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Target Australia Pty Ltd (formerly Lindsay's and Lindsay's Target, formerly stylised as Target. and doing business as Target and Target Australia) is a department store chain owned by Australian retail conglomerate Wesfarmers. Target stocks clothing, cosmetics, homewares, electronics, books, and toys selling both in-store and online. The company's head office is located in the Melbourne suburb of Williams Landing which the company moved to in 2018. Despite the identical logo, name and similar type of outlets, Target Australia carries no direct relation or affiliation to the American retailer Target Corporation.
In 1968, Myer purchased the chain of 16 stores and renamed the company Lindsay's Target. They moved into the South Australian market with the first "Target" store opening in Newton, South Australia in October 1970 with an aim to expand the business. The new discount department store quickly established itself throughout Australia, and within three years had stores in Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales. In March 1973, "Lindsay's" was dropped from the company name and the business was renamed Target Australia. The mainly Victorian-based "Lindsay's" stores, with the positioning of "Sell it for Less", were rolled into the "Target" discount department store group, now carrying over its leading position of quality soft goods to the larger Target discount department store format, while maintaining its base in Geelong.
By 1982, Myer was operating 27 stores under the Target brand, but sold 22 of them, with 14 going to GJ Coles & Coy Ltd.
In May 2009, Target stopped providing free plastic bags for its customers, but in 2013 reversed this decision. In November 2011, Dene Rogers, the former chief executive of North American retailer Sears Canada, replaced Inman as Target's managing director. However, by April 2013 Rogers had been replaced by former chief operations director at Coles, Stuart Machin.
In February 2016, Wesfarmers restructured Target and Kmart under a single department stores division known as the Kmart Group, headed by Kmart managing director Guy Russo. An accounting scandal that created $21 million in fraudulent profits was reported on 11 April 2016. Although it is not believed CEO Stuart Machin orchestrated or ordered the accounting irregularities, he took the blame for the scandal and departed Target.
In June 2016, at a Wesfarmers annual strategy briefing Guy Russo announced that Target would be exiting toy sales, pet care, and luggage. In the same year Target saw a loss of $195 million. According to Mr Russo, 20% of Target's 305 stores would be closed over a five year period. Target planned to market shift, becoming a "mid-tier" new boutique retailer, competing with the likes of foreign fast fashion giants H&M, Uniqlo and Zara.
Target announced in April 2016 it would relocate its Geelong head office to Melbourne, resulting in an unspecified number of redundancies. Following the April 2016 announcement, Wesfarmers confirmed in December that Target would relocate to Williams Landing in late 2018.
In June 2017, Wesfarmers announced that Target and Kmart would be merging some of their back-office operations including procurement. Some Target stores would be converted to Kmart stores while other Target and Target Country stores would be closed. , Target had 284 stores throughout Australia: 191 Target stores, and 93 Target Country stores. In May 2020, further store closures and consolidations were announced with up to 1,300 employees moving to other Wesfarmers businesses. The large restructuring of Target Australia, is a result of its parent company Wesfarmers, claiming that a changing retail landscape in which consumers are opting for "cheap and cheerful" products, mixed with some high-end purchases. The store closures and conversions were expected to last from early 2020 to early-mid 2021. The proposed changes were as follows:
In early 2022 Target had launched their new rebrand which they called "That's Target". Over the month of February they launched new ads that told a story of daily struggles of life and ended with the catch phrase such as "That's quality. That's Target".
In July 2023, Wesfarmers announced it would reorganise Target and Kmart internally and run them as one combined business.
Coles Myer merged the operations of Fosseys with Target in 1996, redesigning Fosseys stores to focus on family apparel retailing in rural Australia. It also introduced Fosseys branded merchandise with attributes of value, convenience and confidence.
Fosseys stores began converting to Target Country in 1999, along with Fosseys stores being closed when they were in close proximity to a larger Target store. By 2001, all Fosseys stores located close to Target stores were closed; the remaining Fosseys stores, rebranded as Target Country, continue to focus on apparel sales in smaller towns without full-merchandise Target stores. The first Fosseys store to be rebranded as Target Country, was Target Country Wonthaggi (Relocated to a larger space, now Kmart) As of 1 July 2007, employees of Fosseys (Australia) Pty Ltd were transferred to Target Australia Pty Ltd, and Fosseys as a Legal person was dissolved. A store count at June 2008, there were 118 Target Country stores throughout Australia.
From the mid 1990s onwards, there was a rebranding of some Grace Bros stores in regional NSW to Target. This included a large number of stores which had previously been part of the Dubbo based Western Stores. Locations which converted from Grace Bros to Target and then Target Country include Bathurst, Cowra, West Wyalong, Forbes, and Young (all closed as of 2021).
Target Country store numbers were growing, and gained popularity in regional and remote communities, as Australians loved having access to the fashions and homewares of Target, which were increasingly popular and on price. Stores were refitted and mimicked the appearance of a larger Target store, along with the replacement of the Fosseys POS to Target “touchscreen” POS. As part of Target's 2020 restructuring Target Country stores have been closed or converted. The last Target Country store, Target Country Salamander Bay (NSW), closed its doors for the last time on 8 May 2021.
In May 2007, Target announced its next designer range from Goot to a mixed reaction, and subsequently produced a collaboration with American designer Zac Posen in April 2008. In the same month, Australian fashion designer Collette Dinnigan released a range of lingerie labelled the 'Wild Hearts' collection.
In February 2012, Target launched a line of lingerie designed by American burlesque dancer and model Dita Von Teese. Throughout 2012, Target also announced designer collaborations for children with Collette Dinnigan and Ksubi and Roberto Cavalli for women. Target Australia and Dannii Minogue partnered on a clothing venture in 2014, called Dannii Minogue Petites. Dannii Minogue: the top selling item that has made her a success - Ragtrader.
In March 2016, Target launched a collection of women's, men's, children's and homewares by French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier.
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