Recently, during the Oscars, a Target Canada commercial premiered, featuring all of the major Canadian cities as Target’s canine mascot makes his way around, sitting in a motorcycle side-car. The Mr. Rogers Neighborhood song from the children TV series plays throughout the commercial, this time sung by the Canadian group Dragonette. Have a look at it. It’s quite fun:
Target obviously knows what it is doing, It has a concentrated strategy, looking at many different variables from a number of different segmentation bases, including (and especially) geographic (country – Canada). They do this by including different Canadian imagery such as a maple leaf, hockey players, totem poles, a lighthouse and lush, green landscapes. Canada’s national colours, red and white, also happen to be Targets main colours, seen on its bull’s-eye logo.
Now that Target is entering the Canadian market, however, there is some worry that it will “steal Canadian Sales” from stores like Sears and Walmart as this article mentions. When it comes to positioning, it just might win in the battle for the consumer’s mind. It is able to differentiate with “It’s unique merchandise, more fashion forward, better presentations.” On the other hand, another article states that “Target won’t kill Canadian retail. It will save it”Apparently, when Walmart came up north, many stores, malls and plazas saw more traffic and they expect the same to happen with Target. With six more months to go until the stores open here, I guess we’ll soon find out!