Benjamin Palestino

Hi Ben, thanks for sharing! I enjoyed your use of puns. When I was in undergrad I definitely stopped at Target to stock up on school essentials. I am a Target frequent shopper and it seems like every August I receive a “save $10” coupon paired with a back-to-school ad in the mail.

Target has made my experience easier with their app. Every Sunday I am able to open the open and preview their weekly ad and Target Circle (formerly named cartwheel) offers. When reviewing the weekly ad in the app I am able to start my shopping list which shows what aisle the items are located in inside of my selected home store. This aisle identification makes for a smooth Target run with lessening distractions and the possibility of purchasing items not on my original list. If you get to the store and can’t find an item you can use the search function in the app to locate what aisle it is located in.

They have differentiated themselves from their competition by extending their discounts to teachers as well. Perhaps they are so successful with their back-to-school campaign because their competitors focus on other major events throughout the year. As a Target REDCard member I get 5% off of every purchase and access to special offers. The exclusive special offer access is mostly during the holiday season but I’ve noticed they are starting to use the offers year round. They could get more customers to sign up for their REDCard (either a credit card or debit card linked to users’ checking account) if they offered exclusive back-to-school offers.

I totally agree,Ben, Target does a great job of reminding everyone on social media that they are the place to shop during back-to-school season. Since Target is specifically going for the 18-25 with their campaigns I figured they would probably be doing a lot on Instagram to reach this audience. Comparing their Instagram to that of Amazon, Walmart or Bed, Bath & Beyond also indicates that they are ahead of the competition in targeting students but also shows that they are thinking of parents and teachers.

Personally, I would have thought Amazon, Walmart and Bed, Bath & Beyond would have been better than they are. I was surprised to find that each of those companies only had 1-2 pictures targeting college age adults and maybe 1 picture targeting parents . Whereas Target shares cute dorm pictures, things for teachers and pictures/videos that would appeal to parents that are doing the back-to-school shopping.

I know that Target’s app this year showed all the back-to-school staples (backpacks, notebooks, etc.) front and center this year but I can’t help but think that they have some solid competition. While I LOVE going to Target and shopping there their app isn’t always something I find myself utilizing. If I’m thinking of a company using mobile I think of Amazon. I know that Amazon has tried to get in on the back-to-school shopping by introducing it’s Prime Day back in 2015. https://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/10/back-to-school-sales-disrupted-by-amazon-prime-day.html

However, like I said, Amazon’s social media doesn’t really show they’re targeting students or parents/teachers. While I think Target is on the right path, I think they have some improvements to make if they want to be spot on…pun intended.

Solid analysis of Target’s overall strategy for back-to-school Ben, but what specifically is mobile helping to empower?

You mention a 10% discount if they pay through the app, but that’s more of a traditional promotion rather than any enhancement through mobile.

Similarly, the mobile is likely to be consumed on mobile, but your analysis is looking at social media pretty broadly.

Is there anything specific to mobile that is making this more effective than it otherwise would have been?

Congratulations Ben! I think this is a huge win for you and TU. I keep going back and checking that $45 was a typo!

$45 is AN AWESOME rate!! I checked out this guy’s IG to see what I could calculate his engagement being, and came up with 0.4% on his five most recent posts. To do this, I usually calculate the average likes of the 5 most recent posts and divide that by the number of followers. I also take into account the quantity and content of comments on each post (lots of emojis usually signifies fake followers). At the company that I work for, we usually don’t consider anybody with less than 1% engagement, and ideally focus on influencers with 3%+ engagement. But for $45, you can’t really lose (and by the way, the post is now up to 7,203 likes)!

Hi Ben. What a timely post! I am a prime subscriber and I often buy items on Amazon that I know I can get a little cheaper elsewhere because it’s so convenient. When I have price shopped and was tempted to try Target or Walmart, I ended up changing my mind – the hassle of setting up another account and getting more junk email, just didn’t seem worth saving $3-$5.
Save me time, make it easy for me and a consistently deliver a good experience and I’m sold!

BTW, there’s a student discount for Amazon Prime – even if you have an subscription, you can change it to student and get the discount.!

I’m an Amazon Prime sucker for sure. I’m so entrenched in their marketing and buying process that I recently realized rarely even price check anywhere else now. There are too many variables with eBay and I’ve had not-so-smooth experiences with Target and Walmart that I hardly think of them now.

Also, for Prime day, I bought a kayak. Yep…

Great post, Ben! I have to say, I buy so much off of Amazon, and it’s 100% for convenience. I think they have done a great job making it so easy to buy that price isn’t a dealbreaker as it is at other retailers. Don’t get me wrong, I am not going to spend $40 more on something, but I will pay more if I can get it in 2 days with free shipping.

To me, an even bigger issue than the price is that they have fed (maybe even created) the culture that consumers want everything immediately. I know I am a culprit. I think I should be able to get everything in 2-3 days, so why would it take a dress 2-weeks to ship to me? It can be tough for businesses to meet these demands and compete- especially small businesses.

Hey Ben, great post! Maybe I’m just a bit of a cheapskate but even though I have Prime, I’d still probably go through the effort with Target’s checkout just to save a few bucks on the Ring system. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love the convenience of Amazon Prime! When I had procrastinated in getting my mom’s birthday present last year, Prime was there to save the day with their next day shipping.

I definitely agree with Christine’s point that Amazon has helped feed the culture of immediate gratification, but if companies and technology are willing to keep up, that may not be the worst thing in the world.

Hi Ben — I was an Android user for years because the phone function on Android was better than an iPhone at the time. I was an early adopter and had an iPod Touch and first gen iPad. I got an iPhone when my son got a phone, it was about security and peace of mind for me. I could check my phone to find his phone and locate him, I can approve his apps and control what he spends (he’s only 10). I was already in the iCloud so it was easy to add everything into my phone and be part of the bigger ecosystem. I honestly can’t tell any difference in performance of phones. I think it’s more about brand loyalty over function, they all mimic each other to some extent. I think at some point it will be more Apple versus Google in data and identity management over phone functionality.

Great thoughts, Ben! I recently experienced this need to have Apple everything when hooking up my Apple Watch. I purchased my Apple Watch for the sole purpose of running/exercising without having to carry my phone. With Bluetooth headphones, this capability makes things super simple. However, upon trying to connect my music with my headphones I found that no apps would connect when out of reach from my phone. I wasted months running without music only to find after a trip to the Apple store that I was encouraged to purchase a membership with Apple Music. Unfortunately, I feel this is my only option despite my love for Spotify. I tried everything from downloading Pandora, playing OLD music from my iTunes, and even downloading songs one by one and converting them to a different file type. I guess my next step is to take the plunge and get Apple Music. Although I love Apple, this is a frustrating instance and I’m sure I’m not alone as you’ve also pointed out.