2018 Top 100 Retailers Power Players : Mass Markets

2018 Top 100 Retailers Power Players : Mass Markets

https://stores.org/2018/06/28/2018-top-100-retailers-power-players-mass-markets/

 

〈No. 1 Walmart〉

 

Target remains among the elite of the country’s Top 100 Retailers. Just a couple of months ago, Target CEO Brian Cornell told investors and Wall Street analysts, “What a difference a year makes. You don’t have to go too far into the numbers to see our strategy is working.”

 

Target spent much of 2017, and a lot of money, tidying and building new stores, improving the customer experience and enhancing digital capabilities. The efforts continue into this year, as the company remodels 325 more stores and adds smaller stores in urban areas. Also included are boosting online sales with more same-day delivery, curbside pickup and ship-from-store options, with the intent of making Target “America’s easiest place to shop,” in Cornell’s words.

 

Target’s smaller footprint stores are in the 25,000-square-foot to 30,000-square-foot range, with merchandise offerings pruned from those in full-line stores but selected for the neighborhoods in which they are located.

 

The store remodels include an elevated beauty department, new bins for fruits and vegetables, more checkout lanes and a “trends” display area near the entrance for seasonal apparel and home goods merchandise. “In the past, when we remodeled, we might have just upgraded the fixtures,” Cornell says, “but this is dramatically different from anything we’ve done in the past.”

 

Remodeling has had a positive effect: Remodeled stores are showing sales gains of between 2 percent and 4 percent, Target officials said.