Target- Consumer Behavior

      Gift giving occasions such as the holidays for example, calls for Target to deliver and supply customers with the things that they need and want. Target delivers first by preparing its ideas for how to grab a consumer's attention and then it reaches its presentation stage where the majority of the attention is given by the consumer to Target.      Adding different booths depending on the season is something that helps to sell the items as more of those similar products are being put out on the sales floor. This helps draw a consumer's attention and make them make a decision whether they will walk out with a seasonal gift or not. Let's say for example a Christmas booth at Target, the design of the booth might be so eye catching that in some cases it forces a consumer to get something without them even realizing if they need it.     Target has mastered the gift giving scenario that it has all the holidays for shopping on it...

New Plans                     Just last year, an exciting announcement of an exclusive partnership with Target and Disney. In the company’s press release, it states, “Disney and Target worked closely to co-develop and design an experience that will bring the magic of Disney store to Target guests in new and unique ways while extending the Disney store footprint .” Both companies are working together to co-create a magical experience at the convenience of the giant retailer. Target announced that 25 stores would be providing the fairy tale experience of Disney, with two stores available in California. (Check out where the nearest Disney-Target store is closest to you at Disney Store Finder ).           Target is no stranger to testing out the waters regarding innovation in e-commerce and stores. Proposing the goal to remodel its stores for a more modern appeal, the company has updated more than 400 ...

  T arget is addressing the changing values and lifestyles of its consumers in several ways. On its  website , Target speaks about its climate goals, its social issues goals, and its corporate social responsibility.   Pictured above is a graphic from Target's website that speaks about the specific actions they are taking as a company to address climate change. This appeals to Target consumers, such as millennials, who  increasingly value the impact of their own carbon footprint and think of themselves as environmentally conscious. Additionally, from their article  referenced below, Target is also addressing the inequitable treatment of certain races and classes in the United States, which has been increasingly on the minds of many Americans, largely brought to the forefront of the Cultural Milieu of the country by the Covid-19 pandemic.  Here’s How Target’s Helping Create 1 Million Jobs for Black Americans Over the Next Decade The way Target addresses the p...

      At Target, you can find just about anything that is desired by any person in the household ranging from food to clothes. Target attempts to engage all customers to be able to create new memories within their own families through Target's easy way of shopping. This is only one of the ways that Target has been able to accomplish new heights in their retail success these past few years.      As was stated by Amanda Luu, recruiter at Target, Target tries to make it simple for different types of families such as families who truly go into the store to shop and families that simply want to be in and out. She stated that finding things close to each other is something that any person from the family can really appreciate when looking for what they need.     Now in regard to the things you can find at Target for the family as a whole is truly exciting. Whether a kid is looking for an action figure or Ps5 or a mother is looking for makeup and cl...

 Target's Average Consumer           Target aims to invite everyone into their stores and to shop online. But, the average consumer at Target is described as “Female, younger, and chic .” A valid explanation can be the company’s mission to bring more affordable higher-end clothing brands that stay updated with the trends. Or the availability of various cosmetic and skincare brands in their beauty section of the store. Around 60-3% of customers are female, and 58-62% are between 18 (Gen Z) to 44 (Gen X).            Its extraordinary appeal to the younger generation is its rapid development to offer a virtual shopping experience. A free mobile app that provides exclusive deals to customers displays the availability of products in stores; collecting points is an attraction with today's technology. Especially with Gen Z, where technology has been integrated into their lifestyles since childhood, it is a more effortless sh...

T arget focuses on Associative Reference Groups to influence consumers, such as family, friends and school groups, in their marketing efforts. This is demonstrated in many of their ads, two of which are pictured below. By showing consumers their associative reference groups in their ads, Target hopes to influence consumers decisions to shop at their store, because even consumers who identify as individualistic react positively to products connected with their reference group.  A dditionally, Target also uses moms as opinion leaders to influence online word of mouth, which positively effects consumer behavior.  A s demonstrated above, moms all around the world tweet, write blogs, and have Instagram and Facebook posts dedicated to their love of Target. This is a marketer's dream, as word of mouth such as this serves in several ways to influence consumer behavior. Firstly, moms are typically the gatekeepers and opinion leaders of the household, so they are already influentia...

      Target , with its 23 billion dollar revenue (24.7% increase from 2019) and its expanding locations continues to make the attempt to meet and ultimately exceed the customer's needs.      Target attempts to collect data from its consumers by giving each person a guest satisfaction survey that will eventually develop initiatives to bring in more consumers according to an article by  Myfeelback.com . Finding customer satisfaction is crucial as it will determine many things within the company and Target has gone above and beyond to achieve that. As said earlier in this blog, with Target's increasing revenue they were able to build more and more stores and those new stores would be focused on customer needs. One example would be those new Target stores having a close proximity to similar items as it has made it convenient for customers looking to be in and out of the store as stated in a Harte Hanks article.

  Unconscious Low-Effort Decision-Making:      No other company is notoriously known to manage customers to walk out of their stores with more products they did not anticipate buying like Target. Many call it the “ Target Effect ” because many customers walk inside the stores to buy a few selected items, only to walk out with more than intended. Nevertheless, this is not an accidental discovery that has miraculously favored the company’s increase in sales. Target came up with its strategy of how the floor plan of their stores influences the consumer’s unconscious mind. When an individual first walks into the store, they are usually greeted with the aroma of coffee from the Starbucks cafe, generally by the entrance, to make it more welcoming. The customer then encounters the zone of acceptance of favorable prices, the dollar bin - an aisle of the low-budget seasonal items. The company’s motive is to convince the consumer to like the trendy items enough to put it insid...

  D ecision Making for  High Effort Purchases                 ↔        Target appeals to consumers who employ both cognitive and affective decision making models.   For example: When a customer is going to Target to buy a high-end blender such as Vitamix or Blendtec, they will likely use a cognitive   decision making model , such as a multiattribute model, which compares brands, or an additive difference model, which compares attributes. Because these blenders are very expensive and are known for their power and performance, Target consumers will likely be making consumption decisions using a cognitive decision making model. Conversely, consumers who shop Target's Home Collection as pictured above and below, are likely to be making feelings based purchase decisions using an affective decision making model.  These purchase decisions will be based on how the furniture, bedding, and blankets make the custo...

       H ave you ever been inside of a Target store? Have you ever had the famous popcorn that everyone seems to remember? This is one of Target's ways of getting people to recall their brand and come back to their store. Through this form of achieving brand familiarity, Target lets consumers know that they are welcome to grab a bite as well as shop for clothing and necessities.        A nother way Target assesses their brand recall is through the use of their famous Target logo that has been discussed earlier in this blog. The Target logo is one of those logos that is minimal and easy to spot which is what makes the logo "snappy" according to  Logaster.com .       T his idea with Target's logo would be considered a retrieval cue. One observation to make to prove that Target does receive brand recall is by looking at Chapter 7's slide titled retrieval cues to see a picture of a Target store as an e...

  Micro-Analysis of Target COVID-19 Commercial “Always Taking Care” Self-Referencing:      Target has recently published a new commercial relating to today's current situation with COVID-19. In this ad, the company delivers the message of the advertisement by linking it through experience. How so? With the pandemic changes on the need to social distance, wear a mask, frequently practice good hygiene, and more has resulted in a shift in the consumer's behavior, explicitly shopping at a retail store. The purpose of this commercial is to establish a positive attitude towards shopping at Target by assuring the customer how the company is doing its part on its social responsibility in implementing a safe retail environment for its customers to shop in. But at the same time, unconsciously reminding the viewer also to do their part to keep themselves and their surrounding environment safe with clips of wearing a mask, using the hand sanitizing dispensary, and social distanc...

  E motional Appeal and Emotional Contagion: T arget wants to affect consumer's attitudes, so they invoke emotional appeal and emotional contagion in their ads to illicit positive feelings from consumers towards their brand. In the ad pictured above, Target wants to make consumers feel the joy and excitement of marriage and love, as well as making it know to the public that any couple, same sex or gay, is welcome in their stores.  I n the ad pictured above, Target wants to invite their consumers to feel what it would like to be lying on those fun and colorful floaties in the pool on a hot summer day.  I n yet another example of emotional appeal and emotional contagion from Target, the ad above promotes joy. In the ad there are bright and surprising background colors and clothes on the smiling actors, who actually seem to be so joyful they are in motion. It is clear that Target wants to achieve affective responses with its ads, as these types of responses are more influent...

     A s we look into Target's concept on consumer memory, immediately the idea of iconic memory comes into the situation. Why would one say this? The Target logo will tell you why. T arget's use of a simple target logo has made its way around the world as one of the most recognizable company logos in the world. On  Signs.com , it asks fellow Americans to draw out the Target logo by memory and the results looked like this.       S eeing this, we see that many people acknowledge the Target logo as even when the logo's drawings were a bit less accurate it was still able to be comprehendible as a Target logo. This is what a simple and clean logo is able to do for a company. It has the ability to easily store itself into a consumer's head so when they think about places to shop, they are are able to retrieve or remember that logo quickly and have options.

T arget uses a 3rd party advertising agency to display their campaigns, specifically interest-based advertising (IBA). It essentially means that the advertising agency collects data from consumers' activities when customers visit Target's website or mobile app to efficiently promote its products. To attract the consumer's attention, the company uses various forms of advertising such as television broadcasting to promote the brand and on social media platforms like Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Additionally, the company also emails the newsletter of its in-store and online promotions and upcoming releases to its customers when the customers' signup with their emails. T he company's target audience is consumers with a higher-income that allows flexibility to enjoy higher-quality products and low-cost designer clothing. Target's marketing strategy is to direct customers to shop at its stores to fulfill all of the consumer's necessities, such as gr...

 M arketing Tactics:          W hen looking into Target’s marketing tactics and strategies, the strategy that has popped out the most recent and has ultimately become a priority has been Target’s marketing strategy to combat COVID-19 during these unprecedented times. On Target’s website , it demonstrates that their response to the COVID-19 pandemic includes such things as enforcing masks and social distancing, to say the least. Here is the full list below of Target’s push during the pandemic. I n a Forbes article, Target’s chief marketing officer Rick Gomez stated that Target’s most recent campaign “Target Run” was one of their marketing strategies that worked out very well. Target Run was the idea that everything you needed was at Target, and if you didn’t want to go to Target you could get the items delivered to your door. This is a smart idea considering COVID-19's impact on customer mobility.                 ...