For anyone that has been following Target you will not be surprised because they have lost well over a billion dollars on their Canadian launch and are expecting they will not be able to turn a profit for at least another six years in 2021. But why is it that the retailer where many Canadians use to drive across the border to shop at is failing miserably in Canada? When Canadians, including myself, entered Target shortly after it’s opening in Canada we expected an experience similar to what we would have received in the US. Target is known as the store that is a quality discounter, you expect quality products at lower than normal prices and that is exactly what Canadians get when they go across the border so why would we expect anything different in Canada? This is exactly where Target failed. They didn’t continue to deliver the prices us Canadians were used to but instead their prices were higher than many of their direct Canadian competitors who had entered the market a long time ago such as Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire and Loblaws.

“They say ‘this is going to be a cakewalk.’ But, in fact, you cannot rest on your laurels, your reputation, coming into the country. The market in Canada was Target’s to lose, there was such high anticipation,” Stephens said. “But you still have to come in and wow people and Target didn’t do that. They failed to bring a unique assortment of products and they got the basics wrong, like not stocking the shelves.”

“It was a good thing and a bad thing that people knew the Target brand,” said Maureen Atkinson, a retail consultant at J.C. Williams Group, “the bad thing was people expected what was in the U.S. stores and the Canadian stores just simply don’t have the same kind of magic.”

Target has nobody to blame but themselves. They decided that they were going to adjust their prices higher than the US because typically Canadian prices are higher but they did not adjust to the other aspects of the Canadian market. Canada is a very multicultural society and other stores adapt to their local target market very well. If you go into the local Superstore (Loblaws) or Walmart in my area, you’re more than likely to find a lot of South Asian and Chinese food because my area is mostly populated with this demographic. Sometimes you may even find signs written Punjabi, Hindi, Cantonese or Mandarin.

Basically what happened is Target brought all the bad aspects of their American stores to Canada and forgot to bring all their good aspects that Canadians had already associated with the Target brand. Hopefully future stores such as Nordstrom will learn from this failure and be better prepared for the Canadian market.

Source: CBC; Canadian Business

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“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” – Voltaire

Most people think that murder is wrong but what about war? So it is wrong for one person to kill another person but it is somehow right for a country to attack another country and kill thousands of people? War is technically just murdering people in large numbers as Voltaire said, so then why is war okay?

Before you can define ethics you must first find one definition of the words “right” and “wrong.”

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Rohit Bhargava talks about how the recent US election had nothing to do with facts and was all about “Likeability.” He then shows why President Obama was more likable then Governor Romney. So does how much you like a certain person actual make that much of a difference?

If your teacher/professor assigns you a project and he/she tells you that you are to work on this project with one partner. At this point you are approached by two people that would like to be your partner, who do you choose? We’ll call person 1 Aanchal and person 2 James.

Aanchal is a really nice person, very cute, you spend lots of time with her and have a lot of fun, she knows how to make you laugh and is pretty smart, she has a B- average.

James is not such a nice person, he doesn’t ever talk to you outside of class but he is the smartest person in the class and has straight A’s.

Which person would you pick to be your partner? I would pick Aanchal to be my partner because I would rather be with someone that I can enjoy spending my time with and still get a good mark rather then spend time with someone who I cannot stand but get a perfect mark. Clearly I just picked Aanchal only because I like her more and not because she would get me the better result. This is just like what Rohit Bhargava said about President Obama being elected as President again. He was elected because people liked him better and not because he was the better candidate, Obama did a better job at marketing himself to the public. Of course how good of a candidate he is does matter still, if Aanchal had a failing average there would be a lower chance I would pick her but I would honestly still think about it.

Comment and tell me who you would pick.

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I think the Cake Group has done a tremendous job not only promoting themselves in those videos but also a great job understanding what our market is becoming. Before buying anything myself I always go online and check reviews for multiple products. The Cake Group says they are “an ideas company that helps brands become part of peoples’ lives.” They’ve done things like “IKEA HAPPY TO BED” which was basically a big sleepover in Ikea. I know that if they had that here I would for sure go with my friends and if I found the bed I slept on was really comfy I might even replace my current mattress with that mattress.

The Cake Group is really on to something here and I will be keeping a close watch on this “ideas company” hoping that they will soon be coming to Canada. Thank You Szascha for introducing me to this great company!

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