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Wow… Target’s plans to get you in store again are big, but is it enough?

Retail chains in Australia have long been a favourite of consumers: they offer good value for money and they’re everywhere. But as Target has realised, that doesn’t always equal sales, and now the retailer is scrambling to get you back in the door.

The news of Target’s revamp comes just months after it was revealed Kmart has a monopoly over the sector, with year on year growth that’s been hard to match – until now.

Target believes their new customer experiences and offering will be “very open” and transparent so you’ll know exactly what you want. But is that a t-shirt printing station, an in-store cafe or a personal shopper?

Target Australia’s General manager for store development Dean Simpson told A Current Affair that the stories also carry more “affordable fashion”, with the option of being able to get a personalised T-shirt made while you wait from $14, reports News Corp.

Meanwhile, CEO Stuart Machin acknowledges the earnings of Target have fallen 32 per cent in the two years prior to his appointment by looking to differentiate the retailer from its rivals rather than make it more like Kmart or Big W.
“We have started to really work out we can do affordable fashion, we can differentiate on quality and we want to do that even more,” Mr Machin told Fairfax Media.
“We want to be down to earth, we want to offer affordable fashion – mums are at the heart of the brand. We don’t sell fishing rods but we do well at selling $39 dresses. We won’t do everything in camping but we do brilliantly in kids wear”.
As well as the t-shirt printing and cafes, Mr Machin said Target will stock a wider range of specialty foods, do in-store alterations, and have better visual merchandising, with the first new format store to open at Chadstone in Melbourne this week. 
“Our new format is one way of showing innovation but also our new format has demonstrated we can be different in that discount department store space,” Mr Machin said.
“I’m confident people will see a difference. We lost quite a few customers 4 to 5 years ago, we are finding a few more every week coming back – if that happens and they’re happy we should have a good Christmas”.
Tell us, will the new Target stores lure you in to spend more? Do you prefer Kmart, Big W or Target?

 

 

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