Target Corporation Marketing Environment and Strategy Report by Eros Shreve Introduction Target is a leading discount retailer in the United States, which took this form in the 1960s, moving away from its department store roots as The Dayton Company. This report will outline Target’s marketing environment, both macro and micro, including a competitor analysis, as well as the business’ segmenting, targeting, and positioning strategy.
Macroenvironment The macroenvironment is all external factors that may affect a business or industry either directly or indirectly. More specifically, this includes all demographic, economic, natural, technological, political, and cultural/social forces. (Jobber, 2010; Kotler & Armstrong, 2016) Demographically, the average Target customer is 41 years old, makes roughly $60,000 annually, putting them in the middle class, and 57% have completed college and 42% have one or more children at home. (Francis, 2012; Target, n.d.) Target is affected by each of the economies in which its retail chain runs. This includes its primary retail point, the US, its primary production source, China, as well as India, in which it has headquarters, among others, which includes any other country of product production, or from which online sales may take place. (Target, n.d.) This meant that during the recent recession, Target had to shift its focus from the ‘Expect More.’ of