Hot Topics »
 

9 Comments

  • mark One year ago

    Target is a much better shopping experience than Wal-Mart and the prices do seem low. I’m surprised they are “losing the battle of the big boxes”. Thanks for the info, Wallstrip.

    • Abe One year ago

      BAH! How could you cover Target and not mention one of the best concepts they have going; Super Target?! :-O

      Before anyone freaks out, I realize that this is not available on the East Coast (unsure about the West), but Target has full grocery stores to go along with the discount goods and designer labels, to better lock down the customer that was otherwise going to Target for boxers and somewhere else for bananas. I know the grocery business has ridiculously tight margins, but at the same time it seems to make good business sense for a company that already offered some grab-it-on-the-way-home food items like milk, eggs, and Doritos (sparing you the trip to a real grocery store) to extend the concept and try to capture more of the grocery dollars from their customers. While they don’t have EVERYTHING (sometimes one still has to go to another store that carries more niche goods), they are full grocery stores carrying most of the food that one might pickup on a regular grocery run. So you can get fennel and flannel, all in one convenient location, with a far more accessible floor plan than its direct competitor.

      • howard Lindzon One year ago

        great icees too

        • Andy Swan One year ago

          Slightly more money, much less pedestrian.

          • Russ One year ago

            I sent my 18 yr old out to fetch milk & bread and assumed he go 1/4 mile to our closest super market. Instead, he went 2 1/2 miles to buy milk & bread at Target. He defended his decision by saying, “This bread is awesome!”

            Target’s advertising is working on the younger folk.

            (This was on the West Coast, Abe.)

            • rocketman7 One year ago

              It would have been interesting to compare the average weight of a Wal-Mart shopper to the average weight of a Target shopper…

              • Phil One year ago

                I have noticed that Target has started to make more in-roads into urban big-box retail… something that jibes well with their carrying down market designer labels AND gives them a competitive edge on Wal-Mart. They haven’t been able to get within city limits in New York or Chicago (I think).

                One last thought on big-box discount department stores: What lessons can we learn from K-Mart? Didn’t they fail because they didn’t keep up with consumers: only focusing on lower prices and getting weighed down by too much real estate and infrastructure?

                • Soren One year ago

                  I have never been in a Wal-Mart. When I was trapped in Upstate New York for a while, we used to just go and walk around the newly opened Target because it was the most modern and entertaining place to go.

                  Does any of this have anything to do with TGT as a stock? No.

                  • Max Zeledon One year ago

                    Target knows how to differentiate, period! The stores are hip, clean, and you can always spot hot girls shopping for cosmetics or tampons. The products are cheap and attractive. Actually Target is the No. 1 “cheap chic” retailer in America. My friend Daniel shoots their ads and they are great. Brining in top designers has helped a lot as well because the more affluent consumers are not ashame to be seen in the stores. I don’t even see Target as a direct competitor to Wal-Mart. Not even in the same league in regarsds to coolness factor.
                    The only weakness is the discritionary nature of its products which could hurt them if the economy does indeed go south, but they also sell food and that’s a good hedge. From a micro perspective, the company has healty cash flows, solid earnings, and revenues were up in 2006. Xmas is coming and that will give the stock a nice boost in Q4. The stock could easily move to the $80 range. If it pulls back to the high $50s it’s a buy. Some analyst have a hold or neutral on it because they expect the economy to slowdown, but it’s Xmas time…people get in debt at this time of year.

                    Leave a Reply