Target Markets of Supermarkets Costco and Target

Costco and Target are two big and popular names in the retail industry. Both were founded in the United States and have grown to become successful, powerful, and leading supermarkets with a huge number of stores around the world. They are popular for the huge range of products from different categories.  Each of these supermarkets has its place in the market with a loyal customer base. Without any doubt, customers have an immense role in the success of both Costco and Target. So, let’s discuss these big names separately to find out what target markets the two chose and why.

Overall target market analysis of supermarkets

Supermarkets can be considered a retail market where a wide variety of goods or services are sold. They don’t own a brand and can be considered resellers. There is severe competition in the retail industry, and each supermarket must put much effort and work to get its place in the market. Supermarket branding can be very tricky. Every supermarket must not only differentiate itself with something unique from the competitors, but it also needs to make its customer believe that they are different from the others.

Whenever this is achieved, the customer will be ready to go to this exact supermarket despite its location and buy there even for a higher price to feel an emotional connection with and pleasure from the purchase process and the result. All this shows how important and crucial is carefully chosen market segmentation strategy. 

Let’s begin with Costco, and identify marketing strategies implemented by the company.

Throughout the years Costco was standing for making people’s lives simple. It wanted to be perceived as a positive brand that cares for not only its benefit but society as well. Costco continuously comes up with new ways of promoting its offering to customers.

One effective way was presenting a campaign that would not only create positive and trusting relationships with customers but will make shopping from Costco stores more attractive. The brand partnered with Nationwide Children’s Hospital and came up with the “Costco Miracle Balloon” fundraising campaign.

Now, let’s watch a video describing the “Costco Miracle Balloon” fundraising campaign.

This video perfectly explains what the “Costco Miracle Balloon” fundraising campaign stands for. Every year Costco declares May a month for benefiting Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The customers can join and contribute to this initiative by buying an icon balloon of Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

In the video, we can see how the money raised from the sold icon balloons are spent and what changes all contributions to the fundraising campaign make. Thanks to this campaign, many customers put much more meaning in doing shopping and specifically can choose Costco to be able to take part in the fundraising.

At the same time, the partnership shows how thoughtful is the brand. It starts to be associated with positivity, support, trust and gets a unique emotional meaning that makes it more than a store.  

It’s time to discuss the communication strategy of Costco.

“Simplifying home and life.”

Costco uses the “Simplifying home and life” slogan, which hasn’t changed throughout the years. It is simple, short, and precise. The logo transfers the main idea of Costco and the associations that every person can have with this supermarket. There is not anything exaggerating or extra in the slogan which makes it perfectly suitable for Costco.

It speaks about the offering of the brand and the benefits that Costco brings to every customers’ life. With this slogan, Costco shows that shopping in their stores brings more value than just purchasing what you want. The logo gives some meaning and connection to the customers related to the Costco and makes it something more than a supermarket.

As we know, Costco sells a wide range of diverse products from different categories and brands. You can find anything from groceries to home furniture in this supermarket. By entering Costco every customer gets access to the huge variety of products from different price categories to choose from.

This supermarket becomes a place where any type of shopping list can be fulfilled. The customer can find anything they want to buy in one place. Thanks to this they get a chance to save time and money and consequently make their lives simpler.

Now, it’s time to understand the target market of the company.

Let’s watch and discuss the following commercial of Costco.

This video is from an American sitcom television series called “Fresh Off the Boat”. Despite being a part of the sitcom, it can be considered commercial for Costco as this fragment was airing on television several times a day.

It was promoting not only the sitcom but also Costco. The commercial features a mother and son spending their time at a Costco store and doing shopping. They seem very positive, active, and energetic. From the beginning of the video, it becomes clear that they visit the store very often as they are familiar with personal.

It seems like they enjoy the whole shopping process and consider it something more than just buying the staff they need. These characters even find ways and time to have fun and cheer each other up at the store.

The whole process seems engaging and interesting to them. The mother and the son are collective representatives of the segment chosen by Costco to target. All the discussed details of the video identify that the target segment that Costco focuses on is the one called Peacocks.

Who are Peacocks?

Lifestyle and Values: Peacocks are known as people who very often are noticeable in the crowd. Their focus is their self and they always want to be in the center of attention. Their attention-seeking nature can be seen through everything they do and talk about.

These people want to be perceived as confident personalities. Their desire to catch attention and stand out very often brings to some insecurities. Peacocks tend to lead a well-organized routine, and throughout life, they work hard to reach a successful career and position.

These people usually have a high level of education. Money is also important to Peacock as they consider it a symbol of success and status. People from this segment give huge attention to their appearance and staying in shape.

The reason for this is the fact that they know how others perceive them. Peacocks love going to the cinema and clubbing. They attend crowded places like cafes and restaurants as much as they can afford. Friends also have a big role in their lives, and they surround themselves with like-minded people.   

Attitude to Shopping: 

Representatives of the Peacock target segment love shopping, and this is an inseparable part of their lives. For these people standing out, being seen, and noticed has huge importance, and shopping is a means to achieve this. They usually tend to give their preference to more flashy, eye-catching things, and choose a brand that stands out and has a strong association with them.

Some interesting facts about Peacocks

• These people find traditional values, their heritage, and roots very important, despite keeping up with time and being modern.
• They consider the Internet the best way to communicate with friends. Traditional media like TV is the main source of information for Peacocks.
• They tend to choose distinguishing and eye-catching cars for themselves. The car must speak for them and grab attention. 

Target has always been known for its diverse assortment of products covering a range of categories. This merchandise retailer sells the product not only in its stores but also uses digital channels. Furthermore, customers get to choose and buy from more options for products that aren’t available in stores.

Target continuously strikes to come up with new ideas, ways, and offers that will make customers choose to shop from their stores and come back next time. One way to keep up with time and differentiate itself from competitors has become the “Target Run” campaign.

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Let’s watch and discuss the campaign example from the “Target Run”.

Moving on with Target, let’s look at the brand’s marketing strategies and discuss one of its campaigns.

This video is one of the series presenting Target campaign called “Target Run”. The video features many characters in their everyday routine, doing basic activities at home, and spending their time with loved ones.

As we can see from the video, Target shows how you can cut on your shopping time to be able to spend it more efficiently and pleasingly. In this particular video, Target presents one way of doing quick shopping, without going out of the house and wasting time.

The brand suggests you use their same-day delivery service and shows you ways how you can spend your time saved on shopping. The whole aim of the campaign is to present ways to make shopping at Target easier and faster. Another way that was suggested in the scope of this campaign is the drive-up option.

With this option, you get the opportunity to choose all the products that you need, get them to put together by the shop, and pick it up whenever you want. “Target Run” shows you have you can spend your time efficiently and what benefits you can as a result.

Now, let’s have a look at the communication strategy of Target.

” Target. Expect More. Pay Less “

Thought the years, Target stayed true to the slogan ” Target. Expect More. Pay Less ” and haven’t made any changes to it. The slogan is short, precise, and simple, but carries lots of meaning in it. It is engaging, interesting and makes customers think what the company means by it and what stands behind these words. The slogan evokes some type of curiosity in the customers’ mind and triggers their interest. Who won’t be interested in paying less, but getting more value for the product?

Target is known for offering low prices, continuous deals, and discounts on the products that it sells. People can walk into this supermarket with a short shopping list but get out with a full shopping cart. When shopping in Target customers can find lots of good quality products that can bring huge value in comparison with their price.

As a result, many customers can’t resist this temptation, and may even buy items that are not needed. All these show how suitable, perfect, and accurate this slogan for Target is. It summarizes the value that Target brings to the customer’s life and differentiates the brand from the competitors.

It’s time for finding out what target market Target chose to focus on

Let’s do so by discussing the following commercial of the company.

The commercial features many characters among which are two renowned artists Lil Yachty and Carly Rae Jepsen. The two artists sing an energetic and positive song throughout the video. Altogether, there are lots of details, fast-changing scenes, and actions going on in the commercial.

The video begins from a cashier desc and continuous to evolve non-stop till the end. We can see the logo of Target in nearly all scenes, and the dominating red color that is strongly associated with the brand. Also, the commercial depicts the diverse range of products that is available in Target stores.

In the video, the process of shopping is presented as something more than just purchasing new items. All the characters of the video involved in shopping seem to get pleasure and enjoyment from being in target and purchasing something new. They are positive, cheerful, and seem to enjoy anything they are doing.

All the people featured in the video collectively represent the target segment that Target tries to reach and engage in. After analyzing all the details, it becomes clear that Target chose to focus on the Sharers target segment.

Who are Sharers?

Lifestyle and Values: 

Representatives of Sharers target segment are known as adventurous people enjoying every moment of life. They love challenges, new emotions, and taking risks. These people try to get enjoyment from everything they are doing, even from extremely basic and boring tasks.

They readily take responsibility for their life duties and fulfill them with pleasure. Sharers take care of their family, parents, and home. They make sure that their home is cozy, nice, and comfortable as they very often enjoy a good time with family and friends there.

Sharers give big importance to their appearance and health. They like looking and making sure that their family eats healthy and stays fit. People from this segment tend to seek more change and variety in their daily routine inspired by magazines, ads, and movies.

They give big importance to a good career and financial stability. When it comes to spare time, Sharers like gardening, and light entertainment activities. From time to time they go to theaters, cafes, discos, etc. Also, they enjoy and love shopping.

Attitude to Shopping:

Despite enjoying shopping and getting fulfillment from it, Sharers understand the limits on their budget and are good with money. Anyways, if these people like something much, they can’t resist buying it without taking into consideration its low quality or high price. Representatives of this segment usually are aware of new trends, brands, and products in the market.

Overall, Sharers are brand oriented and like adopting novelties in the market. They explore and try new brands whenever possible, and often switch between brands out of curiosity. People from this segment like to stand out by purchasing high-end products whenever possible. They like to pamper themselves, and often look for good offers which will make it possible for them to buy desired items.

Some interesting facts about Sharers

• Representatives of the Sharers segment usually don’t go on holidays or short trips. These people don’t travel much abroad.
• They use media to escape reality. Sharers are strong TV viewers and use this media to escape their ordinary life and compensate for their limitations. Also, they prefer lifestyle magazines to read about fashion, entertainment, and celebrities.
• Interestingly, Sharers tend to stay away from using the Internet. They don’t see many advantages of using the internet and usually don’t like using technology and computers.

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Summing up, Costco and Target are two strong and popular supermarket brands that have their special place in the retail industry. Without any doubt, these two will be able to continuously maintain their power and success as retailers thanks to hard work, dedication, and improvements.

Surely, customers will continue to come back to the locations of these supermarkets for the wide range of variety of products offered at different price points. This is all for Costco and Target and their strategies. Check out the main page of our website for more posts like this.