Monica's marketing mind

This week, we’re exploring the core principles of consumer behavior while also preparing for our final project. For this major assignment, we get the chance to act as a Vice President of Marketing for a Fortune 500 company. After reviewing the options, I chose to focus my project on Target, specifically examining its home decor and organization categories.

Target has effectively mastered mass-market appeal by positioning itself as an upscale discount retailer, often praised for making trendy design accessible to the average consumer. My focus is on suburban millennial parents, a demographic managing busy family schedules, remote or hybrid work, and a strong desire to create a home that is both functional for children and visually appealing for themselves. This group is particularly interesting because they often shop at Target to fulfill aspirational needs rather than basic necessities, making them highly receptive to emotional branding and visual marketing. Their buying habits are greatly influenced by digital interactions, social media trends, and seamless omnichannel experiences such as drive-up order pickup.

This final project helps connect consumer behavior theory with real-world application. By analyzing Target’s segmentation and the consumer buying process, we learn to target customers precisely at their decision-making stage. Instead of generic messaging to a broad audience, we develop tailored campaigns and assess the impact of one-to-one marketing. It prompts us to ask what triggers certain segments’ needs, where they seek trusted info, and how to prevent cart abandonment.

I’m very eager to explore the secondary research, understand Target’s main shoppers, and observe how the class analyzes their selected brands.