Target Executive Summary

Target is a large corporation that is considered number 2 in the discount chain store category, only second to Walmart. Target is a vast company and its area of operations can be found in 49 states and the District of Columbia. The company’s products include, but are not limited to, household essentials, food and pet supplies, apparel and accessories, home furnishings, and décor. Target sells cheap yet chic items at discounted prices, and includes an online business to compete with other discount vendors like Amazon. Target likes to bill its products as more upscale than other large discount box stores. At the current moment Target is aggressively promoting its grocery department and had expanded to markets in Canada, but in early 2015 it had decided to cease its operations in Canada. (Hoovers, Inc., 2015)
Competitive Landscape
Target is in a crowded field because of their large product line up. Since Target offers a large selection of products they compete with all sorts of companies such as toy stores, pharmacies, grocery stores, and home furnishing stores. Having a large product catalog means the company competes with vendors such as, Kohl’s, CVS, Best Buy, Costco, and many more. Targets’ top competitors include, Amazon, …show more content…
Walmart is in the lead in the discount chain category with its 2014 sales total equaling around 485.65 billion. On the lower end Sears Holdings comes in at around 31.20 billion for the 2014 year. To round the field out, Amazon.com posted an annual sales total of 88.99 billion for the 2014 year. Annual sales are impressive, but compared to the net profit margin we see the real picture. Walmart, Targets number 1 competitor, posted a net profit margin of 3.19 percent on the high end. On the low end of competitors Sears Holdings’ net profit margin came in at negative 2.93 percent for 2014. Target its self, posted a loss in around 1.24 percent for the 2014 year. (Hoovers, Inc.,