Apparel highlights private label muscle - Target's Greatland stores, Chicago, Illinois area

Discount Store News, April 5, 1993

The Target Greatland opening blitz in Chicago last month played to the discounter's established apparel strengths. The new stores featured a few on-trend collections surrounded by a strong range of basics in every apparel department. Most were private label offerings.

Because Target emphasizes apparel brand names less than other discounters while playing up its own exclusive basics, the new Greatland stores face a major competitive challenge in a booming Chicago market loaded with remodeled Kmart and Venture stores and spanking new Wal-Mart units. The Target Greatland selections in apparel also tend to have higher price points.

Where Target most succeeds in the new stores is in its micro-merchandising presentations. The new Greatlands feature displays specifically geared to consumers in the local area, right down to sweats and Ts bearing the logos of area high schools, as well as licensed apparel for Chicago professional teams.

Among shoppers queried in a recent DSN survey, Target Greatland garners high marks for being a pleasant place in which to shop.

In apparel, that means attention to details--such as having a men's fitting room actually in the men's department instead of across the store in the same location with women's.

The apparel merchandise itself, though, makes a lesser impression on shoppers than does the ambience. In a recent Leo J. Shapiro survey for DSN of shoppers in the Columbus market, which Target invaded with three Greatland units in the fall of 1991, only 3% of respondents named Target or Greatland as a preferred choice for purchasing men's or women's apparel. For children's apparel, 6% named Target as either a first or second choice.

Among just those shoppers who named a discount department store as their first or second choice for apparel shopping, Target compares better. Of those, 8.9% mentioned Target for children's apparel, compared to 64% for Kmart and 34% for Meijer, its stiffest discount store competition.

In women's apparel, 7.5% mentioned Target as their first or second choice, against 66% for Kmart and 33% for Meijer.

In men's apparel, 8.9% cited Target, while 60% gave Kmart as their first or second preference and 34.7% named Meijer.

The Columbus market is a significant harbinger of how Target might fare in Chicago because it is a market that Target entered for the first time with its Greatland superstore prototype. Previous Greatlands were located in markets in which Target was already well-entrenched with its traditional discount stores.

In Chicago, as it has done elsewhere, Target brought its commitment to community concerns, such as the environment, right to the merchandising level, even in apparel.

Target repeated its basic Greatland format in these new Chicago stores. But it made a number of changes and additions to the merchandising.

Target created a "mood" in its intimate apparel department, for instance, by cross-merchandising a number of bath and boudoir products. Under its own Honors label, a display facing a main aisle featured room mist, bath salts, padded hangers, potpourri and scented shelf liners. The maximum price point on the items was $4.99.

While the department featured a few fashion pieces such as camisoles and satin sleep shirts, the bulk of the offerings revolved around foundation basics like bras and panties and on cotton sleep separates. "New at Target" hanger signs also called attention to a new category item, sports bras bearing the Honors label.

Micro-marketing in apparel primarily took the form of sports licensing. Chicago Bulls, Chicago Bears and the Chicago White Sox naturally were the featured teams. The men's and boys' departments, of course, offered the bulk of the sports merchandise.

In the toddler area, rolling displays featured colorful signs designating NBA and Major League Baseball products. All 11 Greatlands highlighted merchandise from local high school teams.

Further evidence of micro-marketing came in the form of different fashion pieces and prices displayed at different stores, presumably addressing the different levels of fashion sophistication. For instance, the Elgin, Ill., store seemed a bit more fashion forward. It featured among the highest price point Honors product, a striped cotton cardigan, for $29.99. That item coordinated with a number of Honors knit separates.

The same collection of separates was featured in West Schaumburg, Ill., (about 15 miles away), but without the more expensive cardigan. Also under the Honors banner, a classic five-pocket denim miniskirt was featured in West Schaumburg for $14.99. In comparison, the same rounder in Elgin featured a combination of the five-pocket style along with a more up-to-date wrap style.

The women's sportwear department combined the local micro-marketing and Target's concern for the environment in one product, a range of knit separates under the O.N.E. (Observe Natural Elements) label. The 100% cotton merchandise, in a natural off-white color, featured one T-shirt with the word Chicago and another with a block of type naming the major attractions in the city.