11 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
11 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Target Blundered In Canada -- Big Time

by thunderbird
8 replies
  • OFF TOPIC
    • |
In a matter of a few years, Target built over a hundred stores in Canada, went on to lose billions of dollars, and now is shutting it all down.
Target's launch into Canada 'a multifaceted failure' - Business - CBC News

Why would it fail? Canada is prime territory, being a vast frozen terrain, sparsely populated with stingy buyers.

But, seriously, here's how to do it right in Canada:
http://ottawacitizen.com/business/lo...gets-departure
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    The next BIG thing in US retail will be small Walmart stores.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9816085].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      The next BIG thing in US retail will be small Walmart stores.
      Actually, that already started!

      Steve
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9816373].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    There is NO way a store like target can fail in SO many cases within a year unless they forgot THE BASICS! There are actually DOCUMENTARIES surrounding how WALMART does the basics! It starts LONG before they even decide precisely where to go!

    They have one covering the INTERNATIONAL basics, concerning when they went into CHINA. And that is a SUPERSET of the basics for the US! They have to determine not only supply chains, price points, where to build, local culture, etc.... They ALSO have to determine how to handle things between stores, language, national government needs, etc... Local customs, diets, product position, etc... And some things in canada WOULD be considered weird by US standards, and they have different competitors, etc...

    Why didn't they do the expected, and CHEAT! Just watch the walmart documentaries, and go to walmart and the store that is closest to theirs, and note what they sell, how, and the prices?

    ABSURD! I wonder if that CEO, or president, EVER gets hired by another company.

    OH, and the answer COULD have been simply DON'T GO! Sometimes part of the answer is change the name.

    Steve
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9816409].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      There is NO way a store like target can fail in SO many cases within a year unless they forgot THE BASICS! <snip>
      A very effective way to forget the basics and common sense is to decide things by committee.
      Signature

      Project HERE.

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9816599].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Ellrose
        Target totally blew it. Shelves were poorly stocked,few checkouts were open,prices sucked.They were arrogant about their role in Canadian retail and had their asees handed to them.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9818901].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Karen Blundell
          they blundered for sure - they were arrogant - here they hired people to go into the local Walmart and spy, equipped with smartphone apps that checked and recorded the prices - and then after all the hoopla they couldn't even come close to offering the bargains Walmart does. In this economically-depressed town, low prices are what keep the customers coming back - despite everything that Walmart does wrong - it's always busy - while Target looks deserted.

          serves them right for not taking the time to really understand what Canadians want.
          Signature
          ---------------
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9818935].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author seasoned
            Originally Posted by Karen Blundell View Post

            they blundered for sure - they were arrogant - here they hired people to go into the local Walmart and spy, equipped with smartphone apps that checked and recorded the prices - and then after all the hoopla they couldn't even come close to offering the bargains Walmart does. In this economically-depressed town, low prices are what keep the customers coming back - despite everything that Walmart does wrong - it's always busy - while Target looks deserted.

            serves them right for not taking the time to really understand what Canadians want.
            That article makes it sound like they didn't even know HOW to ship the stuff. Did YOU know that sears started because of salespeople that didn't pick up delivered products? The first sears building actually was built AROUND the train tracks! IMAGINE if some store tried to compete with such a business. They would lose SO much in shipping and logistics, that they would have to make it up somewhere else just to end up EVEN. And Walmart IS known for getting LOW prices.

            The time to check out the competitions stores is months before figuring out where they should be, NOT when you are trying to stock them.

            Steve
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9818952].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author onSubie
    Target did not know the market, did not know how to take strategic advantage of their locations and made terrible assumptions.

    Target took over a Zellers at a mall in Ottawa (Billings Bridge). This mall is across the street from a large govt building of 2,000 workers or something.

    Every day those workers would cut through Zellers to get to the mall.

    When Target renovated, they moved the entrance to the opposite corner. It was no longer shorter or convenient to cut through Target to get to the mall.

    Target quickly and efficiently removed a daily flow of hundreds of well paid government workers through their store. Instead the traffic walked past the yellow brick wall with a big red Target sign and no door and just entered the mall directly.

    They tried to add groceries??? But mostly didn't. They had some packaged baked. Lots of packaged stuiff. No fresh stuff. No grocery service people. A wall of fridges filled with moistly junk. Sometimes had a sale on milk.

    The mall is near where I live so I go there all the time because they have a great grocery store (not Target). I visited Target occasionally but really it was never worth the extra leg down the mall.

    What I wonder is who will take over?

    A Zellers outlet opened in Bells Corners last year. The Bay said it wasn't "Zellers" but rather a Bay outlet store. But they put the Zellers sign and all the Zellers branding back up.

    I wonder sometimes if Zellers could just restart and pick up where they left off using all the cash they got from Target.

    Like Mr. Burns selling the nuclear plant to the Germans.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9830599].message }}

Trending Topics