Summary

[Melyana] During our studies on Target over the duration of the semester, our team has gained many findings pertaining to information systems and how they benefit a company. We dove deep into Target’s business approaches and what makes them the thriving company they are today. We first looked at the company's business strategy, which is bargaining power with its customers and also suppliers. This strategy allows the company to better understand what their community wants from them and gain an advantage through that. Target's competitive strategy is differentiation across the industry. They offer Target Circle cards to their shoppers which makes for more loyal customers. Although their products could be similarly priced to their competitors, the company works hard to bring their customers back by giving them a great shopping experience, ultimately gaining the customer's loyalty. Our team analyzed the use of Beacon technology as one of Target’s strategies to implement differentiation across the industry. Beacon technology is used to collect data on what their customers are purchasing and make specialized recommendations to the customers through the Target app. We also gathered information on Target’s information systems, such as Zebra which is utilized to keep track of services Target provides, for example, curbside pick-up. Looking at these two information systems, our team was able to analyze both the pros and cons. A great way Target is utilizing Beacon technology is by making product suggestions in the app based on the customer's social media search history. We also found a flaw in the Zebra information system that makes curbside pick-up to be more time-consuming and ultimately less effective, making the customers not satisfied with their experience. After analyzing their technology and business approaches, our team has come together to recognize the faults of the company and give our recommendations to help resolve the issues we discovered. As our project comes to an end, our team now has more of an understanding of how information systems help to navigate and organize a company to be stronger. [Melyana]