I am NOT surprised about this. They had a dismal holiday season and as a whole, never bothered to learn our culture. Also, not having e-commerce DID NOT help (though us complaining about prices probably wasn’t that great either. EVERYTHING is more expensive here, not just Target. How come we don’t hear about people complaining about Gap?). Out of the two or three times I’ve been to Target (I live in the downtown Toronto area and don’t always have access to a car. None of the Toronto stores were all that transit accessible), a good amount of their shelves sat empty. Why would someone go back if that’s all they see? Target is supposed to be a one stop shop. One shouldn’t have to get a small handful of items there and then have to go somewhere else. I can usually find MORE at my local pharmacy than my experiences at Target.
The Target logo
Some people think Target’s closing a bit too early. After all, they’ve only been here for 18 months. I think it took Wal-Mart more time to get used to the Canadian market and do well. However, Wal-Mart opened its first store more than 20 years ago in a very different world. It was much less competitive, and not to mention, the internet was only in its infancy, with few people having connections at home. There was no chance to compare prices just by doing a simple search. But then again, Wal-Mart isn’t usually out of stock, nor are other American brands which came north around the same time Target did (Ann Taylor, LOFT, J. Crew, etc…).
Should Target have done things a bit differently? Sure. First of all, they were a bit too aggressive, opening several stores at a time. Other US brands came in with a smaller, slower approach. Ann Taylor, for example, may have three stores, but they’re only in the GTA. Nordstrom started in Calgary (of all places) and won’t come to Toronto until the end of 2016, their last stop after Vancouver and Calgary. And as I said earlier, e-commerce should have been part of the plan from the start. We are a very digital-savvy culture and expect the ability to shop online.
Image courtesy of: artzenter / Shutterstock.com
