1) Target Corporation Overview
a) History of Target
George D. Dayton founded Target in Minneapolis in 1902. The original name for the company was Dayton Dry Goods. In 1911, Dayton Dry Goods was renamed to Dayton’s Department Store. In 1916, the Dayton Company became a founding member of the Retail Research Association and was once again renamed to Associated Merchandising Corporation. In 1960, Dayton started planning to enter into discount retailing and had its first retail location of Target open on May 1st of 1962 in Roseville, Minnesota. Target also created their famous bull’s-eye icon as the trademark symbol for the company when the first store was opened. In 1966, Target opened its first stores outside of Minnesota in Denver, Colorado; later opening more stores in locations such as St. Louis, Dallas, and Houston in 1968. Target revamped their bull’s-eye icon; this change happened to show what Target stands for and offers to its customers. In 1969 Target opened its first distribution center in Fridley, Minnesota and later became Dayton Hudson Corporation’s highest revenue producers in 1975. In 1979, Target had reached $1 billion in annual sales. With this achievement Target held a billion dollar sale as a way of saying thanks to its guest for visiting the 74 stores in the 11 states that they were located at the time. Today, Target is open in all of the states except Vermont. In 2013, Target expanded its company even further when they opened 124 stores in Canada (Target Through the Years, 2014).
Target has several products and services that are unique to their company for their guest. Target has several private label products such as Market Pantry, Archer Farms, Up & Up, Room Essentials, Threshold, and several more. Target also offers many services to their guest including the Target Credit and Debit cards, which allow guest to save 5% every time they use