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This article is about the Australian mid-price department store chain owned by Kmart Group, the department store division of Wesfarmers Limited. For the unaffiliated American big box department store chain, see Target Corporation. For the now defunct Canadian subsidiary of Target Corporation, see Target Canada. For other uses, see Target.

Target Australia Pty Ltd
Company typeSubsidiary of Wesfarmers
IndustryRetail
Founded1926; 98 years ago (1926)
(as Lindsay's)
FounderGeorge Lindsay
Alex McKenzie
Headquarters
Williams Landing, Victoria
,
Australia
Number of locations
124 (2023)
Key people
Richard Pearson (Managing Director)[1]
RevenueDecrease A$2.68 billion (2020)[2]
Number of employees
Over 13,000 (as of 29 March 2021)[3]
ParentKmart Group/Wesfarmers Limited
Websitetarget.com.au

Target Australia Pty Ltd (formerly Lindsay's and Lindsay's Target, formerly stylised as Target. and doing business as Target and Target Australia) is a department store chain owned by Australian retail conglomerate Wesfarmers. Target stocks clothing, cosmetics, homewares, electronics, books, and toys selling both in-store and online.[4] The company's head office is located in the Melbourne suburb of Williams Landing and opened in 2018.[5] Despite the identical logo, name and similar type of outlets, Target Australia carries no direct relation or affiliation to the American big box retailer Target Corporation.[6]

History

Beginnings as Lindsay's

In 1926, George Lindsay and Alex McKenzie opened their first store in Geelong selling dress fabrics, bedding and furnishings.[7] Lindsay began his retail empire five years earlier, running a store in Ouyen, Victoria, but moved to Geelong to increase the opportunity for growth.[8] The company progressively established stores throughout Victoria, running with a policy of selling quality goods at half the normal rate of profit.[8]

In 1968, Myer Emporium purchased the chain of 16 stores and renamed the company Lindsay's Target. They moved into the South Australian market with the first "Target" store opening in Newton, South Australia in October 1970[7] with an aim to expand the business.[9] The new discount department store quickly established itself throughout Australia, and within three years had stores in Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales.[8] In March 1973, "Lindsay's" was dropped from the company name and the business was renamed Target Australia. The mainly Victorian-based "Lindsay's" stores, with the positioning of "Sell it for Less", were rolled into the "Target" discount department store group, now carrying over its leading position of quality soft goods to the larger Target discount department store format, while maintaining its base in Geelong.[7]

By 1982, Myer was operating 27 stores under the Target brand, but sold 22 of them, with 14 going to GJ Coles & Coy Ltd.[10]

Coles-Myer era

In August 1985, Myer Emporium Ltd and GJ Coles & Coy Ltd merged to become Coles Myer Limited. In 1996, Coles Myer merged the Target and Fosseys brands,[7] and their first speciality store Baby Target was established.[citation needed] Then in 1998, their second speciality store, Target Home opened.[citation needed] Fosseys stores were later renamed Target Country,[7] becoming the third speciality store under the Target name.

Former Target department store in the Castletown Shopping Centre, Townsville in 2008

In 2001, Target announced its first ever loss, to the sum of $43m.[citation needed] A new senior management team replaced the former, with Target repositioning itself from a store directly competing with Kmart and Big W, to a more stylish, up-market, but still value-for-money, alternative to speciality stores.[citation needed] Store fittings and layouts were altered to reflect this change and whole departments such as self-service confectionery and home decorator (paint) were removed from all stores. In 2006, Target appointed Launa Inman as managing director. She was named Telstra Businesswomen of the Year in 2003, as a result of her achievements as an apparel retail buyer for the company. Her work saw Target's $32 million loss at the end of 2000 turn into a $68 million profit 18 months later.[11]

Wesfarmers era

A former Target store, in the Northgate Shopping Centre, Glenorchy, a northern suburb of Hobart, in 2012

Prior to its November 2007 takeover of Coles Group, Wesfarmers stated in August 2007 that it would consider converting some Kmart stores to the Target brand.[12]

In May 2009, Target stopped providing free plastic bags for its customers, but in 2013 reversed this decision.[13] In November 2011, Dene Rogers, the former chief executive of North American retailer Sears Canada, replaced Inman as Target's managing director.[14] However, by April 2013 Rogers had been replaced by former chief operations director at Coles, Stuart Machin.[15]

In February 2016, Wesfarmers restructured Target and Kmart under a single department stores division known as the Kmart Group,[16] headed by Kmart managing director Guy Russo. An accounting scandal that created $21 million in fraudulent profits was reported on 11 April 2016.[17] Although it is not believed CEO Stuart Machin orchestrated or ordered the accounting irregularities, he took the blame for the scandal and departed Target.[18]

In June 2016, at a Wesfarmers annual strategy briefing Guy Russo announced that Target would be exiting toy sales, pet care, and luggage. In the same year Target saw a loss of 1$95 million. According to Mr Russo, 20% of Target's 305 stores would be closed over a five year period. Target planned to market shift, becoming a "mid-tier" new boutique retailer, competing with the likes of foreign fast fashion giants H&M, Uniqlo and Zara.[19][20][21]

Target announced in April 2016 it would relocate its Geelong head office to Melbourne, resulting in an unspecified number of redundancies.[22] Following the April 2016 announcement, Wesfarmers confirmed in December that Target would relocate to Williams Landing in late 2018.[23]

In June 2017, Wesfarmers announced that Target and Kmart would be merging some of their back-office operations including procurement. Some Target stores would be converted to Kmart stores while other Target and Target Country stores would be closed.[24][25] As of 2020, Target had 284 stores throughout Australia: 191 Target stores, and 93 Target Country stores.

Target Country store in Kyabram, Victoria, pictured in 2012. This store closed in September 2020.

In May 2020, further store closures and consolidations were announced with up to 1,300 employees moving to other Wesfarmers businesses. The large restructuring of Target Australia, is a result of its parent company Wesfarmers, claiming that a changing retail landscape in which consumers are opting for "cheap and cheerful" products, mixed with some high-end purchases. The store closures and conversions were expected to last from early 2020 to early-mid 2021.[26][27] The proposed changes were as follows:

  • 10–40 Target stores were converted to Kmart.[26]
  • 10–25 other Target stores were closed.[26]
  • 52 Target Country stores converted to small-format Kmart stores, called K Hubs. The remaining 50 Target Country stores were closed.[26][28]
  • In total up to 92 Target stores were converted into Kmart stores with a whole total of 167 stores closed or converted.[27]

Despite its great brand recognition, Target as a large-format retail offering was potentially cannibalising sales from sister group Kmart and didn't offer a great enough point of difference compared to Myer and David Jones. On Target Australia's website, they attributed the cause of the closures as "improving the commercial viability of the business and to support the thousands of people we employ... we need to adapt our business — to make it smaller, more focused, less complex and more digitally enabled so we can better serve our customers both in store and online."[29][30]

In early 2022 Target had launched their new rebrand which they called "That's Target".[31] Over the month of February they launched new ads that told a story of daily struggles of life and ended with the catch phrase such as "That's quality. That's Target".[32][33][34]

Target store formats

Target

There are currently 124 Target department stores located throughout Australia that stock the full range of Target's products.[35] Target is also pushing their online presence since the major closures. Each state and territory have at least two Target stores:

Former store formats

Target Country

Logo for Fosseys
Logo for Target Country

Fosseys was established in 1926 at George Street, Sydney by Alfred Bristow Fossey and grew to 148 stores throughout Australia, with an annual turnover of $300 million.[citation needed] As part of the acquisition of Grace Bros, which had purchased JB Young's of Queanbeyan who owned Fosseys, Coles Myer came to own Fosseys. Coles Myer used the Fossey’s brand to unify a range of smaller variety stores trading under a range of other names, including Coles Variety stores, which had been the foundation of GJ Coles & Coy Ltd.[citation needed]

Former Target Country store formerly Fossey's store in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales

Coles Myer merged the operations of Fosseys with Target in 1996, redesigning Fosseys stores to focus on family apparel retailing in rural Australia. It also introduced Fosseys branded merchandise with attributes of value, convenience and confidence.[citation needed]

Fosseys stores began converting to Target Country in 1999, along with Fosseys stores being closed when they were in close proximity to a larger Target store. By 2001, all Fosseys stores located close to Target stores were closed; the remaining Fosseys stores, rebranded as Target Country, continue to focus on apparel sales in smaller towns without full-merchandise Target stores. The first Fosseys store to be rebranded as Target Country, was Target Country Wonthaggi (Relocated to a larger space, now Kmart)[36] As of 1 July 2007, employees of Fosseys (Australia) Pty Ltd were transferred to Target Australia Pty Ltd, and Fosseys as a legal entity was dissolved. A store count at June 2008, there were 118 Target Country stores throughout Australia.[citation needed]

From the mid 1990s onwards, there was a rebranding of some Grace Bros stores in regional NSW to Target. This included a large number of stores which had previously been part of the Dubbo based Western Stores. Locations which converted from Grace Bros to Target and then Target Country include Bathurst, Cowra, West Wyalong, Forbes, and Young (all closed as of 2021).[citation needed]

Target Country store numbers were growing, and gained popularity in regional and remote communities, as Australians loved having access to the fashions and homewares of Target, which were increasingly popular and on price. Stores were refitted and mimicked the appearance of a larger Target store, along with the replacement of the Fosseys POS to Target “touchscreen” POS.[citation needed] As part of Target's 2020 restructuring Target Country stores have been closed or converted. The last Target Country store, Target Country Salamander Bay (NSW), closed its doors for the last time on 8 May 2021.[37]

Urban by Target

Urban by Target was a format tried by Target initially at South Yarra, Victoria at The Jam Factory, after taking over a closed Virgin Megastore. The format was introduced in 2010, with a second location opening in 2011, at Flemington, Victoria at Flemington Village. A third location was also opened in 2011, at Pasadena, South Australia, at Pasadena Shopping Centre. The format was smaller than a traditional Target department store and was focused on clothing and home wares. The location at Flemington was closed down, followed by Pasadena, which remained but converted into a traditional Target department store and was eventually converted to South Australia's first TK Maxx store.[38] South Yarra was renovated with the new logo, in black instead of red for the iconic Target symbol, although this location was closed down permanently.[39]

Target Home

The largest Target store in Australia, located in Greensborough Plaza, Greensborough, Melbourne, Victoria pictured in October 2012. It was formerly a Target Home store.

Another format tried by Target was the homewares-themed store Target Home but was later discontinued. Target Home stores have since been phased out to become larger Target stores, and still stock a larger range of homewares in a number of locations in Australia including Joondalup and Westfield Carousel in WA, Edwardstown in SA, Highpoint (now Kmart) and Greensborough Plaza in VIC, and Westfield Warringah Mall (now Kmart) in NSW.[citation needed]

Designers for Target

In March 2007, Target launched a 42-piece winter collection designed by Stella McCartney and Britney Spears.[40] A number of metropolitan stores sold out of the range as soon as 10 minutes after opening, and items from the collection soon began appearing for sale on eBay at inflated prices.[citation needed] Another Stella McCartney collection was released in October 2010, to lesser fanfare.[citation needed]

In May 2007, Target announced its next designer range from Goot to a mixed reaction,[41] and subsequently produced a collaboration with American designer Zac Posen in April 2008.[citation needed] In the same month, Australian fashion designer Collette Dinnigan released a range of lingerie labelled the 'Wild Hearts' collection.[42]

In February 2012, Target launched a line of lingerie designed by American burlesque dancer and model Dita Von Teese.[citation needed] Throughout 2012, Target also announced designer collaborations for children with Collette Dinnigan[43] and Ksubi[44] and Roberto Cavalli[45] for women.

In March 2016, Target launched a collection of women's, men's, children's and homewares by French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier.[46]

See also

References

  1. ^ Bailey, Imogen (12 November 2020). "Target welcomes new MD as Marina Joanou moves on". Ragtrader. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  2. ^ "2020 Full-year results briefing presentation" (PDF). Wesfarmers. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Kmart Group". Wesfarmers. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  4. ^ English, Carrigan (8 September 2019). "There's an Australian store called Target that has nothing to do with the American one — and the Australian one is way better". Business Insider Australia. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Target Australia Headquarters". Cedar Woods. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Target has a twin in Australia, but they're not related". Star Tribune. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Our History". Target Australia. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  8. ^ a b c "It all began 50 years ago". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 March 1971.
  9. ^ "Target store is right on the target". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 June 1971.
  10. ^ "Coles homes in on Target". The Sydney Morning Herald. 14 October 1982.
  11. ^ "Vic businesswomen scoop awards". The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 October 2003. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
  12. ^ "Wesfarmers plans Coles investment, restructuring". Reuters. 16 August 2007. Archived from the original on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2007.
  13. ^ Rosemary Anne Sharp (3 October 2013). "Target's plastic bag backdown a loss for the silent majority". The Conversation Australia. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  14. ^ "Target's new chief executive defies the gloom". The Australian. 23 November 2011. Archived from the original on 24 November 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  15. ^ Jane Harper (8 April 2013). "Stuart Machin replaces Dene Rogers as Target managing director". News.com.au. Archived from the original on 8 October 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  16. ^ "Department Stores". Wesfarmers. Archived from the original on 7 February 2017.
  17. ^ Parker, Justine (11 April 2016). "Target accounting scandal: Wesfarmers taking action against staff". ABC Online. Archived from the original on 8 May 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  18. ^ "Ex-Target boss who quit in wake of scandal has new UK job". The Australian. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  19. ^ "Massive changes coming to Target". 22 June 2016. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  20. ^ Hatch, Patrick (7 June 2018). "Target to close dozens of stores in 'boutique' shift". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  21. ^ "Target stores set to close after financial struggle". finance.nine.com.au. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  22. ^ "900 Geelong Target jobs in limbo as new boss Guy Russo searches for Melbourne base". Geelong Advertiser. 13 April 2016. Archived from the original on 14 March 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  23. ^ Tan, Su-Lin (28 December 2016). "Target Australia to move headquarters to Cedar Woods' Williams Landing". Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  24. ^ "Target, Kmart collaborate to cut costs as Amazon looms". Australian Financial Review. 7 June 2010. Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  25. ^ McCauley, Dana (7 June 2017). "Target stores to be 'rebadged' as Kmart, Guy Russo reveals". News.com.au. Archived from the original on 9 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
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  27. ^ a b "Which Target stores are closing, rebranding as Kmart?". www.9news.com.au. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
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  30. ^ "Business Update | Target Australia". Target Australia.
  31. ^ https://www.target.com.au/thats-target-tried-and-tested [bare URL]
  32. ^ "One More Time Tested. That's Target". YouTube.
  33. ^ "Doug Tested. That's Target". YouTube.
  34. ^ "Nonna Tested. That's Target". YouTube.
  35. ^ "Store Finder | Target Australia". 7 September 2021.
  36. ^ "Kmart Wonthaggi is now open! | Come and see your new store at Wonthaggi Plaza shopping centre. | By Kmart Australia | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  37. ^ Watts, Ellie-Marie (18 January 2021). "Close date set for Salamander Bay Target". Port Stephens Examiner. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
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  39. ^ Pallisco, Marc (2 September 2011). "Urban cool in Target sights". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
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  41. ^ Hoyer, Melissa (20 May 2007). "Can Josh Goot do a Stella?". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 22 June 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
  42. ^ Lawrence, Vanessa (2 July 2009). "Undercover agents". The Age. Melbourne. Archived from the original on 14 December 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
  43. ^ "Collette Dinnigan designs ballet line for Target". 3 October 2012. Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  44. ^ "Ksubi launches kid's collection in collaboration with Target". 26 September 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  45. ^ "Cavalli joins forces with Target". 8 October 2012. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  46. ^ "Review: Jean-Paul Gaultier brings punk and glam to Target". 10 March 2016. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
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