Target and Wal-Mart Stores may be the biggest mass merchandisers in the country, but both believe business results can be improved by tailoring what they do to individual shoppers.
Last week, Target announced it would begin delivering its weekly online ad, "My TargetWeekly," in a new, customizable form.
The ad, which is seen by 1.2 million visitors to Target.com on a weekly basis, now lets consumers create views customized to their preferences as well as providing alerts to shoppers when their favorite products are on sale. The chain will also add "My TargetWeekly" to its Facebook page.
"Target is doing what smart retailers have to do: Go to where the customers are," Rebecca Lieb, vice president at Econsultancy, told USA Today. "You have to engage people on their own terms."
For its part, Wal-Mart is looking to custom tailor product offerings to shoppers on a store-by-store basis. While one-size-fits-all may offer some operational efficiencies and associated savings, the chain knows that giving shoppers what they want is the key to selling.
A Tampa Tribune report offered a contrast between two of the chain's stores just six miles apart in Florida.
One location offered "jugs of 'Big John's' pickled sausages, $3 camouflage baseball hats and $8 ladies housedresses" and "a 3,000-square-foot section of the store sells yarn, craft supplies and fabric by the yard."
The second "proudly displays a row of $1,500 HDTVs, hip college clothing, and not a single bolt of fabric."
Doug Stephens, founder of Retail Prophet Consulting and a RetailWire BrainTrust member, told the Tribune, "The days of buying containers of stuff and loading it into stores with the goal of selling it through over a year are over."
Target is also adapting product selection based on location. Jennifer Glass, a spokesperson for the chain, said that stores in urban areas, for example, offer a wider variety of furniture and household goods intended for smaller dwellings.
Discussion Questions: Do you think Target and Wal-Mart, based on company and store size, are capable of achieving a "neighborhood store" feel by altering product selection on an individual location basis? Do initiatives such as "My TargetWeekly" help to create a more personal relationship between retailer and consumer?