a SWOT analysis Kiera Harmon, Jennifer Deluna, Jared Peterson and Hem Sanyasi

HISTORY OF TARGET George Draper Dayton started Goodfellow Dry Goods in Sixty years later the organization opened its first Target store with a focus on convenient shopping at competitive discount prices. Half way through the 1970's, Target became the leading produce of revenue for the corporation with annual sales reaching 1 billion dollars right before the 1980's. Halfway through the decade Super Target was introduced which included a photo studio, dining establishments, a pharmacy as well as a grocery aisles. To end the century the company changed its name to Target Corporation.

STRENGTHS Conveniently located Food court inside Rewards card program Target App “Cartwheel” for deals and promotions Hiring kiosk

WEAKNESSES Not many cashiers Not located by many neighborhoods – longer car trip Not a Super Target Walmart and Smiths more popular choice of department store. Not a common or popular choice for basic shopping.

OPPORTUNITIES Hiring more staff Expansion into produce/food Adding more choices for higher-end goods Moving to an international market Same day ordering and pickup

THREATS The store in Jordan Landing is located next to Walmart and Best Buy, their competitors. Amazon.com offers the same products for a lower price. Costco/Sam’s Club sells in bulk, reducing the amount of trips to the store needed. Their main customers are low-end to middle-class, and due to raising prices, the low-end customers may not continue shopping. Raw materials are increasingly more expensive.

RECOMMENDATIONS We highly recommend that Target hire more staff to help with cashiering, as it seems waiting times in the lines is a major drawback to shopping there. This would also increase the amount of opportunity each customer would have to talk with different associates around the department store and ask questions to locate their products. Moving to an international marketing, while it may be a large and expensive task, would greatly improve the company’s performance overall. There are many countries that would benefit greatly from Target’s low prices and it may be cheaper to import certain goods to those countries.