On Target: How the World's Hottest Retailer Hit a Bull's-Eye

by Laura Rowley

The first behind-the-scenes look at the stunning success of America's hippest discount retailer
Founded in 1962 by Minnesota-based department store Dayton's, Target has grown to become America's second most profitable retailer behind Wal-Mart. On Target is the first in-depth look at the business leaders and strategies that made Target such a runaway success. The company's easily recognizable red-and-white logo, youthful television advertisements, and upscale partnerships-with designers like Michael Graves, Mossimo, and Todd Oldham-have not only removed the stigma traditionally attached to discount store shopping, but actually made it hip to be frugal. In the process, the company has cemented its place as the favorite discount retailer of middle- and upper-income families across the country. In On Target, award-winning business journalist Laura Rowley examines the methods and the success of the company from its shrewd merchandising strategy to its clever marketing campaigns, ingenious branding effort, and extensive philanthropy. An excellent education in how to beat the competition even in a crowded and weak retail market, Target's story details the history and incredible success of a unique company and an enticing, unmistakable brand. Both insightful and entertaining, On Target offers important business lessons for executives and managers in need of a bull's-eye.
Laura Rowley (Maplewood, NJ) is an award-winning television, radio, and print journalist specializing in business reporting. She is the personal finance and career columnist for Self magazine and has also been published in The New York Times, Parents, and Newsweek. As a reporter and producer for CNN in New York, she reported on air for Your Money and Business Unusual, and produced live programs for CNNfn. She has also appeared on Good Morning America, Oxygen Media, and CNBC.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Laura Rowley grew up with ten siblings in an Irish-American family, where the best way to win the room was to tell a good tale. At age 11 she won a prize in a poetry contest, and it was off to the races: newspaper reporter, magazine editor, TV producer, digital jack-of-all-trades, and fintech executive. 

An award-winning journalist, Laura is the author of seven non-fiction books and a novel, The Glassmaker’s Secret. Laura held editorial and executive roles at CNN, People Inc., The Huffington Post, Yahoo!Finance and a Wall Street fintech firm. She published histories of four Fortune 500 companies, including The Target Corporation (John Wiley & Sons), CBRE, Humana, and Family Dollar (Fenwick Publishing), and ghostwrote several memoirs. She also authored Money & Happiness (Wiley), which looks at the intersection of personal finance and values.

Laura has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS, CNBC, Fox, Bloomberg, NPR, and other media. Her freelance writing and essays have been featured in The New York Times, Gannett, Money, Parents, Self, and other publications. She earned a B.S. with honors from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and an M.Div. from New York Theological Seminary. She has three daughters.

Laura is an avid runner, greedy reader, frequent flyer, adventure lover, and serial people-connector. Write her at laurarowleyauthor@gmail.com.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book I remember reading about one decade ago. . . .

I liked this book primarily because I spent 7 years of my life working for Target. I liked my job (I had a cushy office job, not a customer service job). This book came out long before the big credit card hack that caused me to receive a new credit card although I did like the free credit monitoring I received from all of that.

This book went through Target's history and pointed out some things about their retail strategy. One example is the fact they don't have background music. Never noticed that in all the years I've shopped there. This book was very "rah-rah Target" and a little over the top on that but that was okay as I expected it judging from the title. I knew this was not an unbiased account of the retailer.

I got about 2/3 of the way through this when a friend of my husband's (another former Targeteer) was interested in the book so I loaned it to her.

Let's see. That was 2004. It's now 2015. Nah, not getting the book back. I think it will remain forever unfinished. That's okay.

So, until next time, "have a good evening and thank you for shopping at Target".

[Orsolya · Rating 3 out of 5]

You may know 1962 as the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. If you are a pop-culture buff, you may remember it as the year Marilyn Monroe died. Interested in sports? 1962 was the year Nike running shoes were first developed. However, if you are a shopaholic, 1962 is the year of retail: when Kmart, Wal-Mart, Crate & Barrel, Kohls, and Target all entered the retail landscape. While Kmart was the product of a five-and-dime store and Wal-Mart progressed from a variety store; Target was the only one whose background was in department stores. It all adds up why Target is a little more on the higher-discount end, doesn’t it?

Although the introduction of Laura Rowley’s “On Target” is indeed attention-grabbing, the whole book seems to be an introduction; in the sense that it is very light, easy to read, and doesn’t dive deep into the sphere of Target. If you are expecting an in-depth expose with extensive company employee interviews, then you have come to the wrong place. Rowley’s professional career focuses on television and print journalism and thus, her prose style reflects a more summary-like story (which works very well in a short news segment). On Target’s chapters are short and feature a sum-up of key points at each chapter’s conclusion. Sadly, one could simply read these bullet points and receive the same information as from the chapters.

Although On Target includes some firm retail, branding, and marketing aspects of Target’s organization; Rowley focuses more on quotes and statements from individuals (such as shoppers) bringing a consumerism viewpoint into the text, losing Rowley’s thesis or “point” in translation. Despite this absence, some main points about Target do stick out, such as: Target being a brand in itself, an experience; unlike Wal-Mart whom merely strives to offer low prices as their gimmick. The fact that Target is a brand itself, is exemplified by the use of only the bullet symbol as a recognizable store name (think: Nike swoosh). Also, Target made discount stores “cool” and tried to create an “upper” discount store niche due to its department store background (I think it succeeded!).

Chapters regarding Target’s advertising and marketing campaigns were compelling (although advertising was my major in college so I may be biased); while the chapter on Target’s ‘Technology & Service’ (supply chain management, inventory control, customer relationship management), was also quite informative. Plus, some “fun facts” emerge, such as Bruce Dayton being the founder of B. Dalton books (get it? Bruce Dayton = change Y to L = B. Dalton).

Rowley’s sequencing was slightly off- course, as the company’s biography of the founders (the Dayton family) doesn’t begin until page 86. Although quite revealing once the reader does come to this section (the Daytons were a very Christian, Mid-Western family who opened the very FIRST enclosed shopping mall—you can thank them!); it would have made more sense to include this in the beginning. Another negative aspect was Rowley’s tendency to repeat herself…verbatim.

On Target had too much Target bias/pro-propaganda which is understandable because the book is ON Target, but I would have liked more comparisons to other competitors in order to gauge Target’s full business practices.

The ending of On Target was weak and not memorable, losing some of the text’s “oomph”. Rowley’s work is more of and advertising/retailing book, perfect for an entrepreneur seeking some retailing strategies. Although not a 100% Target “insider” book, On Target is still an enjoyable read…sort of like a journal article in extended form.

[Jonathan Shaheen · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a (somewhat) newly minted Minnesotan, I felt it was my civic duty to read this book when I stumbled onto it in the library. Unfortunately, the author might as well be listed as the Target marketing department. Mistakes were glossed over and questionable practices minimized. The lack of women executives got about 10 words (not even full sentences) and questionable overseas labor practices got about a page (most of it quotes from Target and other defendants). The book also felt poorly organized, hard to follow, and seemed to cover a lot of the same ground multiple times (impressive for less than 200 pages). So while I did learn some fun facts, I’d say you’re more Minnesotan leaving this book alone.

Also, maybe this is the official spelling, but I hate that they spell Tarjay Tarzhay.

[Jennifer Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first business book. Read it twice.

[Jamie from The Doer Co · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book was interesting and gave me a lot of perspective on Target as a company. I feel like the later chapters where Rowley goes into detail topic by topic feel disjointed. For chapters that were supposed to go into more detail about different aspects of Target, I felt they were very self-referential of the information from earlier chapters. When they weren't derivative the later chapters read like a Wikipedia page or a book report.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little outdated but a cool read into target and retail world in their language

[Marion · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book. Retailing is indeed not easy.

Wish they would try Canada again.

[Christian Hjelmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Glad it was short

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

If one is looking for reasons to feel good about shopping at Target, one need look no further than this book. This book is not, in any way, a critical examination of the company or its corporate governance; it reads like a propaganda piece that portrays the retailer as nothing less than a model for the rest of America's discount-retailing industry. I enjoy shopping at Target and do so very frequently. I have little to criticize about my shopping experiences there and it is because of the many good things about the company, cited by Ms. Rowley, that I come back again and again. Unlike the retailing giant that it's about, however, this book disappointed in a big way.

Aside from her very friendly portrayal of the company, Ms. Rowley fell far short in two significant ways. First, the fact that she is related to Cynthia Rowley, a fashion designer with a close business relationship with Target, is highly suspect. I find it virtually impossible to believe that the book's author was not influenced by that relationship and evidence of it permeated this work. With critical analysis of the company and its practices almost completely absent, this book is far less than what I would expect of a business journalist such as Ms. Rowley. Second, getting through this book was a difficult prospect due to the many grammatical and typographical errors. This book is littered with so many such errors that the net effect was that I found myself re-reading sentences and paragraphs repeatedly in an effort to make sense of them. I'm glad to be done with this book as I can now move on to more interesting and important reading.

[Nicholas Persky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had been on my mental to-read shelf for quite a long time because I was super interested in finding out about starting a business and making it different from the competition- eventually causing it to be more successful. I had read books in the past about starting a business, but really nothing about separating yourself from the competition.

The first part of the book was surprisingly off Target, or not really pertaining to Target. It focused a lot on the mind of the consumer, similar to my last book, Buyology. I was happy to see that the book gradually got more focused on the actual company, but I was unhappy to realize that the text started to become very dry and boring. The author failed to engage me in the interesting information that she was trying to present. Her way of writing might have been good for some people, but it certainly wasn't good for me. A very good concept, but a kind of failed execution.

Unless you have a burning desire to read about specifically Target, I wouldn't recommend this book.

[Jeannine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Target, Wal-Mart and K Mart all entered the discount arena in 1962. Wal-Mart just want to be the low price leader no matter how what it took and if you've ever shopped at Walt-Mart, you know how that worked out. K Mart kind of didn't know what it wanted to be, so it was and is, just meh. Target wanted to be an upscale discounter. Clean stores, outstanding customer service, engaged employees, fair practices and hip, unique offerings. Sadly, a lot has changed, and not for the better, since this book was written in 2003 when Target was at the top of it's game.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for both Consumers and Employees, has some great information about the Target Corporation.

[Lori Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read company profile for knowledge workers, managers, directors, C-levels, and entrepreneurs.