When we were kids this place was like a second home.
Now it's pretty much dead alongside BIGW, Target recording -20% sales growth reported today and analysts are not overly convinced it can be turned around, could be gone in 5 years.
Why don't we shop here?
Target and big w are awesome. I buy most things there. Would be even better if target had photo processing
I found that I usually buys something when I walked into a Kmart while only half the time when I walked into Big W or Target, I think Kmart price is cheaper than Big W and Target.
I stopped shopping there because they reduced the quality and style of their mens clothing. They use to have some nice stuff, and when on clearance it was an absolute bargain. Now they sell mostly horrible clothes. Womens selection looks pretty good though.
Same, used to be great for cheap men's clothes. A touch more expensive than big W or kmart for clothing, but quality was noticeably better.
Not anymore though, now Uniqlo/H&M fulfill the cheap clothing gap for me.
All the big international fast fashion brands (H&M, Zara, Uniqlo) came over in the last few years, which cut into their apparel sales hard while Kmart pivoted more into homewares.
I view Target and Big W as being lost in the middle ground of department stores.
Top Tier Brands => Myer, David Jones
Neither here nor there => Big W, Target
El Cheapo => Kmart
Myer and David Jones hold the boutique brands and are the go to place if you don't want to have to shop around for high(er) end items.
Kmart deviated and went for the cheapest possible items whilst still retaining quality, like a bigger and better Reject Shop.
Meanwhile, Big W and Target are a mixture - they have the cheap clothing like Kmart (albeit more expensive) but still retain more big ticket items, namely in their wider selection of branded toys, electronics and (to a lesser extent) cosmetics.
As mentioned above, people have deviated to H&M, Zara, Uniqlo for their clothing that is on the same price tier as Big W and Target. It seems like they need to either follow Kmarts lead and cut the price of their own branded stuff down so that it competes with Kmart, but do so whilst retaining their branded electronics and toys. This should help retain the people that shop at Big W/Target for the big ticket items before heading to Kmart for the rest.
Big W isn't dead… it's still wayyyyy better than overpriced, lame Target.
Kmart is supreme though. Low prices, wide range of stock, decent quality considering what you're paying.
Bigw posted a 40m loss LY
5 CEO's in 5 years.
Damn. I hope they survive though - Kmart needs some competition to stay where they are and not go in the direction of Target (ie. trying to become something more upmarket and bumping up prices).
I'd disagree. Kmart are selling $2 shop quality, sometimes even worse, for 2 to 3 times more than what those $2 junk shops have priced their items. The clothes aren't a bargain at all considering how easily they lose their shape and become threadbare after a few washes.
Online sales.
Targets online website is crap.
It's a lot better than Kmart or Big W's websites.
Agreed!
I phoned Big-W the other day to ask about some items on the website only to be told they hadn't stocked them in over 2 years
i used to shop there we are in a town of 11000 people but 6 months ago
target did a revamp they got rid of the entertainment and sound sections and filled the store with Womans and kids clothes
the cut down the mens section by over half along with the toy section so pretty much now its a Woman's clothing store with some kids clothes and a few homewares thrown in.
Yesterday was the second time i have been there since the revamp and will not be back in a hurry i would rather drive 1 hour to Kmart BigW etc to get what i need now.
I think the problem at the moment is while Guy Russo is resetting the company, he stripped it of any personality. He's trying to clone Kmart but with a focus on fashion and that's extremely boring. Everyday low prices are boring. The spend and get vouchers have run their course and it's probably time for a sale.
he has cloned US Target. same instore set up, same sterile environment.
Target no longer have their 20% off all womens clothes or childrens clothes or toys as they used to do weekly. It was something to look forward to when you had lined something up to buy. The clothes are really quite expensive for the quality. Overpriced. Their home decoration range is quite tacky and nothing like the KMart originality. Their Christmas range was rather ordinary.
Must say I do a lot of browsing in Target and rarely buy anything. Their mens' clothes clearance rack is usually good for a cheap but nice shirt.
They have a great value pack of toothbrushes of which I bought three. Hopefully they will still be around when I need to buy more.
I go to my local Target all the time, never went as a kid as there were none nearby. Today I like them because they have a good range of lower price women's work clothes and basics. I find their clothes are better quality than kmart, and I don't have a BigW or any of the others (H&M, Uniqlo) nearby.
Shop there a lot for the wife as other department stores do not do much in her size. Target is the only chain store going down to size 4. Only other decent place for her is Myer Miss Shop.
The new CEO totally revitalised K-Mart. He invested a lot of money upgrading stores, removed unpopular stock and its paying off.
We used to go there at least 1-2 a week. Even the staffs remembered us.
What changed was my baby has grown up. Back when they still sell 'branded' goods, I could get them cheaper there when on sale or clearance. They used to sell a lot more variety than now. I buy non-clothing items from Target, which is what they are phasing out.
And I don't like how cheap they make target shop looks. It looks like Kmart but it's not. Even Kmart sells more variety.
I still buy toys and kids clothing from there regularly, as well as socks, underwear, PJs, etc.
Quality is good and it is cheap.
I can no longer trust the sizing in Target - need a size 10 but have to buy a 14.
K-Mart are usually good on sizing & the quality is good.
Big W are cheap & cheerful.
We've recently returned from a trip to America & although we could find a Target, there was no K-Mart. When we asked why we were told that apx. 80% of K- Marts had been closed in the last couple of years.This was in L.A.
When Target does "designers for Target" ranges (or introduces a new range,such as the cosmetic brand "The Balm" that is in stock at present),the place goes off….lineups for miles,women fighting tooth and nail for items, then Ebay will burst with that stock being flogged at twice the retail price….and it will sell.Target otherwise is somewhat overpriced and not the best quality for that cost.
They took GTA V off their shelves! #NeverForget
I have to say, I do love shopping at Kmart, Target and Big W.
Their stuff is cheap, quality is ok and it generally serves its intended function (I'm not so much into the looks of things I just want it to do what I bought it for).
I do get most of my clothing from other places with some of their styles being….questionable.
I'm going to be sad when if it ever does close down.
Unless it's clothing, target should not sell its own brand. I used to be able to buy a lower quality brand name from target, compared to myer and DJs, now I can often only get crap no name.
The cd and dvd section should pull people in, but it's poorly stocked and arranged. Same with books. If it was good, people would still go. There are still people who find browsing CDs and books therapeutic and would go in and buy other things.
Bigw are still good for books and entertainment. I seem to still spend a lot of money there. Bigw are good when that do 20/30% of Belkin accessories etc…
Go to the Target Kitchenware area everything's got the Target logo on it.
I saw this Harris Scarfe ad the other day and thought this is what I would have done with Target.
My mum has bought a Kmart frying pan and it warped, Kmart saucepan and it makes a pinging sound when it heats up, Kmart wooden shower caddy which couldn't be put together properly (twice). When I worked for Kmart, you just about needed safety glasses when putting out any glass cookware.
That said for homewares such as frying pans, sauce pans and drinking glaases, I would much rather buy them form Ikea. For glass cookware I would much rather buy PYREX/pyrex brand stuff.
Target, Kmart and Big W have turned into extra large $2 stores, only people with more dollars than common sense shop there now.
I used to be able to pick up good clothing at cheap prices when they'd have their end of season clearance racks. That doesn't seem to happen anymore so I merely just browse in Target nowadays.
target enjoying heaps of nes classic sales in the last 2 days!
As a past vendor of Target selling them clothing I can say that their QC was top notch they would check for quality of the garmets and do spot checks at random with no warning. Now that they have moved to offshore buying and sourcing the quality has gone down and so has the line of products available. So they have cloned themselves with thre competition. Its sad to sèe as more and more stores are going down this path.
Target used to proudly advertise 95% Australian made clothing. Overall clothing in Australia cost MORE 10-15 years ago. Now with Rivers, Kmart, etc selling imported t-shirts from $5 and jeans from $10, Target can't afford to beat them on price with their now imported goods. With major international brands selling more "fashionable" imported clothing also at decent prices, Target has regretably lost any point of difference it once had in the market. They too now sell cheap imported clothing, just not the cheapest.
So in my opinion, Target are rarely meeting that point where style, price and quality meet. They also offer service on par with Kmart - but at higher prices. They do have one advantage that new overseas players do not yet have - stores right across the country. But with sales on the decline, this might also need to be reviewed. I hope they can work their way out of the current woes they face.
I used to work at Target between 2007 and 2011. At that time, I felt like they tried to do the following:
Now compare each point to now
Just my observations….
Edit - Also worth noting, Target is a brand with it's identity built on a balance of product value and low cost. The recession of customers can be attributed to minimal combating of better value being found elsewhere in different markets (namely online markets).
Approx 10 years ago I used to love buying from Targets $5 clearance racks at the end of each season. I haven't bought much clothing from them since they stopped doing it, but back then I never used to buy clothing from Kmart but now I occasionsally do.
we do.
but ditto harris scarfe and kmart - or do I simply shop in the quiet times?