1. Melinda Segovia, Hayley Usilton, Brittany Deise, Jon Nass
Professor Kathryn Delahanty
BUSX 301.003
09 December 2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS

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1. Executive Summary
2. Our Promotion: Target Tuesday
3. The Procrastination Habits of Holiday Shoppers
4. How Target Tuesdays Improves Upon Black Friday
5. The Influence of Children on Adults’ Shopping Patterns
6. How and Why the Campaign Will Emphasize Exclusive Toys
7. Using Social Media and More to Promote the Campaign
8. How Target Tuesdays Will Win the Holiday
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Target gave us the task of creating a promotion that would increase their holiday
sales from black Friday to Christmas. Our promotion will occur on the 8th, 15th,
and 22nd of December. These Tuesdays will have deals and sales that mimic
“Black Friday”, especially in the toy department for 7-13 year olds. Our research
shows that Black Friday sales have been steadily decreasing and a large portion of
shoppers are waiting until late December to do the majority of their shopping. In
order to capitalize on those procrastinating we are hoping this campaign will

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attract them into the Target stores earlier. Children are key to this promotion,
because they directly and indirectly influence their parents purchases. By having a
media campaign that spreads across multiple outlets we will entice shoppers to
spend their time on Tuesdays in the Target store. Some additional promotions we
have are a photobooth that will be available throughout the holiday season and a
selfie challenge that will renew each week. Through this extensive strategy, we
hope to bring more foot traffic and web traffic to target stores consequently
increasing their sales.
Melinda Segovia, Hayley Usilton
Brittany Deise, Jon Nass
BUSX 301.003
Professor Delahanty
Target Case Competition
“Target Tuesdays”
02 December 2015
OUR PROMOTION: TARGET TUESDAYS

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In order to increase sales this holiday season we have created a promotion called
“Target Tuesdays.” Starting December 8th, Target will be hosting “mini-black
fridays” on the following three Tuesdays until Christmas both online and in-store.
In order to promote these events Target will have an extensive social media
campaign targeted at both children and their parents.
THE PROCRASTINATION HABITS OF HOLIDAY SHOPPERS
There is a wide array of shoppers during the holiday season. According to the
National Retail Federation, 40% percent of people are the “early-birds” and begin
their shopping before Halloween even comes around (Yarrow). According to
Kerri, interviewed by Kit Yarrow, she shops early because she hates the crowds
and feels pressured to buy more during the holiday season. She also does not want
to procrastinate because she wants to make sure she gets the best gifts possible
(Yarrow). Alternatively, it is more common for shoppers to procrastinate.
According to Joseph Ferrari, 20% of Americans are chronic procrastinators. In
fact, 44% of shoppers wait until December to do their holiday shopping. This is a
5% increase from 2010 (Bates). In 2011, 24 million Americans waited until the
very last minute, Christmas Eve, to either start and finish or just finish their
holiday shopping. The holidays can be very overwhelming so some people just
can’t decide on their purchases (Sifferlin). Therefore, they put the act of
purchasing completely off and wait until they have no further choice.
To break down the array of shoppers even more, there are also shoppers
who not only shop on the Internet but also use the Internet to influence how and
where they shop. It is predicted that in 2015 69% of shoppers will “webroom” for

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their purchases (Bates). This means that consumers will look at an item online,
from various sellers, and then buy it in the store that they have chosen. Also, 52%
of shoppers will “showroom” (Bates). This means that consumers will find an
item and in store and proceed to find the best price for it online and order online.
Lastly, 47% of shoppers plan to shop on the Internet, which is the largest planned
destination for holiday buying (Bates). This should come as no surprise seeing
how Internet-friendly the world is today. So many people are constantly on the
go and find shopping from their computer or mobile device is so much easier and
less time consuming.
Some people are going to procrastinate no matter what, these are the
chronic procrastinators. However, there are some people who just procrastinate
because they are waiting for the best deal and just don’t know where to shop
(Sifferlin). According to USA Today, the three biggest days for retail sales in 2014
was on December 22, 23, and 24: the three days leading up to Christmas
(Malcolm). These are the types of consumers that we really need to target. The
last Target Tuesday will fall right on the second day of that trio. With the
promotions and sales that we will have every week during Target Tuesdays we
believe that we can have a great influence on these consumers and not only get
them into our stores but also create repeat customers for every Target Tuesday
and those days and weeks thereafter. Getting procrastinators into our stores earlier
will keep them coming back not only for the rest of their holiday purchases on
any regular day but especially for those on Target Tuesdays because they’ll be
informed of what the day really entails. To conclude, our goal is to guide those

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who procrastinate into our stores earlier and have them coming back each week
for Target Tuesdays.
HOW TARGET TUESDAYS IMPROVES UPON BLACK FRIDAY
Black Friday has become the start of the official holiday shopping season since
about the early 2000s. Cyber Monday also came into play not long after Black
Friday really began to gain its popularity. However, starting in 2014 Black Friday
and Cyber Monday became less important to consumers because shoppers knew
that with the aid of the Internet and the fact that stores were starting their
promotions earlier and keeping them longer, that they could shop at any time that
they wanted. Even though these big shopping days became of less importance,
there was a 3.2% increase in holiday sales, which is much higher than the 0.5%
increase that was seen in 2013. In fact, Christmas Eve had the highest percentage
of sales all holiday season last year (Malcolm). The fact that the sales and
attendance of Black Friday and Cyber Monday is decreasing shows that
consumers are moving on and looking for something different. According to
Hiroko Tabuchi in “Black Friday Fatigue,” many shoppers have soured on the
culture of Black Friday and prefer to shop more privately and peacefully—but
with the same deals. Therefore, Target Tuesdays would cater to those needs.
There are multiple chances throughout the holiday season to come in for those
deals and, because of this fact, the stores will be less crowded than Black Friday
itself where it is seen as a one-time bargain.
THE INFLUENCE OF CHILDREN ON ADULTS’ SHOPPING PATTERNS

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The main promotional goal of our marketing campaign is inducing more children
to come shopping with their parents. Parents are more likely to increase the
amount of items they buy when there is a child present with them in the store. In
fact, “84% of parents say their kids help decide where they should shop”(Target
Case Study). Children are the key to increasing holiday sales, “[they] directly
influence 187 billion of parents’ purchases annually and indirectly influence at
least 300 billion more” (McNeal). There are two types of influence children have
over parental shopping: direct and indirect. Indirect influence occurs when
“parents know the products and brands that their children prefer and buy them
without being asked or told” (McNeal) Indirect influence accounts for as much as
$300 billion in spending annually. Direct influence occurs when children tell their
parents exactly what they want, and although there aren’t statistics to measure
what impact this has on spending, McNeal, author of The Kids Market, states that
it is a substantial sum. Many retailers have caught on to this growing trend of
marketing to children. Over the past 30 years, large retail companies have
increased their marketing campaign to include children. In the “mid 1980’s only
one-third of major retail chains made some effort to target kids as a market” while
today's retailers are close to two-thirds and is still growing (McNeal). McNeal
states that brand recognition is one of the ways retailers can have success.
Children are more likely to recognize a brand from a picture or logo and voice to
their parents that they want that product. In fact, “ about 90 percent of product
requests made by children to a parent are by brand name” (McNeal). This is how
we plan on attracting children into the Target stores.

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HOW AND WHY THE CAMPAIGN WILL EMPHASIZE EXCLUSIVE TOYS
During the Target Tuesdays campaign, which will be heavily marketed towards
children and their parents, exclusive toys for large franchises will be the focus.
Our hope is that through extensive marketing, Target stores will become
synonymous in the minds of children to likes of Star Wars, Minecraft, or Minions.
The toy market is often referred to as “mature,” meaning that due to the age of the
industry, large revenue spikes are uncommon from year to year (Kell). Close
observations show that one major factor brings the typically stagnant toy sector
back to life. That factor is blockbuster movies (Kell).
In 2014, “Frozen” almost singlehandedly caused retail sales of toys to
jump 4% (Kell). The total for last year topped out at $18.08 billion (Kell). This
figure climbed despite a major decline in the demographic of infants and
preschoolers. Sales in this age group fell 5%. Accordingly, we are planning to not
focus heavily on that market (Kell). The toys catered towards slightly older kids
(building sets, action figures, games, etc.) showed an abnormally large sales
bump. Specifically, building sets, like LEGOs, saw a 13% increase last year
(Kell).
When looking at the franchises of focus mentioned above, two stand out
for aligning perfectly with the current trend in toys: Minecraft and Star Wars. The
former is a children’s video game, available on multiple platforms. Although
Target cannot capitalize on sales of the game since it is purchased through virtual
markets like the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, Target could jump
on the sale of sets and action figures based on the game. Selling toys based on

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video games is far from unprecedented. Pokémon, a game that is past its peak in
popularity, still generates $1.5 billion annually from licensing (Taylor).
The toy and clothing theme that Target will emphasize the most heavily
during this campaign is “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Target is clearly
already focusing heavily on marketing Star Wars gear (Target.com). However, in
order to ensure Target is the largest retailer of these projects, it would be
beneficial to focus even more heavily on it than the store already is. In an “off
year,” meaning one in which no Star Wars movie was released, the franchise
raked in $510 million in toy sales. Experts are projecting this year’s number to
easily surpass that figure (Vanderbilt). In fact, some projections predict the
franchise doing $5 billion in merchandise sales in the first year alone following
the release of the new film (Vanderbilt). When referring back to the data
presented before, Star Wars is a perfect storm for toy sales. It aligns exactly with
the trends that cause the most major spikes in toy revenue. The franchise, valued
at $30 billion, is clearly one of blockbuster status (“The Force: Star Wars
Franchise Worth Over $30 Billion and Growing”). Furthermore, the licensed toys
Star Wars produces fall into the categories of the already growing markets. Action
figures, games, and building sets are the main licensed toys from the franchise.
LEGO has a huge partnership with Star Wars from sets to games and the Swedish
brand has already accredited the franchise for its most recent revenue bump
(LEGO.com). If Target, during the Target Tuesday campaign, can market itself as
the best to place buy Star Wars toys, it will grab huge piece of one of the largest
franchises in history.

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USING SOCIAL MEDIA AND MORE TO PROMOTE THE CAMPAIGN
To advertise and promote our campaign, we would use the typical platforms such
as TV and print in which Target already promotes. However, in hopes of
attracting younger kids to our store, we will focus largely on social media. The
key platforms to be focused on would be YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram.
YouTube is a household name at this point. With 1 billion unique weekly
users, it has become the premier platform for viewing videos. EMarketer states
that 81% of teens, ages 14 to 17, use YouTube on a regular basis
(EMarketer.com). Its official terms and conditions says that the site is only for
people ages 13 and up. Therefore, solid figures on younger kids viewing the site
are not widely reported (YouTube). That being said, kids ages 6 and up are clearly
using the site at a very high rate. The most subscribed YouTube channel is
PewDiePie who makes humorous videos and videos focused on video games. He
has 40 million subscribers, many of whom are children (Statista). Surprisingly,
the top 5 most influential figures for preteens are all YouTube personalities
(Ault). This holiday season Target should allocate a strong portion of their
marketing budget towards advertisements that play on screen before videos are
shown. These must be viewed by anyone attempting to use the site. Therefore, it
is almost certainly a guaranteed view. In addition to this method, a less intrusive
way to promote products would be to partner with one or a few of the major
YouTube channels catered to young kids. In doing so, Target could use product
placement and endorsement deals to advertise the exclusive toys that they’ll be
offering.

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Second on the list of social media platforms is Snapchat. A new feature
unveiled by the app is called a Geofilter. These are filters users can place on their
photos when in certain locations. They are easily designed and can be submitted
by anyone (Snapchat.com). Now, companies can even pay to have custom ones
established during certain dates across the country. Target could design a holiday
themed filter that can be used by customers in each of its many locations during
the Tuesdays in December. That way, shoppers can send funny festive snaps to
their friends while shopping in stores. Guests would essentially be doing the
advertising for Target. This campaign would hit both the young, target
demographic, of which 41% use Snapchat, as well as their older counterparts who
comprise the rest of the 100 million total Snapchat users (Lenhart).
Lastly, our main focus would be Instagram, an app widely popular across
many age demographics. With a little over half of teens and preteens using the
app, it is a perfect platform to help drive the Target Tuesdays campaign into the
mind of young kids. However, Target doesn’t even have to run advertising on the
platform in the traditional sense. Through marketing, Target could get its guests to
essentially advertise for them. During each of the three Tuesdays, a festive photo
area in each store across the country would be set up. In the designated areas,
props and costumes would be provided for guests to take photos free of charge.
Anyone that took a photo at a Target store would be able to upload the picture to
Instagram. If they choose to, they could tag Target and use the hashtag,
#TargetTuesdays. Each week, a winner would be selected to receive a prize. The
hope is that this will become the new and improved Santa photos seen in malls

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across the country. Unlike Santa photos, our campaign is targeted at an older
demographic and is totally free for the guests. Each photo taken and posted would
have the potential to reach thousands or millions of Instagram users. The cost of
setting up these photo booths would be marginal; however, to easily offset any
costs incurred Target could offer the props used in the pictures for sale.
HOW TARGET TUESDAYS WILL “WIN” THE HOLIDAY
The problem is that the holiday season is marked by strong sales at the beginning
and end with comparatively weak sales in the middle. The marketing strategy,
Target Tuesdays, completely patches the holes in the holiday shopping season.
Because Target will be attracting shoppers throughout the entire duration of the
holiday season, Target will emerge victorious among its competitors. The “Target
Tuesdays” campaign will allow Target to win the holiday.
The campaign will be successful in keeping foot traffic in the stores during
the specified weeks by using a market penetration strategy. This means that we
will be expanding our market share by sapping up customers from the
competition. This strategy is being performed using two tactics: competitive
pricing and time/place utility. In “Black Friday Fatigue” Ken Perkins says,
"Consumers would prefer to be able to shop when it's convenient to (them), not to
be shoehorned in on Black Friday weekend." By having a holiday promotion that
spans the entire season and benefits consumers across multiple channels, we can
avoid the pitfalls of both sagging Black Friday sales and procrastinators coming in
last-minute on Christmas Eve.

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According to the National Retail Federation’s 2015 “Power Players”
analysis,, Walmart is the market-share leader in mass merchant retail sales by a
huge margin:
Retailer 2014 Revenue
Walmart $334 Billion
Target $72 Billion
Amazon $49 Billion
Toys “R” Us $12 Billion
Our plan involves taking market share from Walmart, Amazon, and Toys
“R” Us during the specified weeks by undercutting the competitive advantage that
each retailer demonstrates. Walmart boasts “Everyday Low Prices;” our prices
during Target Tuesdays will be deep Black Friday-level discounts. Amazon
boasts wide variety and free shipping; Target.com has a massive selection and can

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beat Amazon’s convenience with free in-store pick-up. Finally, Target will win
with kid consumers against Toys “R” Us by offering toy exclusives and in-store
social media opportunities. The first pie chart above and the table demonstrate
that Target represents 15% of the retail market share. Following the Target
Tuesdays campaign, we project market share to increase to 29%. This involves
taking 9%, 3%, and 2%, from Walmart, Amazon, and Toys “R” Us, respectively.
Because one fifth of a retailer’s revenue is achieved during the holiday
season, according to Kathy Allen of the National Retail Federation, we believe
this holiday shopping promotion will allow Target to achieve the desired market
penetration. As the Harvard Business Review article, “Market Share — a Key
to Profitability” shows, market share is directly correlated with profitability.
HOW LOWER PRICES WILL LEAD TO HIGHER PROFITS

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According to market researcher Suzanne Kapner, deep discounts during the
holiday shopping season do not hurt retailers because these were the prices that
the company had originally intended to sell the product at. As she explains, “The
red cardigan sweater with the ruffled neck on sale for more than 40% off at
$39.99 was never meant to sell at its $68 starting price. It was designed with the
discount built in.” Therefore, if we extend these holiday discounts throughout
more points in the season, then we can achieve the originally intended price
markup while gaining market share from our competitors.
Kapner further explains that when demand doesn’t match supply, retailers
will move excess inventory off the shelves by marking down the price. These can
be seen in the form of “Day After Christmas” sales. When companies have to
mark down excess merchandise to below the originally intended markup, this can
lead to distressed profits. The Target Tuesday campaign circumnavigates this
problem; because our discounts are spaced out throughout the holiday, and we
have earned shoppers that would not normally purchase from Target or
Target.com, we will have increased the volume of sales throughout the holiday
season. Therefore, we will face lesser year-end markdowns.
TARGET TUESDAYS PROMOTIONAL EFFORTS WILL REAP
REWARDS
The Target Tuesday campaign features an in-store promotional campaign with a
social media component. Because retailers make more profits on in-store
purchases (“How the Web”) rather than online sales, this campaign will help to
increase Target’s bottom-line by bringing more children, teens, and their parents

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into the store. As stated above, the majority of consumers will “webroom” this
holiday season. Thus, guests will see our discounts for each Target Tuesday in the
online ad, will see our grassroots marketing on Snapchat, and they will be brought
into the store to get the deals. Unbeknownst to them, buying in-store leads to
higher profits for Target Corporation; both buyer and seller will benefit.
Additionally, a viral marketing strategy has little to no overhead costs. The
guests come into the store and advertise to all their friends on their social network
streams. Similar to the “Share a Coke with” campaign, this amounts to nearly free
advertising. Also, “Target Tuesdays” itself will spread like wildfire in
publications, news stations, and blogs. The promotion, in its level of daring,
essentially markets itself. Because of the minimal cost of promotion, the revenue
brought in by Target Tuesdays will be largely profit.
HOW THE CAMPAIGN WILL CHANGE TARGET’S PROFIT PATTERN
Anthony Battaglia, the Store Team Leader from the Bel Air, MD Target,
explained the retailer’s profit pattern. During the regular season, shoppers come in
and largely buy items that they need on a weekly basis (“consumables”), which
have a very slim profit margin. To a lesser degree, they buy items such as
clothing, electronics, and toys which have a higher margin. However, during the
holiday season, consumers buy the big-ticket items at a much higher volume.
Target Tuesdays will put strategic discounts on the items that parents and kids
want for the holidays. They will be focused in Target’s profit centers: toys,
electronics, and clothing. Because the promotion involves bringing customers into
the store every week, this will incentivize guests to do their weekly shopping for

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consumables at Target. As the slogan “Expect More. Pay Less.” evidences,
Target’s competitive advantage among discount retailers is providing high-quality
and stylish merchandise. Guests, seeing this differentiation, will be enticed to
return to Target for its designer selection. In “the Economics of Loyalty
Discounts,” Bruce Kobayashi points out that loyalty discounts can cause
previously indifferent consumers to become brand-loyal. Because Target offers
loyalty discounts in the form of 5% off everyday with Target RedCard, consumers
who have ventured over from Walmart on Target Tuesdays will be likely to
become brand-loyal and stay long-term. This will be key to winning market share,
not only for the duration of the holiday season, but for the new year and beyond.
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