Target News Now

01/19/2011 - 14:00
Goody's Modern Organica line coming to Target

Hair accessories brand Goody is gearing up for spring with the launch of its new Modern Organica collection, exclusively available at Target next month.

01/18/2011 - 18:35
Target names pres. for Canadian venture

Target announced that Tony Fisher has been named president of Target Canada.

01/18/2011 - 11:28
Francis holds key to Canadian conundrum

Conventional wisdom seems to be that Target will be as successful in Canada as it has been in the United States, following last week’s bombshell announcement that the company would enter the market via an acquisition. Target said it would acquire leasehold interests in 220 Zellers stores from the Hudson’s Bay Company, and during 2013 and 2014 it would open between 100 and 150 of the locations as Target stores.

The man in charge of the heavy lifting, and one of the reasons why Target’s brand of retail is expected to succeed in Canada, is Michael Francis, Target’s chief marketing officer. A lot of companies about to embark on their first foray into an international market might opt for a seasoned operations executive to manage the details. Not Target.

01/18/2011 - 11:22
A modest upswing in domestic expansion

An announcement last week that Target plans to open 21 stores in the coming fiscal year was interesting on a number of levels.

For starters, the disclosure was rather uncharacteristic for a company that in years past would publicly release its stores openings a week or two in advance of the actual openings. In this case, the company shared its full list of openings for the entire year two weeks before its new fiscal year even begins.

That’s nice because it allows for a bit of analysis.

01/18/2011 - 11:11
Who should we make the check out to?

Talk about favorable media coverage. CNBC aired a one-hour special last week called “Target: Inside the Bullseye,” that served as more of a glowing endorsement of the company than the probing documentary implied by the title.

During the show, which aired on Jan. 13 and 15, there was no mention of the percentage of products the company imports from China, the wages it pays store employees or its opposition to unions.

01/18/2011 - 11:04
A busy week for Target

Between announcing its first international acquisition and disclosing details of its U.S. expansion program, the Target board found time to squeeze in authorization of a quarterly dividend payment. The company’s dividend is currently 25 cents a share and is payable on March 10 to shareholders of record on Feb. 16. The first quarter dividend will be the company’s 174th consecutive dividend paid since October 1967 when the company became publicly held.

01/11/2011 - 19:02
Target to open 21 stores in 2011

Target is opening 21 stores across 12 states, the retailer announced Tuesday.

01/11/2011 - 18:26
Target names executive committee members

Two leaders of Target have been appointed to the retailer's executive committee.

Tina Schiel, SVP enterprise strategy and new business development, was promoted to EVP stores and will join the executive committee, while Laysha Ward, who will retain her position as Target's community relations president and Target Foundation president, also will join the executive committee.

01/11/2011 - 12:22
RadioShack to expand its presence in Target

RadioShack Corp. plans to almost double its presence in Target stores, where it operates wireless departments for the Minneapolis retailer, according to Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. RadioShack ran mobile departments in 850 Targets at the end of 2010, the report said, with the number expected to increase to approximately 1,450 Target stores by June 30.

01/10/2011 - 21:08
Correction: sales did not exceed expectations

It seemed like everything was going Target’s way after the company reported a 5.5% same-store sales increase during November, but then the revelation came last week of a 0.9% December comp increase and the wind came out of the company’s sales.

The weakness was surprising as expectations had grown lofty. Target News Now was among those guilty of being overly optimistic, and several days prior to the release of December results commented, “with Target set to release December sales results this Thursday the issue isn’t whether the company’s results will be in line with expectations but the degree by which they are likely to exceed same-store sales guidance in the low to mid single-digit range.”

Oops. Nothing could have been further from the truth, as the 0.9% gain was below the company’s guidance and well off analysts’ consensus estimate of 4%. So what went wrong?

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