Shopping audience demographics are nothing new -- retailers always want to know the core base of what kind of customers are shopping with them so that targeted merchandise and appropriate upsells and impulse planning can happen. This is in an attempt to wrangle every possible penny from the most shoppers on every visit, and ever retailer does it. So what is the core shopper component of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) according to BusinessWeek? Well, completely contrary to the core shopping group that Wal-Mart says it has (lower-income, minority shoppers), this week the core Wal-Mart customer is likely to be socially conservative, pro-gun and exurban or rural. That's pretty specific, yes?
On the other hand the core Target Stores, Inc. (NYSE: TGT) customer is likely to be an independent-minded, style-conscious, cost-conscious suburbanite. That sounds pretty specific for a shopping demographic, and the politicos around the nation are apparently taking notice. This kind of core Target customer means that Target shoppers -- but not Wal-Mart shoppers -- are "the sort of voters who are at play in swing states".
Ah-ha. Now we get to the jist of the post. Politicians are looking to lure votes from a target group of individuals and they can learn quite a bit from studying the core demographical groups who regularly shop the nation's largest retailers. So trying to remember how most of the states generally vote, which is not hard to recollect, Wal-Mart shoppers will most likely be in the Southern and Midwest states while Target shoppers will most likely be in the West Coast and East Coast states. But, aren't both retailers pretty much nationwide? That question was a joke, folks.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-04-2006 @ 9:12PM
Sally said...
Target rocks...
9-19-2006 @ 1:07PM
Jim Hamblin said...
Maybe more to the point is that Wal*Mart's demographics and their culture have resulted in a business that is largely commoditized and therefore vulnerable. In David Ogilvy's "Confessions of An Advertising Man", his lead quote was "they tried to copy my ideas but they couldn't copy my mind . . and I left them sweating and stealing . . a year and a half behind."
9-19-2006 @ 2:30PM
margaret mckee said...
i prefer Wal-Mart to Target. Target is not warm. Wal-Mart is a happier atmosphere, and Target is stripped looking. Sort of like old fashioned bargain basements. I hope Wal-Mart will be here for a long, long time. I shop at both stores, and i have stock in neither.
9-19-2006 @ 2:27PM
margaret mckee said...
i prefer Wal-Mart to Target. Target is not warm. Wal-Mart is a happier atmosphere, and Target is stripped looking. Sort of like old fashioned bargain basements. I hope Wal-Mart will be here for a long, long time. I shop at both stores, and i have stock in neither.
9-19-2006 @ 5:24PM
Matthew said...
I prefer Target to Wal*Mart. Mostly because Target's stores are open and easy to navigate. Wal*Mart has tightly packed ailes that barely fit a cart down them. Wal*Mart has too cheap of prices, that makes me come to the conclusion that their products are of low quality and do not last. I prefer to pay a little more for merchandise at Target to get higher quality products and better styling.
9-20-2006 @ 12:32AM
MountainDoggy said...
In the red states Walmart shoppers walk into the store with head held high, smiling and greeting their neighbors.
In the blue states Walmart shoppers slink into the store, head down and face hidden, always weary to not be seen by people they know.
The commonality? In both red and blue states, Walmart parking lots are full.
9-21-2006 @ 9:04AM
Mary Shopper said...
Wal-Mart shoppers = cheapness
Target shoppers= higher class of people
I'll bet that on the day the government welfare checks are issued, the parking lots at Wal-Mart are at their fullest.