A Marketing Analysis of Target and Wal-Mart
Everyone knows the names and has shopped the stores hundreds of times over. Wal-Mart has proven to be highly successful at attracting a target market consisting of value driven, lower class consumers. In contrast, Target, despite offering similar if not equal products and prices, has taken a different approach by attracting a higher, more conservative class of customers. With each department store being virtually equal in their offerings, how does each appeal to and stimulate the buying motivation of their target market?
Wal-Mart is truly a business success story in America. Founded by Sam Walton in rural Arkansas, Wal-Mart has grown to become the largest company in the world with thousands of stores worldwide.
Upon first pulling up to a Wal-Mart Supercenter, the highly recognizable Wal-Mart logo that has been forever engrained into the American psyche, becomes evident. Wal-mart has mass-produced their chain of stores with similar architecture and various signs on the outside of the building that promise, "We sell for less" and "Satisfaction guaranteed."
Sam Walton's original Walton's Five and Dime, now ...
English: Statue of Sam Walton and his dog outside ...
English: Supermercado de Wal-Mart in Spring Branch...It is this value driven stimulation that attracts the over familiar customer into the building. The negative aspects of the store are the baskets and trash that are strewn throughout the parking lot that present a cluttered appearance.
Wal-Mart begins marketing emotionally before the customer enters the store. Various products that are related to outdoor leisure activities such as plants, outdoor play sets, and bicycles line the sidewalk. The prices are displayed directly above the products with a Wal-Mart sign directly above them that states, "Always Low Prices, Always Wal-Mart."
Upon entering the store, an old man wearing a blue vest full of various pins greets you stating, "Welcome to Wal-Mart." The entrance/exit consists of 4 doors and filled with video games and novelty machines. A...