Target

The Scoop

Right on Target

The Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (formerly known as Dayton Hudson) is the second largest discount retailer in the United States according to the National Retail Federation. It operates more than 1,313 stores in 47 states, including 136 "SuperTargets" in 19 states and employs about 328,000 people. Target certainly has its fair share of competition in the form of such popular discount retailers as Wal-Mart and Kmart (which announced in November 2004 that it planned to merge with another venerable retailer, Sears), but the company's flagship chain has managed to build a loyal following attracted by its quirky ads, designer merchandise and low prices.

Two is better than one

Dayton Hudson was formed in 1969 by the merger of the Dayton Corporation and the J.L. Hudson Company. Dayton had built the world's first fully enclosed shopping mall in 1956 and opened the first Target discount store in 1962. Hudson's crowning glory was the Northland Center in Detroit, which was the world's largest shopping center when it opened in 1954. Dayton Hudson became the seventh-largest retailer in the U.S. in 1978 when it bought Mervyn's (now called Mervyn's California). In 1990 Dayton Hudson, expanded once again with the purchase of Marshall Field's. Dayton Hudson complemented its core holdings by buying catalog company Rivertown Trading Company and The Associated Merchandising Corporation, an apparel supplier in 1998. The company changed its name to Target Corporation in 2000 to reflect its largest subsidiary. Today, the Target chain (which includes SuperTarget and Target Greatland stores) accounts for more than 80 percent of the parent company's revenue.

Target has been enjoying a long period of prosperity; even through the economic downturn of the early 2000s, the company has seen its revenue rise. For instance, in 2002, the company had $43 billion in revenue, up from $39 billion in 2001, and in the second quarter of 2003, net earnings increased 4.1 percent to $358 million, compared with $344 million in 2002. In addition, total revenue in the second quarter increased 9.1 percent to $10.9 billion from $10 billion in 2002, driven mostly, the company said, by an 11.3 percent revenue increase at Target Stores resulting from new store expansion and the growth in credit card operations.

Shop online

In August 1999, Target.com was launched. But it wasn't spun off the way many other brick-and-mortar retailers (including Wal-Mart) had done with their e-commerce sites, perhaps in part because most of those spin-offs have performed poorly and partly because the company entered an agreement in 2001 to outsource its technology services, order fulfillment and customer service to Amazon.com. Apparently, the arrangement has worked out well for both parties. In August 2003, the companies signed an agreement to extend their original five-year contract by another two years.

Getting Hired

Just the facts

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