Within the retail industry, Target Corporation commands a leadership position for our technological knowledge and sophistication, and
we are committed to maintaining this competitive advantage. Our expertise in technology allows us to deliver
superior guest service, drive operational
excellence in our supply chain
and improve our overall financial performance. To directly benefit
our guests during 2002, we enabled all of our companies to support receipt-less returns, continued to build our knowledge base of our guests' shopping preferences and
enhanced our guests' online shopping
experiences by creating a single web site with increased personalization features. In addition, at Target we have begun capturing electronic signatures at checkout and are piloting electronic coupons for
our Target Visa guests using smart chip technology.
Investments in our supply chain and infrastructure are also critical
to our competitive position and support our guest service objectives. For example,
we have meaningfully improved in-stocks, while maintaining tightly controlled
inventory levels. We have accomplished this by expanding our Collaborative
Planning, Forecasting
and Replenishment effort, intensifying our focus on high velocity items
and categories, and leveraging the benefit of end-to-end supply chain visibility
— from order creation to store replenishment — provided by our new performance
tracking system. In addition, we have digitized many processes that allow us
to convert ideas to sales more rapidly and to substantially reduce our acquisition
costs for goods and services. Finally, we are accelerating our investment in
distribution capacity, including
new import warehouses and regional distribution centers, to ensure consistency
and greater efficiency even as we continue to grow.
We firmly believe that continuous innovation and sound investment
in technology will allow us to serve our guests better every day, to sustain our competitive leadership position and to contribute incremental value for our shareholders over time.
