Target Corporation – Top Retailer In The United States Who Has Donated 5% Of Its Profits.

Target Corporation is amongst the most recognizable brands worldwide and a top retailer in the United States. Since 1946, the company has donated 5% of its profits, which amounts to millions of dollars per week in today’s values. Target has its stores in all 50 States in the USA.

About The Company

American big-box retailer Target Corporation has its corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is listed on the S&P 500 Index and is the eighth-largest retailer in the USA. In 1962, Minneapolis’ Dayton’s department store created Target as its discount arm. As of 2022, Target has 1,934 stores in the USA and is ranked 32nd on the 2022 Fortune 500 list. In order to provide its consumer base with a wide selection of high-quality products, Target hosts several well-known brands. Top firms like Apple, Dyson, Disney, Johnson, and Johnson, and Fisher-Price are some of the more well-known brands. Target stores sell a wide range of goods, including everything from baby apparel to luxury furnishings and technology.

History Of The Company

George Draper Dayton, a banker, and property investor founded Target as Goodfellow Dry Goods in 1902. The name was altered to Dayton Dry Goods Company the following year, and in 1911 it was abbreviated to Dayton Company. In 1962, the first Target store was launched by Dayton Company as a budget-friendly alternative to Dayton’s department shops. In 1969, Dayton merged with J.L. Hudson Company to form the Dayton-Hudson Corporation. Dayton-Hudson later acquired US retailers like Mervyn’s and Marshall Field and Company. Target became the top revenue generator for Dayton-Hudson by 1975, and by 1979, its yearly sales had surpassed $1 billion. In 1990, the Target Greatland store debuted with a more extensive inventory than typical Target stores. The business built the first ever SuperTarget store in Omaha, Nebraska, five years later. This store had a full-service supermarket, a pharmacy, a photography studio, and eateries. In 2004, Dayton-Hudson sold Mervyn’s and Marshall Field and Company; changed its name to Target Corporation in 2000 to reflect a new emphasis on its Target locations. By 2010, Target had made a name for itself by providing high-end goods at affordable prices. Customers particularly favoured the limited-edition apparel lines produced through collaborations with renowned fashion designers like Zac Posen, Isaac Mizrahi, and Jason Wu. In 2012, Target debuted its first CityTarget store, catering to its urban customers.

International Operations

As of 2022, Target is only active in the United States; although, in the past, Target tried to open stores in Canada. As a result, the Target Corporation does not own other businesses or trademarks that use the term “Target” besides the United States. The stores under question are unrelated to a corporation in Australia with the same name and brand. Given that both the Target Corporation logo and the Target Australia brand’s logo are reasonable candidates for the term “Target,” it is plausible that the branding was copied legally or that the companies happened to have the same name and emblem by accident.

Controversies

In 2013, around 110 million Target customers were impacted by a data breach in Target’s systems. Data on customers’ names, phone numbers, emails, and mailing addresses were compromised. In 2015, Target and the impacted customers settled their class action lawsuit for $10 million. In 2014, a class-action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court on behalf of Ohio residents who bought wet wipes under the Target brand. The Target Corporation was being sued on the grounds that the retailer deceived customers by labeling the packaging of its up & up product wipes as flushable and secure for septic and sewer systems. As a result of their purported ability to block compressors at municipal waste management facilities, the complaint also asserted the wipes posed a risk to the public’s health. In 2018, Alameda County DA O’Malley announced that Target would be fined $7.4 million for throwing out illegal e-waste, medical goods, and personal data.

Founder – George Dayton

American entrepreneur and philanthropist George Dayton is known for founding Dayton’s Department Store, which ultimately evolved into Target Corporation. He bought land on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis in 1902 and Goodfellow & Co., reorganizing it as Dayton’s Dry Goods, which developed into Dayton’s department store.

CEO – Brian Cornell

Brian Cornell serves as both the chairman and CEO of the Target Corporation. In 2014, he replaced Gregg Steinhafel as the CEO and chairman of Target. Cornell was behind the closing of the loss-making Target Canada during his leadership. Cornell was selected “Business CEO of The Year” by CNN in 2019.