(영��리포트)Target Company

“Target Corporation is an American retailing company that was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1902 under the name of Dayton Dry Goods Company. In 1962, the first Target store opened in Roseville, Minnesota, and in 2000 the company changed its name from Dayton Hudson to Target. It is the fifth largest retailer by sales revenue in the United States, behind Wal-Mart, The Home Depot, Kroger, and Costco. The company is ranked at number 31 on the Fortune 500 as of 2008” (target.com). Target operates its retailing business exclusively in the United States. Its largest rival and competitor is Wal-Mart. In 2000 Target began a rapid expansion and expanded to 977 stores in 46 states and sales reached $29.7 billion by the end of the year. Targets goal is to offer high-quality merchandise at low margins, because they are consistently cutting their expenses, this is very similar to Wal-Mart’s theory as well but Target stores tend to attract younger and more educated and affluent customers than its competitors.