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In a Class By Itself: How Target Became the Model in U.S. Retail

  • Retailer’s stores, brands and website have fueled performance
  • Results cast harsh light on other retailers’ failure to adapt

Baskets sit in a shopping cart at a Target Corp. store in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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American retailers, school is in session. The teacher? Target Corp.

Yes, Target. The cheap-chic retailer -- in distress just five years ago -- has morphed into a model for how to avoid the retail apocalypse. Over that time, Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell has overseen a $7 billion turnaround plan that includes opening and remodeling hundreds of stores, creating dozens of exclusive private-label brands and expanding the ways it gets its merchandise into shoppers’ hands.