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As
the Internet continues to expand its reach and capability,
Target Corporation continues to pursue e-business opportunities
that enhance profitability and strengthen our relationships
with our guests, our vendors and our team members.
During 2001, target.direct continued to drive substantial
growth in traffic and sales, capitalizing on both increased
Internet use by our guests and improvements in the design,
functionality and merchandising of our websites. In addition,
we entered into an agreement with Amazon.com that should allow
us to continue growing at a rapid pace in the future. It gives
our guests access to Amazon’s state-of-the-art shopping
features, leverages Amazon’s superior technology and
fulfillment capability, and offers an additional site where
guests can purchase Target’s differentiated merchandise.
Overall, we believe this partnership represents a breakthrough
for our guests and for Internet shopping, and positions Target
Corporation to remain in a leadership role as the Internet
evolves.
While we are firmly committed to deepening our relationships
with guests, we are also focused on strengthening our vendor
partnerships. In many of these vendor initiatives — some of
which were described in Inventory+Intelligence — the
Internet plays an important role. In a program called Partners
On Line, for example, Internet technology allows us to streamline
the flow of sales and inventory information to our vendors
and allows vendors to respond more quickly and more accurately
to support our needs. This initiative is expected to improve
our in-stock levels, reduce our markdowns, and increase our
overall sales performance. Through e-sourcing, another application
of Internet technology, we have been actively working to lower
our procurement costs for goods and services and we are very
pleased with the favorable results we have experienced to
date.
We are embracing the Internet throughout our company and believe
that our strategic investment in this channel will help us
to maximize our competitive advantage and to capitalize on
opportunities for long-term profitable growth.
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