1. Boots and Bryant
Helena Miech
Michael O’Halloran
Aaron Small
Daniel Cappiello
Nicholas Calabro
Owen O’Brien
Abstract
Target was founded in 1962, as a high-quality discount retailer. They specialize in
selling trendy merchandise in clean guest-friendly environments. They have more than 1,700
2. stores and emphasize giving guests innovative products and great design. One may think that
there is no area in which Target is behind the competition, but there is. Specifically, Target is
not incurring as much revenue in the pet food and supplies segment as preferred. For this part of
department, Target relies on mothers with children who are shopping for the family. It is known
that 70% of Target households indeed own pets. However, the sales in the pet department do not
indicate that these households are purchasing pet supplies and pet food at Target. Rather, it is
inferred that current Target guests are purchasing pet supplies elsewhere, thus resulting in
unfavorable revenues in the pet department at Target. This is a threat which Target hopes to
mitigate.
3. Strategy
The method for generating an increase in revenue in the pet department from current
Target guests will be through Target’s private label brand of dog food, Boots and Barkley. Our
mission is to help Target build awareness and desire for these products, and therefore an increase
in revenue. The following is a thorough analysis of how the use of Boots and Barkley will
achieve the desired results.
Direct Advertising
Currently Target does not have a loyalty program but instead mobile application called
Cartwheel that is attached to one’s social media and email. This application allows each owner
access to purchase Target products with a discount on certain advertisements. If an identification
number is utilized with this application it would open up vast opportunities for target to reach
consumers that otherwise would not have been aware of its product. This idea’s foundation is as
follows; if a Target Cartwheel member purchases dog food and/or pet supplies on a regular basis,
Target can track their purchasing habits to focus advertisements, such as Boots and Barkley, to
pop up when they use the application. With this new form of direct advertising for members it
will be highly likely that the overall customer base will increase its purchases on Boots and
Barkley vicariously generate brand awareness. This ability to track consumer purchase behavior
will allow for direct advertising as well through e-mail, should the Cartwheel user be willing to
having advertisements sent to them (choice is included in application process).
Point-of-Sale Advertising
This strategy will also focus on a point-of sale technique in each Target that will include
redesigning all floor design options in the dry and canned pet food aisle. The point of rearranging
Target’s pet food shelf space will be to place all dry and canned Boots and Barkley product in
4. one aisle and help draw the customers eyes towards the product. All product that were in Boots
and Barkley's new location will be placed in the old shelf space that Targets dry and canned food
used to occupy. There will also be a small in-store advertisement placed in the newly designed
aisle to further catch the customers’ attention as they desire.
The true beauty of this strategy is in the combination of all the resulting outcomes of
point-of-sale merchandising and applying these identification numbers. Once consumer can be
moderately identified they are able to receive incentive based promotions and these same
customers will be able to easily find the product in the newly designed aisle. These forms of
direct advertising will also encourage customers who try the product to spread brand awareness
through word-of-mouth marketing. This increase in the customer base will give Target new
customers attract and advertise too as well as the old. Through the survey conducted for this
project, it is has been able to determine that the majority of guests, 77% (Appendix A), are
willing to switch dog food brands. With this knowledge Target would be able to strongly
promote its private brand and expect to see the sales increase for their privately owned brand.
In- Store Presentation/Merchandising
Wal-Mart currently has the number one selling brand of dog food in the United States in
their owned brand of Ol’ Roy and their premium brand Pure Balance. Wal-Mart is able to
accomplish this with no marketing budget, not television ads, and no circulars for the owned
brand. Instead, all of the marketing needed takes place right at the shelf with various point-of-
sale and point-of-purchase materials. (Roberts 18). The strategy for Boots and Barkley will
follow a similar path as the owned brand for Wal-Mart. With thousands of locations across the
United States, the scale of a marketing strategy through the shelves will save Target from the
costly burden of advertising through television ads and other costly marketing outlets. Instead,
5. Target will focus on point-of sale and point-of-purchase materials in strategic locations of each
pet department in Target stores.
This strategy for the Boots and Barkley brand will merchandise and promote in such a
way to receive greater brand awareness. The strategic placement of the Boots and Barkley brand
towards the end of the aisle, at eye level, will raise awareness with guests coming through the
door. Several plan-o-grams attached exemplify how to merchandise the pet food aisle in order to
gain greater awareness for the Boots and Barkley brand. The Boots and Barkley brand will be
located in one shelf space rather than scattered throughout the remainder of dog food aisles. This
section will comprise of a four foot portion of an eight foot shelf space (Appendix B).
Along with the new plan-o-gram, the strategy will introduce new point-of-sale materials
to help the promotion of the Boots and Barkley brand as well as gain greater awareness for the
brand. The point-of-sale materials will command attention to the Boots and Barkley brand
specifically, as opposed to pet food in general, or other brands likes Pedigree or Purina. Such
materials include shippers, channel strips, shelf wobblers, and vertical signs (Appendix C).
Examples of these designs can be seen in the attached appendix. The price of the point-of-sale
materials will be roughly $1,000 per store depending on customization, materials, and coloring.
Finally, the small pet accessories and food is currently located at the end of the cat food
and litter aisle. The current layout of the small pet accessories and food will fit on an end cap for
one of the pet department aisles. The placement of this segment on an end cap in order to raise
awareness to consumers that Target does in fact supply for small pet owners is recommended.
Consumers may not be aware that Target has supplies for small pets since it is currently located
at the end of the cat food and litter aisle. By placing these items on an end cap for a testing
6. period, we can benchmark whether the placement raises awareness for current customers and
increases sales for this segment.
Promotion
Target will now focus on the added features of Cartwheel to be able to use consumer
purchase behavior to form direct advertising both in the application and to consumers email.
These advertisements create an incentive to purchase the Target store brand Boots and Barkley..
On top of advocating for the product through Cartwheel, Target is to also focus on the pet
supplies through its social media page in order to help increase brand awareness for the product.
According to the previously conducted survey, only seven percent of customers do their pet food
shopping at Target when compared against seven other options. To address this issue Target
should emphasize one of its’ core competencies, differentiation. When Target shows its
customers that it has not just an average but a large and diverse selection of pet supplies, they
will respond by recognizing the store as more of a ‘one-stop-shop’ rather than just a superstore.
The survey results also provided information showing that 77 percent of the respondents were
willing to switch pet foods (Appendix A). Due to the low switching costs to customers portrayed
in these results, Target will advertise its pet section it will be able to focus on its’ personal brand,
Boots and Barkley, next to highly recognized brand names without having to worry about a large
drop in product sales. The shift in product sales to the Target owned brand of Boots and Barkley
can be seen in the cost/benefit analysis (Appendix D).
Competitor Analysis
Current industry trends show that Target’s biggest competitors in the sale of pet supplies
come from big-box specialty retailers such as PetCo and PetSmart, other big-box retailers, and e-
commerce. For the big-box specialty stores, differentiation is achieved primarily through the
7. “benefits from strong buyer power and shared operational resources through economies of scale”
(Carter, Brittany). These advantages help stores like Petco and Petsmart differentiate from
competitors through the sale of premium and often exclusive products, a broad selection of
products and product lines, and an array of pet services (Carter, Brittany). The ability for these
stores to successfully differentiate based on high-end product offerings and wide product
selections is due primarily to the high buyer power from these big-box niche retailers. Ibisworld
reports that “manufacturers typically place restrictions on ultra-premium pet products, selling
them only to specialty pet stores” (Carter, Brittany). The result of this exclusivity is “a degree of
guaranteed sales for [niche] operators” because other stores simply cannot offer these brands and
are therefore unable to compete directly. The other differentiated source of revenue for specialty
retailers is the increased availability of pet services. These operators have been “actively adding
pet services to capture more of the consumer dollar” (Carter, Brittany).
As niche operators whose retail is focused solely on the pet market, the ability to add pet-
related services such as pet grooming and/or boarding is intended to improve sales and thus
profit margins. This is because other retail outlets who do offer a selection of pet supplies do not
also offer pet services, differentiating the big-box specialty retailers from other general big-box
retailers. The combination of the advantages of exclusive and broad product offerings and
emphasis on pet services has ultimately allowed these specialty operators to attract pet owners
with higher discretionary income who wish to pamper their pets (Carter, Brittany).
For e-commerce outlets like Amazon, profit margins are maintained because they do not
have the expenditures (such as costly rent for high-traffic retail space) associated with operating
a store-front (Carter, Brittany). E-commerce sites pass these savings onto consumers with lower
prices. Big-box retailers such as Walmart and Costco also compete on price. These mass
8. merchandisers have extremely high buyer power and economies of scale, resulting in an ability
to buy in bulk, thus reducing costs and passing savings to customers (Carter, Brittany).
Ibisworld reports that “such cost savings have lured in price-conscious consumers, allowing
[these] larger stores to capture a higher share of the market” (Carter, Brittany). Also, consumers
who are time-poor “have turned to these types of stores to streamline and simplify errands”
(Carter, Brittany). Both e-commerce and mass merchandisers are low-cost strategists.
As industry data illustrates, the prevalent competitors in the sale of pet supplies have
distinct strategies for incurring revenues in its pet department. Target’s general merchandising
strategy relies on fulfilling its “Expect More. Pay Less” brand promise. For Boots and Barkley,
fulfilling this brand promise will also be achieved. Therefore, Boots and Barkley can be expected
to fulfill Target’s core sources of competitive advantage: differentiation, value, reliability, and
frequency.
Differentiation
Consumer reports indicate that Target’s private label brand is scored at a level
comparable to brand names such as Pedigree. However, most consumers are unaware that Boots
& Barkley is indeed the Target brand. If this lack of knowledge was mitigated through the
promotional and merchandising strategies recommended, it is believed that current loyal Target
guests will be more likely to consider switching to Boots & Barkley. Boots and Barkley will
thus appeal to Target’s “Expect More. Pay Less” brand promise. Because Boots and Barkley is a
Target brand, it achieves exclusivity and will not be available any place but Target, challenging
and imitating the advantage of big-box specialty retailers in the sale of exclusive items. Boots &
Barkley will also challenge the low pricing strategies of e-commerce sites and mass
merchandisers because as a private label brand, it will be less expensive than high-end brands,
9. but will offer more value than other private label brands because of the value of Target’s brand.
The perception of Target as a superior mass merchandiser (relative to Walmart or K-Mart) will
transcend onto the products that Target promotes. Therefore, this benefit is believed to be
applicable to a private label of dog food once awareness that it is indeed the. Target brand is
achieved. Thus, successful investment into the Target brand of pet supplies will differentiate its
pet section from that of other pet stores, supermarkets, and mass merchandisers. Achieving
awareness of this value among current Target guests will be achievable because as loyal Target
guests, they already understand the value that Target provides.
Value
Since the strategy primarily focuses on the Target owned brand of Boots and Barkley, the
effects will be seen directly to the bottom line. Target has an opportunity to capture more of the
pet food and accessories market through their owned brand. The study conducted shows that
over 77% of guests are willing to purchase a store brand pet food such as Boots and Barkley
(Appendix A). The study looked at four specific factors that guests use to purchase pet food
including Price, Brand, Nutritional Value, and Professional (i.e. Veterinarian) Recommendation.
The consumers ranked Nutritional Value as most important, followed by Price, Brand, and
finally Professional Recommendation. The current re-branding strategy Target has with Boots
and Barkley, in unison with a strategy to promote more consumers to purchase the Boots and
Barkley brand, will cause the retention of more current consumers in the pet department as well
as bring new consumers to Target who are loyal to the Boots and Barkley brand. As stated
before, the potential increase in Boots and Barkley sales will be seen directly at the bottom line
for Target. The current goal for this strategy is to switch 5% of current consumers over the
course of the next year from purchasing other brands of dog food to purchasing the Boots and
10. Barkley brand. By having 5% of current consumers switch to the Boots and Barkley brand, the
revenues of from the Target owned brand will increase by $14 million (Appendix D).
The study also concluded that Purina is the most popular brand of pet food purchased at 16%,
followed by Meow Mix (8.8%), Blue Buffalo (7%), Alpo, Iams, and Fancy Feast (6% each),
Pedigree (4.5%), and Kibbles N’ Bits (1.5%) (Appendix A). Since Nutritional Value is ranked
the most important quality by consumers when purchasing pet food, it is important to rank the
several brands of dog food based on nutritional value. The Dog Food Advisor is an independent
website that ranks dog foods nutritional value based on ingredients, articles, reports, and public
records on dog food. The current leader is Blue Buffalo with their dog foods ranking between
2.5-5 stars, followed by Iams with a 2-3 star ranking. Iams is followed by Purina with 1-2 stars.
Finally, Alpo, Pedigree, Kibbles N’ Bits, and Boots and Barkley are ranked at 1 star. With price
being the second most important factor for consumers when purchasing pet food, we see an
opportunity for Target. Boots and Barkley is the low cost provider of dog food, and is on par
with the nutritional value of the other major competitors in the market. The strategy will bring
value to Target by retaining the consumers they already have and converting them to the Boots
and Barkley brand of dog food which can only be purchased at Target locations or online
through Target.com
Reliability
What is being addressed here is can Target provide what the guests looking for pet food
want, where it is consistently available and easy to find? Target’s merchandising strategy of
“Expect More, Pay Less” at first glance just measures the cost of purchasing items at reduced
rate. To further enhance this strategy, Target can have their items, dog food in this case, visibly
on display with signs that clearly advertise what is being sold, so guests can have an easier time
11. finding the items they are looking for. Orders must be consistently in place to have an updated
section so guests can constantly find what they need. For special deals, the items should be
placed on the end caps so those items can be the first that guests can see. In the survey price,
brand, nutritional value and professional recommendation were asked of importance. Despite
their rank if they are not easy to locate, the value of these attributes drop significantly. By
having increased reliability, the other three areas of differentiation, value and frequency will all
increase, as well. A company may have a strong differentiation strategy but if the strategy is
difficult to see, it goes to waste. If the items are easier to find and take less time being searched
for its value will increase due to having strong exposure and being a well-sought product. With a
solid differentiation strategy that is clear to view and understand as well as having the value of
products rising more guests will likely come back to Target and shop there, rather than a
competitors’ store. Ultimately, this will heavily increase the frequency and make Target’s pet
isle high above its competitors.
Frequency
With a high level of interest in private label pet foods, Target will have the ability to
appeal to the guest’s lifestyle. However, Target can not be all things to all people. Therefore, the
strategy will emphasize the quality standard that is most often at number one. In the case of
Target, this was the “nutritional value.” To make the shopping experience more convenient, the
strategy includes new plan-o-grams for Boots and Barkley (Appendix D). Ultimately, the Target
guests will remember the convenience of the Boots and Barkley brand, and come back more
often. Not only that, but there will also be a promotion, wherein Target will advertise
specifically to customers through their Cartwheel App. This gives Target the means to track
guests’ purchases, and then understand the products for which the customer is looking. Simply
12. put, for every ten purchases that somebody makes of Boots and Barkley, the customer will get a
dollar off their next purchase. That in turn will give customers a reason to come back.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Based on the survey results where 77% of people are willing to switch to a store brand of
pet food if it met their quality standards (Appendix A), there is a $280 million potential market
for the Target owned brand of dog food, Boots and Barkley. This strategy will use 5% as a
reasonable estimate for the number of Target guests that will switch to the store brand of Boots
and Barkley. The 5% switch to Boots and Barkley will cause an increase of $14 million in
revenue under Target owned brand name.
The costs for the in-store merchandising plan will be $1,000 per store for point-of-sale
and point-of-purchase materials. This $1,000 includes two vertical blade signs, shipper displays
for canned dog food and small bags of dog food. The goal of the strategy is to implement the
merchandising plan into all United States Target locations. At a cost of $1,000 per store, this will
yield a total cost of $1,793,000 to implement in all of the locations. In order to cover this cost,
revenue of $1,992,222.22 must be generated. This strategy will increase revenues of Boots and
Barkley by $14 million, and the incremental sales from the brand recognition will cover this
initial investment in the first year (Appendix D).
13. Works Cited
Carter, Brittany. (2015 March). Pet Stores in the US. IBISWorld US. Retrieved from
http://0-clients1.ibisworld.com.helin.uri.edu/reports/us/industry/default.aspx?entid=1103
Roberts, Bryan, and Natalie Berg. Walmart: Key Insights and Practical Lessons from the
World’s Largest Retailer. London: Kogan Page. 2012. Print.
