A Target shop posing with a Canadian flag to signify it opening in Canada.

As Rachel Chan mentioned in her “”Target”-ing the right thing”, Target has not been satisfying Canadian customers as much as expected. Rachel has noted that one of the dissatisfying issues that customers have with Target is their “noncompetitive pricing”. However, a spokesperson from Target has declared that their prices will “be very comparable” against Walmart, their biggest big box store competitor. <http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/01/24/target-in-canada-clothing_n_2541766.html> Therefore, we must ask, is Target lacking points of parity with other big box competitors such as Walmart and Costco, or is this wave of customer dissatisfaction due to it being an American company entering a Canadian market?

One of Target’s biggest big box competitor- Walmart.

We must also consider that Target isn’t the first American company to receive resistance in establishing its brand in the market on Canadian soil. Walmart is a great example to illustrate this point. In fact, the Vancouver council originally voted against allowing Walmart to open store in 2005! <http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/no-wal-mart-for-vancouver-1.543224> Despite the rough beginning, Walmart is now a successful company as well in Canada and is one of the reasons Target is experiencing a barrier to entry due to how successful Walmart is. To increase its presence in the market against Target, Walmart is opening “at least 37 additional supercentres” in Canada by the end of next January. <http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/walmart-to-open-37-supercentres-in-canada-as-target-enters-market-1.1124643> Against all this competition, Target does have its own points of differences, such as offering products that have never been on the Canadian soil, including: Nate Berkus’ decor line, designer collaborations, and their own Archer Farms food line.

The interior of a Canadian Target store.

Time will tell whether Target can prevail against all these obstacles posed by Canadian consumers and market and be as big of a competitor as Walmart Canada deems it to be.