This is a fascinating (and gobsmacking and depressing) look at Target's audacious plan to create a huge presence in Canada, and how it all went horribly, horribly wrong.
Bottom lines:
– Driving schedules based on anything but what it takes to do a good job usually means you won't do a good job.
– Rushing large technology projects is a formula for disaster.
– Rushing multiple integrating technology projects with people who are unfamiliar with them is a formula for utter disaster.
– Throw SAP in to a rush schedule, and … well, you get the idea.
A big move into Canada would have been challenging and full of hiccups, no doubt, but Target's decision to use all-new software systems, and drive the schedule based on "Hey, we already bought all this property, we have to open up stores RIGHT NOW" almost guaranteed (in retrospect) that the effort would fail.
People will be writing business school white papers about this for some time, I suspect.
The Crazy Story of What Really Went Wrong at Target Canada
Target pulled the plug on its massive Canadian expansion less than two years after opening. This is the incredible untold story of how it all went wrong.
Yeah, it felt rushed. Lots of open space, no product. Nothing for consumers to warm up to, at all. None of us could see the value in what they were bringing to the table.
I don't know how much the back end stuff impacted the customer experience, but I can tell you nobody was impressed.
+Patrick Bick Which is very unlike US Target stores, which are almost always well-stocked and have just what we need without having to go to WalMart. If customer experience in Canada was that bad, the story rings very true regarding it.