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Introduction
A brand repositioning plan is not a major revamp of your business’s identity; it is a deliberate modification. You want to refresh the status, associations, personality, or fundamental purpose of your brand while maintaining a consistent, identifiable identity. When growth has halted, rivals have taken the lead, or consumers aren’t engaging with your firm the way they used to, brand repositioning might provide a fresh route ahead (and upward). In other words, businesses reposition themselves to meet changing client demand.
Business Environment
There are many firms struggling in the retail sector in Australia. Target and Wesfarmers are some of those firms. Wesfarmers has announced the closure or reestablishment of above 160 locations. When eroded against its sister firm in a more competitive industry, Kmart has emerged victorious, exceeding it in sales and benefiting from the high achievement from the social media marketing and other digital marketing. 92out of the 167 Target locations slated for conversion will become Kmart locations. According to industry analysts, warning flags for the company began years ago. The choice of Target company to pursue a different approach with a higher price structure than Kmart and abandon successful partnerships with designers like Stella McCartney, according to National Retail Association CEO Dominique Lamb, lost them significant market share.Women between the ages of 20 and 35 began to become more engaged with the things they might purchase, including homewares and fashion.
With falling consumer confidence & stagnant income growth in country, Daisy Feller of IBIS World agreed that Kmart’s cheaper pricing were considerably more enticing to the majority of buyers.Over the last five years, Target has lagged behind Kmart. Kmart has profited from its cheap store status during periods of poor customer sentiment.
Target positioned itself as a store focused on the middle market.Much of the decline in consumer confidence has occurred in the last two years, and salaries are not expanding as quickly.However, as the number of high-income workers in Australia has increased, there is a significant divide between those seeking really high-value products and those able to purchase merely bargain things.
Repositioning Strategy
Target will speed its makeover to sell higher-quality clothes, soft homewares, and toys in an effort to separate itself from sibling company Kmart.This adjustment will place the department store to gain competitive advantages against more specialist and middle-market items, perhaps preventing Kmart and Target from cannibalizing each other’s sales.However, roughly 80 head office functions have been reformed as a consequence. The company has confirmed to Inside Retail that it intends to relocate some employees to other sections of the company or to the bigger Wesfarmers group. (Inside Retail, 2019)
As per the news published in Herald Sun, Managing director of Kmart Group, Ian Bailey, has a believe that the moment is ripe to reposition the company against other major players in the market including Myer, Country Road or Cotton On but at an affordable price structure. Bailey feels this particular decision is going to enhance the overall quality of its services and make Target to strongly compete with Kmart. The move is a consequence of the poor performance of Target, which has weighed down Wesfarmers’ department store division, notwithstanding Kmart’s second-half sales stabilization. According to Wesfarmers, the current offering of Target is supposed to be repositioned. The company said in June last year that it will lower its physical stores by 20% by 2023 and make an increment in the Kmart sites to enable its chains to complement one another rather than compete for space and customers.
According to the company, repositioning its grocery section, among other categories, is one strategy for “transforming” its business.Target Corp. CEO and Chairman Brian Cornell and others senior management people outlined the vision and tactics that they claim would drive that change earlier this month at an investor conference.Following a comprehensive strategic analysis of our company and an examination of the evolving retail environment, we have identified the critical measures that will position Target for growth,” Cornell stated. “We are putting emphasis on the future and developing the tools that will propel us forward more quickly. Resetting Target will need a renewed focus on priority and innovation, as well as, most importantly, on putting our guests first in all we do.The store asserts that its market distinction will be fueled by increased merchandising authority. A shopping experience based on inspiration and simplicity, with mobile functioning as the front door to all of Target. Additionally, the Minneapolis-based store claims it will reestablish its cultural leadership in order to foster unmatched visitor loyalty. Additionally, Target will establish a more nimble, efficient, and guest-centric headquarters staff.
Decision about most suitable Repositioning Strategy
The following areas of concentration are included in Target’s “transformation roadmap”:The retailer is developing its business in a channel-agnostic manner, delivering a consistent Target experience across online platforms, and stores. Visitors who shop at Target in-store and online help to generate revenue three times higher revenue than that through just in-store shopping. Continued advancements in technology, supply chain management, and inventory control will result in an effortless and inspiring shopping experience. This will contribute to Target’s ongoing yearly increase of 40% in sales through digital channel, as well as to the company’s forecast overall sales growth of 2–3% and comparable sales growth of 1.5–2.5% in 2015.Target’s retail categories of Baby, style, kids and Wellness are being highlighted; the corporation will invest in these categories with an emphasis on innovation and distinctiveness. These four categories accounted for about a quarter of Target’s revenues in 2014. Other categories, such as grocery, are being repositioned to provide a more engaging and enjoyable shopping experience.
Target will create a more guest-centric experience by personalizing its selection and delivering more regionally relevant items, with merchandising choices being driven by demographics, climate, geography, and other guest-driven characteristics. Additionally, Target will bolster its data and analytics skills, as well as its technological skills, in order to give more tailored customer loyalty initiatives, digital experiences and promotional discount offers. Target’s expansion plans will progressively prioritize innovative, more adaptable formats like as Target Express and City Target, which appeal to customers in quickly rising, congested metropolitan regions. Target will establish eight Target Express sites around the nation in 2015. Additionally, the business will continue to build shops that are appropriate for each town and will experiment with innovative layouts in its general goods shops. Target claims that $2 billion in cost reductions in next couple of years will fuel the company’s growth and sustainability which would be obtained through optimizing operations, innovations, technology, and processes; streamlining the supply chain and outsourcing; and reorganizing the company.
The restructure will be planned at the headquarter of the company. The focus will be on generation of leaner, efficient, capable, and elimination of complexity which would enable the company to react more quickly and agilely. This will entail the formation of centralized teams comprised of individuals with specific skills and the removal of several thousand posts over the next two years. Target anticipates capital expenditures of between $2 and $2.2 billion this year, that includes a $1 billion investment in supply chain and technology. Cornell has stated that the company is at the stage where the transition is highly difficult, we are taking the required measures to fully realize the potential of the company. Moreover, He said “I’m pleased by our early optimistic that by executing our plan, streamlining our operations, and exercising fiscal discipline, we can rekindle Target’s inventive spirit and produce sustainable growth.”
References
Inside Retail, 2019, Wefarmers to reposition Target, cuts head office roles. https://insideretail.com.au/news/wesfarmers-to-reposition-target-cuts-head-office-roles-201908
