't the bargain they once were, the straightforward pricing strategy has remained the same.

[veteran+]

I still think they are significantly behind Walmart because their own doing.

They had some great things on their side that Walmart did not. Think Culture, Politics, Fashion, Ambience, Ethics, positive Labor issues and more.

They pissed it all away.

[babs]

I still think they are significantly behind Walmart because their own doing.

They had some great things on their side that Walmart did not. Think Culture, Politics, Fashion, Ambience, Ethics, positive Labor issues and more.

They pissed it all away.

All remember Target's customer is female. It's who they target and aim their marketing and merchandise towards. Walmart casts its net much wider. I don't necessarily think Target focusing on the female consumer is a bad thing. It has created a lot more loyalty and focus for them among their base customer. But keep in mind size isn't everything.

[veteran+]

I still think they are significantly behind Walmart because their own doing.

They had some great things on their side that Walmart did not. Think Culture, Politics, Fashion, Ambience, Ethics, positive Labor issues and more.

They pissed it all away.

All remember Target's customer is female. It's who they target and aim their marketing and merchandise towards. Walmart casts its net much wider. I don't necessarily think Target focusing on the female consumer is a bad thing. It has created a lot more loyalty and focus for them among their base customer. But keep in mind size isn't everything.

True and they had a huge loyal gay following as well and still did not grow like Walmart did.