Strengths
1. Long Standing
Target is by no measure is a novice in its field. It has a long standing with the first Target Discount store opened in year 1962. The company has long standing reputation and consumer approval that not many discount stores in present times can boast of. It has created its image as a store that provides high end products at a nominal or discounted costs rather than one selling sub-standing products.
2. Natural Barrier to Entry – Oligopoly Market
The large scale retail sector has become fairly oligopolistic in nature. There are few giants which rule the sector and are able to provide products at very subsidized rates to consumers. This creates a natural barrier of entry to new firms which might want to penetrate into the market share.
3. Convenience
The stores are spread far and wide across the country and they provide most of the goods a consumer may ask for. Be it food or furniture, toys or medicine. It has something to satisfy everyone’s needs and are never out of reach.
4. Product Diversification
The point that it has something to satisfy everyone’s needs entails that the firm though deals in consumer goods, these goods themselves have different markets or even sectors of their own. For instance, if the supply of farm produce decreases during a particular year due to some climatic reasons, it would not hamper the business at target as a whole, it can rely on its other sections like electronics, or home improvement goods. Thus we see that product diversification serves the stores well.
Weaknesses
1. Weak Online Presence – Reliance on Stores
The market has changed a lot in the last 10-15 years and the biggest change in the consumer market by far is the consumer’s willingness to purchase products from the convenience of their homes. Online shopping is no more a trend that’ll get popular in the future, it is already here. Companies like Amazon have taken huge advantage of it. Even many developing countries have shown