links part 1

http://www.brandchannel.com/features_webwatch.asp?ww_id=196

http://branding20.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/brand-of-the-week-target/

http://sites.target.com/site/en/corporate/page.jsp?contentId=PRD03-001088

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_Corporation

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FNP/is_7_40/ai_73181652

"It's strategic smarts that you don't often see in retailing," explains Candace Corlett, a partner at WSL Strategic Retail. "Target knows that going head-to-head on price won't work when you are competing in the marketplace. Our focus groups show that American shopping is based on a combination of function and emotion. The Target group obviously said 'we are going to lay on an emotional layer,' and that edgy piece, which by the way isn't too far out there, creates a trendy, yet safe, experience. As a result, the store is able to attract all kinds of apparel shoppers--affluent, middle and low-income people. Target Stores doesn't just appeal to a single demographic."

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4319.html

Target avoided competing against Wal-Mart head-to-head and was perceived as outperforming it on specific dimensions: cleanliness of stores, shopping environment and experience, and shorter waiting time to pay.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/18/news/companies/reingold_target.fortune/

We're in Target's user-experience research center (ULab, in Targetese). And it's here, in this windowless warren at headquarters, that Target works on the practical side of its strategy. At the ULab, Target enlists real "guests" to test anything they interact with in the store, from free sanitizing hand wipes or gel (wipes won), to the company's latest shopping cart (now being tested in Minneapolis and Tulsa, it has handlebars that let you push it from any side), to new product prototypes like ITSO, Target's affordable storage system that hits stores in June (the name stands for "It's so fabulous!").