On the Subject of Positioning

Positioning.... What an interesting topic. Positioning, of course, takes into account the mix of price, product, promotion and place to create openings in a continually changing market.

One of the examples cited in the reading was the positioning strategies of Wal-Mart and Target. Wal-Mart has traditionally positioned itself based upon being the lowest price. On the other hand, Target has positioned itself as a more upscale option that is competitively priced.

What’s interesting about Wal-Mart and Target is that Wal-Mart, the larger of the two companies, is actually repositioning itself to be more like Target. Wal-Mart is moving upscale. Stores are getting makeovers and higher end products are being introduced. When I was at West Texas A&M, we took a real in-depth look at Wal-Mart’s growth strategies. If you’re interested, take a look at this report my group put together.

Also, since we’re talking about positioning, another interesting example to look at is Federated Department Stores. I authored a really good look at the Macy’s brand and how Federated consolidated its retail assets (May Department Stores, Marshall Fields, Bloomingdale’s, etc.), with the exception of Bloomingdale’s, into the Macy’s brand. Why did Federated make this move? The truth is they had to do something to stay competitive. Their gamble was that positioning themselves around a national Macy’s brand was the right move.