Target Corporation:
A Financial & Competitive Analysis
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By:

O.P.

For
Econ 2304 Prof. Alexander

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Overview

Target has been a publicly traded company since 1963, but has been around since 1902. Target was originally part of the Dayton Hudson Corporation which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2000, because Target had become the largest division of the Dayton Hudson Corporation, it became known as the Target Corporation.

Target is the second largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Wal-Mart. The company is also ranked number thirty on the Fortune 500, and is part of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. Target operates about 1,750 Target and Super Target stores in 49 states, …show more content…

Wal-Mart employs 2,100,000, when compared to Targets 355,000, has 1,745,000 more employees. An explanation of this is offered by Trefis Team of forbes.com “Wal-Mart, due to its sheer size, faces a risk of cannibalizing its own sales due to over expansion in the U.S. market. In other words, the company runs the risk of competing against itself. This is an obstacle for the company’s stock as analysts tend to place great emphasis on comparable store sales. As one analysis last year noted: “As the giant retailer adds locations and converts existing discount stores to supercenters, the company is taking sales away from itself. This ‘cannibalization’ is hurting comparable store sales.” (Trefis Team 1)” So while you think that Targets solution to competing with Wal-Mart would simply be to build more stores due to their higher profit margin, a smaller more efficient style might be better suited for competition with the retailer goliath.

Target has continued to show an average of 32% Gross Profit Margin since 2007 with an average revenue of 64 million dollars per year since 2007. In 2009 Target same store retail sales were down (-2.5%) and in 2008 (-2.9%). Target relied on sales of apparel, home furnishings and décor which had taken a downward turn whereas electronics, sporting goods and toys remained flat. With consumers being thriftier, Target borrowed from Wal-Mart and began to devote more space to its food sales,