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Article: On target; American retailing; America's other Wal-Mart.(Business)(Target Corp.)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- May 5, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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LAUREN BACALL and Robert Redford have both promoted it. And Oprah Winfrey thinks it so chic she pronounces the name in mock-French, with a soft "g". Yet this is no luxury-goods brand, but Target, an American discount retailer that piles it high and sells it cheap, alongside such firms as Wal-Mart, Sears and Kmart. In a market segment in which customers care more about the price tag than the name over the door, Target is transforming itself from a mass-market chain into a bona fide brand.
This notion of the store as a brand is the brainchild of Bob Ulrich, chief executive of Target Corp, the chain's parent. He compares Target to such names as Apple, BMW and, above ...