Target Audiences and VALS

All retailers have a target market which they are trying to sell to. They can vary anywhere from little children all the way up to women in their 50's and older. No matter what the store, there is a target audience that they seem to be selling their products to.

An example of a target audience would be for the store R.E.I. My group discussed this retailer in class and decided that the target audience would be men and women in their 30's and 40's who like to do things outdoors. The products sold in R.E.I. are not only clothing but also hiking gear, fishing products, and even camping gear, plus many more things.

When I took VALS survey, my results came out to be an experiencer and a striver. For the most part, I agree with what each one had to say. I felt as though I am more of an experiencer than a striver simply because it said that money defines success for strivers and that is not me at all. But for the most part, I felt that the survey did a good job of desribing me.

Information On My Favorite Retailer: Express

Since I have made it clear that my favorite retailer is Express, I am going to talk a little bit about its history. Express started almost thirty years ago as an experiment. Express started in 1980 as an experiment along with eight other stores called Limited Express. This is now called Limited Brands. Express had so many opportunities in front of it and they took them.

There are more than 550 stores across the United States as well as a website online to shop from. The CEO and President of Express right now is Michael Weiss. They bring in more than 1.8 billion dollars in sales.

In 2007, Express finally became and independent and privately held company.They were bought by the Golden Gate Capital in San Francisco. This is a great opportunity for Express to grow even larger than they are today.