Target Mandates Major Change for Holiday Shopping

(KMDL-FM) The battle for your Christmas budget has been waging since Labor Day. I think that's how long the Christmas decorations have been up in places like Home Depot, Lowe's, and Target. It's part of the retail madness that happens every year, and this year, Target is doing something that is a secret psychological ploy to get more of your money out of your wallet and into their cash registers.

The move by Target seems to fly in the face of marketing as we have come to know it in the past decade or so. Let's face it, in the past ten years, have you found yourself going into stores more often, or have you found yourself ordering from stores more often?

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I think we can all agree the latter has become the popular choice, but for Target and other retailers, the "big spends" happen when customers such as you and I are in the store. So this is a mandatory move by Target's upper echelon brass to make sure that your time in a Target store is well spent, and so is your money.

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What Has Target Changed About Shopping For the Holidays?

Yeah, Target's new in-store marketing strategy takes a page from the old Smokey and the Bandit movies, okay, just the original, the sequels sucked. The new customer initiative is called the 10-4 Program, and no, it has nothing to do with CB radios, truck drivers, or songs with questionable lyrics like Teddy Bear.

The 10-4 Program from Target is part of a corporate initiative to enhance the in-store shopping experience. Chief Executive Officer Michael Fiddelke plans to "delight our guests who shop with us every time they shop". So, have you figured out what a CB radio code, 10-4, has to do with shopping at Target?

What Does 10-4 Mean at a Target Store?

Unlike the radio jargon, the Target 10-4 has less to do with understanding as it has to do with appreciation. That appreciation is for you, the customer. Here is the 10-4 program in a nutshell. The new protocol dictates that when a Target customer comes within ten feet of a Target associate, that associate should offer that customer a warm, friendly smile.

If a Target Customer gets within four feet of a Target Associate, that associate should engage the customer with a "may I help" or a similar pleasantry, such as "how's your day". Again, it's all designed to make the in-store experience warmer and more friendly.

We don't know what the penalty is or even if there is one for Target associates who don't follow the 10-4 rule. Also, there is a part of me that questions why an organization has to tell its employees to be nice to the people who are spending money that goes toward their paychecks. That would qualify as common sense in my book, but then again, my book was written a few years ago, maybe things really have changed.