Running Head: Target’s Data Analytics 1

Target’s Data Analytics

Spencer M. Shumway

Utah Valley University

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In its quest to advance technologically and bring value to its customers through its e-

commerce capability, Target created EDABI, a system that rivals its competition. Target’s

EDABI project has proven to be effectual in more areas of the company than Target initially

envisioned. In addition to helping the company know what products to sell, EDABI has helped

Target find supply chain solutions, save money regarding energy consumption, advantageously

implement digital ads, and optimize each individual store’s merchandising efforts. With the

creation of its EDABI program, Target is well on its way to being more competitive in the online

retail marketplace.

Internal Analysis

Target’s biggest and most valuable strength is the manpower it has access to. Target has

close to 350,000 employees and has plans to expand rapidly in the near future. Currently Target

has been in business since 1902. Target was at first a dry goods store; then as the market has

changed, Target changed with it and was able to keep its competitive advantage. The brand name

“Target” has been the official name and logo since 2000. In these past 19 years, Target has

become both a destination spot for potential employees and well practiced at employee retention.

Internally, it has enough employees to pivot comfortably when the upper management feels the

market is changing course, and externally, they have the brand name that attracts employee

applicants like flies to honey.

Another internal strength Target has is the mindset for internal innovation and the need

for self-reliance the company has fostered. “As online shopping became prevalent, Target

decided that the company needed to become a digital expert and develop more of its own

technology.” Because of this mindset, EDABI was created. EDABI enabled the company to

create a “strategic analytics deployment consulting services” wing of the company. This wing
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permits EDABI to advise and empower all branches of the company to use data to save money

and create larger profits, without having to waste time coordinating with outside companies and

paying for their consulting services.

Target’s biggest weakness is the many locations in the U.S it operates. They have offices

in “Sunnyvale, California; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Minneapolis, Minnesota and Bangalore,

India.” The reason for all of these locations is to enable the company access to top talent around

the world. Target now has living proof that all the data in the world is making communication

across multiple fronts faster and easier because of EDABI. The time lost in coordinating business

activities between these locations is a big threat facing the company. With communication

technology as fast and ubiquitous as it is, access to top talent is easier than ever without being

physically present to recruit. Communication technology can turn this threat into an opportunity.

Consolidating office space will save money and time for the company.

Desai was correct in thinking his team could affect the company in more ways than just

driving sales through Target’s website. Initially, that is what happened, evidenced by the fact that

sales grew by $100 million in 2017. Soon after, EDABI—with its machine learning and data

analytics capabilities—started working with other operational challenges Target faced.

External Analysis

EDABI (Enterprise Data, Analytics and Business Intelligence) began working with

product managers across the company to increase sales at each individual location. Because these

managers now had access to this data and were able to analyze it accurately, recommendations

could be made to each customer based on the products they already had placed in their cart.

These recommendations grew total sales to $100 million in 2017. Being able to collect and
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realistically analyze this information is an opportunity for growth. As customers keep coming

back to shop, these recommendations will only become more precise and sales will grow.

Being able to profile anyone past a certain degree of specificity always comes with

ethical considerations. Nobody likes it when they feel their privacy is being invaded. As more is

learned about a subject, biases start to creep in. The people at the head of this EDABI program

need to always remain in control of machine-produced algorithms. Desai addressed this very

issue: “we force the algorithms to index higher on variety versus past behaviors.” This new

capability Target has developed has legal and ethical issues, but as long as Target remains ethical

in its use of its advanced EDABI systems, Target will thrive in the retail market.

Conclusion and Recommendations

With EDABI’s ability to read and analyze data regarding customer and product usage, the

program has proven to be resourceful and accurate in telling future events. EDABI could use

these same principles in the other sectors of the company. If it were applied to the finance

department, the company’s financial forecasts would become much more accurate, and each

variable dictated by real world events would be updated in real-time because of EDABI’s ML

capabilities. The marketing department would receive the same kind of benefits. Because

Target’s AI has proven to be so accurate, it would be able to read exactly what the customer

wants when it comes to price, financing options, and so on. And once the AI has learned that, it

can update the marketing department’s pricing lists.

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Areas in the company where EDABI has positively impacted

Supply Chain

Energy Optimization

Digital ads optimization

Merchandising

Areas in the company where EDABI could be used

Finance

Marketing
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Target/EDABI SWOT analysis

STRENTGHS Brand Work Force Employment

Name/Recognition Destination
WEAKNESSES Distance & Time
Zones between
Physical
Locations
OPPORTUNITIES Data Mining ML/AI Data Analysis

THREATS Ethics of Data Losing

Mining differentiation
and becoming to
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