Target Market
Defining the target market is one of the most important steps on the way to creating a clear and effective marketing plan. It is not possible to target everyone, and, that is why the identification of target customers is crucial to saving the company’s revenues and efforts and finding the most appropriate marketing strategy.
Market segmentation is an important step to defining the target market, as it enables us to group the customers into segments and have a clearer vision of the potential marketing plan. Several criteria help to conduct market segmentation.
Demographic criterion
- Male/female (gender),
- Children/teenagers/adults/elderly people (age),
- Low income/moderate income/high income (income bracket),
- Primary-/secondary/higher education degree (education),
- Employed/unemployed (job).
By applying this criterion to the TJX, it is possible to see that the target customers of the company include employed female adults with moderate income and a secondary or higher degree of education.
Behavioral criterion
- Brand aware/not brand aware (brand preference),
- Online/offline shoppers,
- Customers with previous purchases in the company’s stores or without such experience.
By applying this criterion to the TJX, we see that the target customers of the company include brand-aware offline shoppers with previous purchases in the company’s stores.
Psychographic criterion
- Fashion-conscious/fashion unconscious,
- Value conscious/ value unconscious,
- Low/working/lower middle/upper middle/ upper class.
By applying this criterion to the TJX, we see that the target customers of the company include fashion and value-conscious customers from the lower middle class.
Geographic criterion
- City/rural population,
- North American/European/Asian/Arab population.
By applying this criterion to the TJX, we see that the target customers of the company include the North American city population.
The application of market segmentation criteria reveals that the primary target market of the TJX Company includes adult females with moderate-income living in the U.S. and Canada. Such analysis helps to define which group of customers the company should target their main marketing activities.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a crucial step to creating the effective marketing plan of a company, as such analysis helps to identify the drawbacks and advantages of the methods and strategies previously employed by the company and serves as an effective tool for the stimulation of strategic thinking (Chermack, 2011).
Internal strengths
- High sale rates (Wahlen, Baginski, & Bradshaw, 2015)
- Strong financial position
- Strong workforce
- Extensive range of products
- A well-developed network of stores
- Dominating position in the U.S. market
- High-quality products and services
- Moderate prices
Internal weaknesses
- Law global presence
- Strong dependence on the U.S. market
- Lawsuits caused by unauthorized computer systems intrusion that harmed the reputation of the company (Weiss, 2009)
External opportunities
- Expansion to the countries with emerging economies
- Development of effective online retailing
- Growing disposable income of the population
- Diversification of products and services
External threats
- New retailers offering low prices
- Strong competition in the market
- Possibilities of product substitution
- The fickle nature of the fashion industry requiring constant adjustment to fashion trends
The SWOT analysis of the TJX Company reveals that though he company has managed to gain a dominant position in the U.S. market, it needs to put more efforts in expansion to other countries, as strong dependence on American market decreases the company’s chances of survival in case of facing significant external threats. Besides, the company needs to search for innovative ways of offering appealing prices for customers, as the competition in the retailing market is constantly growing.
References
Chermack, T. (2011). Scenario planning in organizations. San Francisco, California: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Wahlen, J., Baginski, S., & Bradshaw, M. (2015). Financial reporting, financial statement analysis, and valuation (8th ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning.
Weiss, J. (2009). Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach (5th ed.). Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.