With a passion they don’t.

💯 %

The biggest single mistake people make is believing that Target is anything but fancy looking trash. Edit: Speaking as someone from the USA and a former Target employee.

It’s not true. Many people around the world love American values and find American stuff appealing. Real answer is American bosses are incompetent and lazy unable to do anything difficult but good at abusing their employees.

McDonald's left Russia because of politics...US companies like Target are paying a price for engaging in politics

That's what happens when a company that treats their employees poorly goes to a country with a strong pro-labor union culture.

I'm not surprised. Personally I'm actively hoping American businesses fail. They always forget the only reason they got so big was monopolies in America and not because the products they make are actually good. Now that American's spending behaviors are starting to crush monopolies (thanks Washington NOT), I hope they repeatedly fail around the world.

@@masond7573 Not only union culture, Walmart straight out broke German law.

@@Fry_tag yup, I read they were trying to regulate their employees love lifes

American stores seem so drab. Is this deliberate to make them seem economical?

The way they treated the employees was outrageous.

That's often the issue with American companies in general. They underestimate employment laws and how strictly they are adhered to in other countries.

@@ItsFriscoBaby One's gotta understand they're just not used to workers having rights.

@@JacobSprenger They're not and even though their local management know it's mandatory there is still pushback from the US offices. Maternity leave and benefit always seems to be a huge issue

For Europeans, shopping is not something to be enjoyed, but something that has to be done.

and why DRIVE to Walmart in the outskirts, when you can walk to your Lidl, Aldi, Rewe or Edeka in your neighborhood

At the same time, Aldi (north and south) and Lidl were just laughing, given they were all in the US...

@@cayreet5992 funny enough, that ALDI allready had 300+ Shops running in Germany before Sam Walton started about thinking to open his first Walmart in the US

@@karstenbursak8083 Funnily enough there was one in a residential area near me. I still drove past it to the next big mall on the outskirts of town because the other one had multiple very different stores, better selection, smaller food portions (German singles don't eat like American families), and food that was more to my taste. The novelty of having twinkies available wore off pretty quick. Even now that the store belongs to a German chain I don't like it because it is hard to navigate the store (no or bad signage).

Main reason why they failed were labour laws and price politics. One thing i remembered was that they tried to forbid relationships between employees. They did not expect that in Germany the customers joined forces with unions and government to stop such behavior. Also unions in Germany work in a different way than in USA. They are mostly useful. Also they tried to push away competitors by selling their stuff under purchasing price. This is forbidden by German law.

They've mostly withdrawn from Sweden though, so I guess it's a fail. Their coffee sure is anyway 😀

Charbuck sell burned coffee, try roasting green beans at home, outdoors as the first roast is acrid. Once you get the skill you will know why charbacks is called charbucks. Bad coffee because it is over roasted, aka burned.

I can't fathom that Starbucks, such a large company, didn't do its research about Swedish culture before setting up shop. I mean fika a staple of life for a Swede. All they had to do is sell good coffee and desserts that work on a plate...

kinda same with mcdonalds in northern sweden, they cant really compete with MAX and BigBoy, so went bust in at least two cities i know of

@@kitsunekaze93 Because the northerners have some idiotic idea to eat hamburgers with a fork and knife, and rejected McDonalds for not providing those. Truly ridiculous!

In fact they are right. Myth about "unique customers" depenfing geography is just a BS. Does not matter where people are same; they want to buy cheap. Some of them care about quality. In this video we have confirmation what I talk about: they failed because of logistic, quality or high prices. Not because "cultural" differences. In country where I live amazon is not popular at all because... high prices. Local marketplace offers lower prices and same range of products.

That isn't as inherently American as much as it is inherently a "management-ism". Imo.

@@podunkman2709 Walmart failed in UK because of cultural differences, they had literally no logistics, quality or price issues in the UK, it was PURELY cultural. They brought a chain called Asda and basically ignored the habits and preferences of UK shoppers, so UK shoppers went to other stores, the video is done from a US perspective and makes the mistakes many US chains make in other countries which is assuming they are the same. UK shoppers are quiet happy to go shopping multiple times a week with smaller shops in convenient sized stores because a lot more people in the UK walk and prefer to walk compared to those in the US where near everybody drives everywhere and a single store serving a whole town works, that doesn't work in the UK. I personally walk to multiple shops in range, I have butchers, a bakery, multiple convenience stores including a post office, and other types of shops too and I live near the suburbs. The make-up of UK towns and villages is just very different to the US. Of course we also do not call convenience stores convenience stores, we'd call them corner stores, post offices, etc. In Walmart's defence, they did also try to get into convenience stores but didn't understand why the UK has them and they just didn't appeal to UK shoppers either, none of those opened near me so I never got to see just how bad those were. Walmart success in Canada is due to Canada being much more like the US then anything in Europe or Asia, very large towns and cities with huge suburbs and everybody reliant on cars to get around. After years of slowly bleeding Asda to death, they sold a 90% share of it before it collapsed completely and the new majority owners were able to turn it around in only a couple of years by adjusting the chain to meet UK shopper expectations. There was no major shift in quality, no fixing of logistics or changes in pricing, it was purely cultural. Also to note, Asda was already a successful chain before Walmart brought them, it was changes made by Walmart trying to force US ideas on the UK that caused it to bleed customers and profits. Many US brands which do succeed outside of the US succeed usually because they have regional management that adapt the chain to meet cultural needs, look at McDonalds and then look at their international menus, they vary so much it's insane. What you'd get in a McDonalds in South-East Asia is barely anything like you'd get in the middle-east and what you get in the middle-east is nothing like you'd get in the US and in the US, you don't get beers in McDonalds like you would in Germany. Vast parts of the entire menu are swapped. Some of the flagship menu items like the burgers might still be available but not in India where they use Chicken and not Beef. To be a truly international company, the company does most definitely need to cater to local culture. So McDonalds failure in Iceland really was different to most US chains that enter foreign markets, like Walmart, Target and others.

@@podunkman2709 You're simplifying it. Consumers also want completely different products and have different shopping habits. The UK store Tesco failed in the USA because it thrives on smaller stores that people use on the way home from work to buy 2 day groceries (rather than a week's shop). There are so many different habits even just in Europe! Bulk purchasing, shop location, shopping frequency, loyalty schemes, convenience, product type are all different across the globe.

​​​@@podunkman2709This video (in part) as well as facts prove you wrong. Companies like McDonald's for instance, spend millions in studying costumers behaviour and adapting their offers to local markets yet it's not always a success because despite the alleged basic similarities (buying cheap etc.) there are indeed cultural differences and other stuff influencing business...if it was that simple, all brands would be successful everywhere...

Aldi actually made the same mistake in Denmark and are closing their stores now as well. That said, I can see why a German company wouldn't be aware that going a few kilometres north of their normal markets would require a significant cultural change in operations.

I think Lidl and Aldi both have stores in the US and thrive there. Seems the strategy they made in Germany (like a smaller store, store brands to cheaper prices, repacked stuff so the staff don't have to do that, and more lively atmosphere) is appreciated by a lot of Americans

it's basically the same story in the UK with Asda, it just was a much slower bleed out, since they kept the Asda name and that name had some brand loyalty from customers but time slowly eroded that since they still tried to push American ideas on it, which didn't work.

​@@Tomlar147it's mostly price. Aldi is dirt cheap due to private labels and limited choice.

Tell this to Lidl in Norway

That's why they ride superbikes in India. Ahahah. /s Harley's problem is being hostage to their past.. They produce 40's bikes with some refreshed materials, which vibrate themselves into pieces. Big engines with low horsepower (another american thing.. Bigvdisplacement, low bhp, comparing to other manufacturers). Harlwy Davidson could make more profit as a clothing brand.

Also if HD makes anything different, their public (rich, 50 y.o.) will lynch them. Wich gives another HD problem: HD's are expensive and outdated.. And their public is dying. They lost the development-racing.

I understand exactly what you're saying just by playing grand theft auto.

It's so bad, HD's public and also their very motorbikes themselves made me averse of Motorbikes ever since I encountered those, tainted the entire category for me, even creating the association to Crime in my head. Almost like getting turned off cycling for the daily errands by the Tour de France Cyclists or being turned off from driving by the circumstance of Motorists generally being the #1 Child Killers in most of the world. Indian Bikes like Royal Enfield have managed to raise my Interest though.

The fact that India has a very young population for whom a motorcycle is first and foremost a means of transportation cheaper than a car, is also an issue. Harley Davidson famously specialises in mid-life crisis mobiles for suburban dads.

I realy dont undrestand what people find in mac Donalds. Im European and we had multiple macdonalds restos here. At first they Burgers are more expensive, no tasty at all and they are like dry sandwitch. Same time there is realy small Fastfood place in my country they have 8 shops in 3 citys Big Burger with 2 pihvs and cheese, and salat and alot of sauce is 3.30 dollar. Sammler version of that is 2.5. Samller version is bigger than Macdonalds double cheese burger.

@@asjaosaline5987 When McDo came at my town in Canada, in ~70's, I was going there because service was "fast" and quite cheap. Taste was not an issue and it is not that bad. Now, service is slow because they offer too many products, it's expensive as I can go to a local restaurant to get a good meal with service at the same price of a BigMac.

@@asjaosaline5987I agree, McDonald’s and stuff is not really worth it when I can get tapas or a nice bocadillo for less price..Europeans mostly go for kebabs if they want something fast

Yet there are plenty of successful US companies in the UK - McDonald's, KFC, Starbucks and also that massive cash and carry place whose name I've forgotten.

​@@capitalb5889and all of those you just mentioned are fast food places where people go to eat, not buy groceries and stuff. The interaction with staff and the product it's pretty minimal besides the eating part.

My comment has Nothing to do with uk stores but about uk housing. UK Homes look like they are stuck in the 1930s. absolutely hideous semi-detatched/detached/ apartments and houses. Terribly gloomy and overall hideous to look at. The uk is so awful in so many aspects that i dont even know where to begin adressing it. Considering how much resources the uk have stolen from every damn country around the globe this is not how the country should be running. Your royals are covered head to toe in jewels while the rest of the people are covered in crumbs so to speak.

@@capitalb5889 McDonald's sure, KFC and Starbucks have been in decline in the UK for years and still failing. They got into the UK during the height of American culture, before the Internet, before people saw America as America, instead of the ideal version of America pushed by Hollywood and advertisements. Most American fast food chains are failing in the UK these days, the number doing well, you could probably count on one hand, McDonald's, Dominos, Five Guys and... erm struggling to think of any now... those failing, much easier, You have Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Subway, Outside of fast food, there isn't really a strong American presence. Many US Chain Fastfood restaurants also are rarely found outside of London or large city centers, again it'll be McDonalds, Dominoes, Burger King, Subway, KFC and maybe Five Guys you'll mostly find outside of London or large cities... so most chains are only in places with lots of Tourists and foreigners on business trips, looking for familiar foods. Personally I've never seen a Wendy's, a Popeye's, a Shake Shack, etc in the UK even tho they do have restaurants in London. In most towns and villages... yea, you can go down your local high street and not see a single American shop or chain outside of the fast food which will be something like a McDonalds or Burger King.

@@capitalb5889Costco?

Also their prices weren’t as good as Walmart. Thought it would be the same or lower prices than Walmart but it wasn’t.

Their inventory was trash. I worked there in the electronics dept, I had to tell customers that we dont have this in stock lol and i would just tell them go to best buy instead.

@@Dontworry1 I thought the whole point of target was to be a more upscale walmart

@@aakksshhaayy Exactly. A different crowd. Better environment. Better stuff. Just not the cheap china basic needs as much. Cheaper then the monopoly Walmart has?! They literally tell manufacturers what they will pay for their products or they will go out of business or shrink massively. They are required to have an office by corporate. Thousands of them in Bent.

@@441meatloafI don’t know about the electronics but a lot of the clothing and home goods seemed to be leftover Zellers products. If we didn’t buy it when Zellers was closing, we certainly didn’t want it from Target.

Manipulation method: You have to make people who are against something demonizing it to see it as Nazis (nazification) and create a principle that summarizes everything you think then propose that same principle as the solution to that thing that you presented as the same devil then continually be attacking an ideology to present your principle that summarizes your ideology as salvation until everyone is convinced of you.

Their logistics was also complicated by untested software from an Israeli company that had no connection to the US systems. As well the incentive system for warehouse staff rewarded them for keeping the warehouse full and gaming the entire system (Which they did by holding stock as long as possible, misdirecting it, placing it in the wrong place in the warehouse and filling trucks and not releasing the stock I the warehouse, then leaving the trucks in the arrival lot for days, or marking it sent when it was in the warehouse resulting in the pallet being double counted as being two places at once).

This video didn’t even bother naming Canadian Tire or any Canadian retailers besides Giant Tiger. They named American origin retailers. The arrogance continues.

​@@j2174ignorance, not arrogance

@@ivok9846 Ignorance and arrogance.

I was wondering about that. Target is Australia is more aimed at clothing, home wares, outdoor furniture, things like that. Target in the US is more about groceries.

Just like most Exxon gas stations for 2 decades now. They just pay for the bran name.

Ah.. makes sense. I thought Target in Australia is going OK

Target Australia has evolved from the original 1920's business based in Victoria Australia. The Target name has been in use since the 1960's.

funnily enough the majority of Target Australia stores were ultimately rebranded to Kmarts. there's only a few Target's left.

Yes I’m British and I went shopping in a u.s store for a shirt and was jumped on as soon as u came through the door wanting to know everything he even tried selling me a belt that he said would look good with the shirt I liked it’s all very strange I just want to shop in peace

I'm Polish and every time I have to go to Sephora I need half a day to prepare myself mentally to all their sales personel shadowing my every move in there...

I buy shoes in the US and no one even gets the shoes for me, I try on what I want from the stacks. You are talking very old shoe store ideas in US.

@@MrTangolizard yes, in the UK we definitely don't like greeters and we certainly don't want other people packing our bags, heck we usually prefer it when we don't get a smile from the cashier since it just feels fake to us and we don't like fake smiles either but you get those everywhere in the US and apparently people in the US are incapable of packing their own bags, so trust some low wage employee to do it for them... VERY VERY different. Apparently the whole shopping bagger thing is starting to go into decline in the US... stores probably realised that hiring dedicated baggers really didn't bring them any real return, is my guess.

@@DoomsdayR3sistance yes it’s a strange thing to have someone pack your bag for you I’m capable of doing it myself but I guess that’s there way and as they say when in Rome

I suspect IKEA does not have this problem.

@@OLDMANTEA They do. They just force you to walk past endless exhibits of ugly overprices furniture to desensitize you so you will buy the first marginally acceptable product they have on sale, and make you think you made a bargain.

That's a general problem today that stores does not have what you are looking for - and then they cry that you order in the internet.

@@Carewolf I have to disagree a bit. The type and quality of IKEA offerings are well known and they have a fairly generous exchange and return policy for their products. IKEA also scores highly on customer satisfaction surveys. Many of their customers go to their stores already knowing what they will or intend to purchase.

@@OLDMANTEA Then why is their stores considered the worst, again by customer satisfaction? And why are their stores specifically designed to avoid you being able to get to where you want to go?

I agree with you on that

What?! We run on regulation, you don’t have any.

@@ozzy_ruiz educate yourself. Lots of countries refuse to let American companies operate in their countries. Even when they did, American companies have been kicked out because of the public hating how they treat workers. American corporations would rarely leave America these days because regulation in other countries is too strict in their eyes. The reality is it's just basic respect stuff

This is something you want to believe, but is absolute NONSENSE. Most American companies thrive outside the US, so what is explanation for that success? Those companies treat their workers better? Most consumers would not put that in their top five reasons as to why things don't always work out. Additionally, this is such a broad and stupid (and I would suspect, European) generalization. Not all companies operate the same. Not to mention companies operate according to the laws of the jurisdictions where they operate. So naturally, a McDonalds in Denmark is going to be run differently from one in Colombia.

It's not about "letting" them come, it's that they can't operate at a profit while following safety standards for food and workplace environments, or at least not enough of a profit to go for it.

The south Park Episode "The F Word" S13-E12 perfectly sums up the image of the Harley Rider (Not all).

HD needs a low cost scooter for the Indian market.

Tbf Harley Davidson's "patriotic macho" brand image will fail everywhere except US and Canada. Not only is Harley Davidson relying too much on its American-ess, foolishly believing that everyone wants to look and feel like an American. But they also fail to attract a young demographic. How many men in their 20s aspire to have a Harley Davidson? Very few. It's the Boomers that love the brand, millenials and gen z are not interested.

The image of Harley Davidson is so American. Americans think this leather and bandana look is cool and macho, but other countries might see it as goofy and corny. They would get laughed at if they went out looking like that. 🤷‍♂

@@devilselbow Harley was affiliated with the army and air force folks and the hells angels ⚡

Thank God they didnt make it here!

@@Marge719If by here you mean the U.K., they did. They bought out ASDA many years ago and despite having thrown billions at it couldn’t compete successfully in the U.K. market and sold the business fairly recently.

The warehouse "experience" should have ALL Walmart employees who do retail HAVE to do warehouse for five months. Then you know what a slave goes through. If you live.

Yes, conditions are even harder in Germany than in the motherland of liberalism.

Exactly. There is a reason some Canadian chains are only Western Canada or Central/Eastern Canada based because of shipping logistics.

just in time inventory system is trash

@@sp123 depends on what products. perishable products > unsuitable. unperishable and car parts as in toyota> workable.

@@sp123 It works only if you have the supply logistics nearby. Short supply lines and local suppliers make it possible. You can do it, but it has to have short supply lines and storage locally. Otherwise, you’re betting upon your suppliers to output 100% provide for production. Probably not a good bet or assumption.

@@shasanmaz it seems to me that if you want to offer fresh produce , jit supply is necessary. ! I would think that if Target can operate and maintain a supply chain in Montana and North Dakota it should be able to do Alberta and Manitoba ! Setting up a jit supply chain from scratch (in another country) may be difficult though ..

I'm curious what you considered creepy stuff?

​@@AB-wf8ek Smiling for no reason. Walmart told it's German employees to greet customers with a smile. Smiling for no reason is not a common thing in many European countries. Instead of coming off as friendly, people mistook the employees' smiles as attempted flirting, something that is creepy when it is unwanted and repeated with every run in with Walmart employees. There are more reasons for Walmart's failure in Germany but failure to adapt to the culture were the main reasons. One of my college courses reviewed a whole case study into Walmart's overseas failures.

@@AB-wf8ek The greeters, employees are expected to spy on co-workers, cashiers were expected to smile at costumers (which they experienced as flirty) But IMHO the biggest problem was simply their locations, big stores in the middle of nowhere, where you need a car and time to get there. That might be normal in the US, but here I have 4 grocery stores within 10 minutes walking distance - why should I drive to some remote location? 🤷‍♂

And the quality of many of the goods in the Walmarts here in Germany was much inferior than the same brand products sold in America. Like Levi's for example.

The Walmart cheer. I refuse to do. Thankfully, that's mostly died out.

Walmart sold ASDA a few years ago.

@@paulqueripel3493 did they? Didn't know that

@@himaro101 just looked it up, Walmart still have a minority stake and a seat on the board. Jan 2021

Yeah, New Zealand had a similar response to Cadbury Chocolate being bought out, it went from THE Chocolate brand in the country, to what you buy if there is literally nothing else on the shelves. Even Nestle, who are actively Evil, is preferred.

Asda isn't owned by Walmart anymore and hasn't been for 2 years

Plus, Starbucks coffee tastes like crap and in Australia it doesn't matter how cheap or gimmicky it is, crap coffee is crap coffee and won't last long💜

Charbucks fails due to bad coffee. I roast green beans at home. I can take any coffee bean, cook twice as long and it is ruined but tastes like Charbucks. My brother loves the stuff the day before he visits i over roast and ruin a half pound and he is delighted at the taste.

Pretty much

Similarly for New Zealand, in that there area few, but mainly in tourist towns where people from Overseas can get their Starbucks, as most locals go to a local cafe where the coffee is actually good.

@@Scuzzlebutt142 Oz too.

This is exactly why Burger King failed in Slovakia, left for a couple of years, and then came back again. They should have done their research the first time lol

Europe isn't a country but I agree with your assessment.

Today I learned that Europe is a country.. And then americans go "why can't we do things outside our smart-land?!"

@@sirsancti5504 i lold but funny enough hes not wrong

@@sirsancti5504 "countries like in europe" = countries like in [those] in Europe. They didn't say Europe was a country.

Hudsons Bay is NOT owned by Canada, for a long time now Usa corp bought it and wrecked it, just like they did tim hortons

All true except that we are adverse to change, we are actually one of the easiest countries to test new products in and are often used for that as well.

@@malloott No, we're not the easiest, we're the hardest. If it works in the Netherlands, it is likely to work elsewhere. If you know you can climb the highest mountain, the smaller ones aren't a big issue.

Hudson’s Bay is failing in Canada as well. They’re struggling to remain relevant and the most valuable asset they have is real state and some value left on the brand.

@@alarriag1 Same happened to a more budget version of Hudson's Bay and De Bijenkorf: V&D. A staple of the retail world in the Netherlands, but that also killed them as they refused to change, thought they determined what the market did but once they realised what was going on, it was too late. Hubris and arrogance are bad motivators.

did you get sexually harassed

@@MikaelFresco Let's just say it was just the run-of-the-mill scapegoating and power trips.

So, typical US managers. Always keep in mind that the US has laws that forces corporations to favour local businesses over foreign ones. This means that they have to invest in local US based stores more than foreign ones irrelevant of which stores needs investing in. It means that they must cut resources and personnel in foreign stores first, even if those stores fall in the red because of those cuts. Also, management treating foreign stores employees as complete garbage is standard US management model. If you work for a business that is bough by US investors, you have 3 years before it goes bankrupt. Anything of value will be move to the “new” US based office first. The rest will be bled for money then disposed of.

I had the same experience working for a big American corporation here in Ireland. Only the true psychopaths or those with little-to-no moral compass made it past team leader and up to manager. Horrible working environment and the harassment I received while pregnant and too ill to work was atrocious and caused me to end up in hospital with high blood pressure due solely to the stress they caused (even though I was legitimately signed off by my hospital which is all that is needed by the labour laws here) funny enough, after months of threats and registered letters demanding I go against my doctor's orders(in so many words they aren't that stupid as to spell it out), they suddenly never sent another letter or made another phone call after I ended up in hospital. Awful corporate philosophy and horrible managers

@@lellyt2372 I am so sorry to hear about your experience. The only thing I can really say is I hope there is karma and they get what they deserve. I hope you're in a better place now. :)

@Joana-il2ur: Yes indeed. They sold it back for a symbolic £1 to the former owners of Homebase who promptly renamed the stores back to Homebase. Bunnings completely misunderstood the British market, not only did they discard popular Homebase items they brought, in for example , very exotic BBQ equipment at outlandish prices which may be popular in Australia but given the UK climate were unlikely to be used very frequently by the average shopper. Mundane things like packets of screws were made in Australia and imported all the way to the UK. Can't imagine how much that cost!

The original plan was to not change anything for a while and then try a store or two based on the Australian concept and tweak it. The new local Bunnings Management ignored that, fired everyone and went full on Bunnings rebrand. The Westfarmers CEO has clearly said the original plan wasn't followed.

@@hoofie2002: In that case it doesn't say much for the Westfarmers management if they can't control the local management of the Company. Sadly they deserved to fail!

I loved Bunnings and thought Homebase was awful. I liked that it was a hardware shop with lots of tools and not a home decorating place. Plus it had a play area that my daughter still remembers. Pity but I suppose I'm a colonial so my view of what I want is similar to the Australians.

@@timmurphy5541 But it was a home decorating place, and we have plenty of tool shops already. They already had Screwfix. Bunnings failed to understand their market, it seems.

but canada right across the US border so stupid to fail anyways

Walmart never opened in the UK.

In Portugal, they replicated (poorly, but still) some local sandwiches. In Spain, they also have "local" stuff in the menu. I think they do that across all (or the majority) of Europe's countries.

The ones in Japan seem interesting.

@@sirsancti5504 yes there is only 6 products or so, which are the same in every mcdonalds.

In France they directly serve you, there’s multiple unique burgers and even a type of burger called signature, they are more expensive but also bigger and with better products, also the buildings are black and green, with no trace of red

McDonald's also has a hamburger with dark rye bread in Finland. Interestingly enough Burger King seems to have more interesting special offers in Singapore, but hamburgers are clearly smaller than those sold in Finland; last time I visited my perception was that the biggest hamburgers (with same amount of patties, that is) were smaller there than smallest in Finland. Then again, it's well known that meat is very expensive in Singapore. (I must wonder why I eat in Burger King in such a city, but sometimes convenience and hunger just take over.)

The best the the US government will do is to sanction China so a Chinese competitor don’t steal from Harley-Davison at home with a cheaper and better quality imitation.

Plus their locations were very wrong. A lot of stores were right next to or across the road from Bunnings that the public felt very comfortable with and the Masters store were very sterile in the vast blue and white layout.

Starbucks also failed spectacularly in Australia. There was a rapid roll out of stores, but they failed to take account of local coffee culture (Australians are coffee snobs and the Starbucks product was not up to their standards). After a couple of years of empty shops, 80% were closed, the only ones remaining were in areas visited by overseas tourists.

Masters also had some issues with some of the products they stocked. Such as large gun safes - very much a niche product here in Australia without the US gun culture, more so stocking them in stores in suburban Melbourne. A rural/regional area I can understand given a lot of rural folk here will keep rifles, but not so much in the cities. They also had a section devoted to selling large bulk packs of washing detergent. Not the sort of thing that people here would buy at a hardware store, and people here don't buy massive bulk packs of detergent as laundries in most Aussie homes wouldn't have the space to store them properly. Given Woolworths was the JV partner with Lowes, you would have thought that the questionable product & ranging choices would have been nipped in the bud in the planning stage. A pity as their service was much better than Bunnings at the time. Nearly all the large Aussie retailers now vary their product ranges depending on store location. Even to the extent of stores in the same city. A store located in a wealthy inner-city suburb will have a different offering from an outer-suburban store, and a store in a rural town might have a different offering again.

Not enough Roo-chow is my guess?

@@terrygerhart1485 cute 😄🇦🇺

Well,...Sears have also left Canada since 2018 and just this year, Nordstrom has also closed their stores in the country.

Target tried to expand there too quickly. Sadly, a sign of poor management. You can't build a whole huge retail infrastructure for hundreds of stores in another country in a few months. Huge blunder.

On the other hand KFC is almost a part of Japanise culture.

McDonalds is well established in Japan. Not huge but "Lets go for McDonalds today" is a thing even with the 50+ generation (especially if they have kids or grandkids). So McD will succeed in Japan as long as they serve decent fries and Teriyaki Burgers.

McDonald's has been popular in Japan for decades.

​@@qtheplatypusit's not really - there are far more outlets of McDonald's than KFC. It's just that KFC managed a brilliant advertising campaign to get people to buy its crap on one day of the year.

They also failed because they DID NOT provide the American experience. Even if Target Canada were fully stocked and fairly priced they would be severely gimped versions of the real deal JUST across the border! Target tried to take Canadians for plebs and fools but it backfired on them.

@@potatopotato8360 American experience? You mean black people robbing you at gunpoint outside the store? I don't want that "American experience" nope.

@@UnknownNameUnknownNumber There's more black people in Brandon than in Grand Forks lol. Stop looking at a few diverse, high crime cities and thinking that's what ALL of America is like. What I refer to as the "American experience" is abundance, wealth, freedom, not having french shoved down your throat etc.

@@potatopotato8360 lol😜 Oui

EXACTLY! I hate how people try to portray Canadians as some weirdo aliens. In fact, many Canadians wish they were Americans, they just wont say it out loud.

Good, Uber is such a parasite.

They were banned in Denmark too I believe. Absolutely hilarious that they obviously did zero market research.

We had a Target in Cambridge, ON. Walking in the store the first thing you noticed was that it smelled funny. Sort of a rubbery smell. The store was a mess - it resembled a close-out location. It was not a pleasant experience. I went in twice. Once when it was new and then a second time later to see if it had got any better. It had not.

Support Canadian retailers, not Walmart.

@@j2174 Target wasn't Canadian, and Zellers wasn't a Canadian retailer after 2006. It is hard to support a retailer that had supply chain problems like Zellers did, they had empty shelves with no probucts

@@proteus404 Where did I say Target was Canadian? 🤔

@@j2174 I didn't say you said Target was Canadian

Why? KMart was a great store chain.

Nonsense if true. If workers did not like the instruction quit the job. I suspect Target expected work to be done. Their store, their rules. Even if they failed they deserved to have their work expectatons to be followed. Same on any worker that took the money but did not do what was requested.

@@terrygerhart1485 you are clearly not from canada. over here, most folks that work in places like Metro/Walmart/Target cant afford to ditch their jobs or are kids that dont care and just there for the pay cheque. they may think youre dumb or stupid but will follow the order regardless. Also, i have friends that actually worked at the stores when things went down.

Money, you either go in make a killing or you get out before you lose too much, baby steps dont work for companies only seeking immediate profits

It is their way or the highway

HD is for leisure not utility. That's mostly a non-existent concept out of the US.

You’re right that its naive or misguided to believe that big US companies don’t do market research to understand different consumer preferences - they certainly do. But they don’t always follow it through very well, especially if the research tells them they’re going to have to start doing things that are fundamentally alien to their corporate culture. I speak as someone who has been involved in coaching US executives based in the U.K. - you can show them chapter and verse, from their own research, on why they have to do something differently and of course they “get it” (these are usually very smart people). But then they think about having to explain it to the folks in HQ, and they know that they’re going to have to explain it every time they report (“remind me why this has to be different there?”) and every time they get any visit from someone from HQ. And there’s an assumption in most (not just US) companies that any kind of process deviation creates cost and complexity and there’s a huge pressure to avoid it - and thus a huge pressure on executives not to suggest that, sorry, but in this case we have to do it differently. Sure, it’s not as simple as it’s painted here and the companies aren’t stupid, but adapting to different markets and consumer cultures really is a big challenge. The particular challenge for American companies is the foreign operations are often initially tiny in comparison with vast US operations and turnover and that creates an even stronger resistance to any process or proposition deviation (“we have to do this - for how much? Nah, keep it simple, do it our way”).

@@davidpaterson2309 Great to have a response from someone with a first hand window into market entry attempts. The point you make about scale difference between home base and pilot and fighting internal ops prefs is well taken.

You guys still have Kmart 🤯

@@J-wu8sc yes, and it is super successful, completely different to the US Kmart

It’s likely Target in Australia will become more online focused. Kmart in Australia has been mimicking some of what makes Walmart do so well in the US.

@@av_oid Kmart Australia doesn't sell food. Their checkouts are in the middle of the store. Things are separated into sections and then rows, not long rows from end to end. A different type of store.

@@J-wu8sc Our Kmart and Target have nothing to do with the American versions. Basically the have the same name and brand colors and that's it.

Hudsons Bay is NOT owned by Canada, for a long time now Usa corp bought it and wrecked it, just like they did tim hortons

Similarly, Tim Hortons and Shoppers Drug Mart, two Canadian category killers, have tried but failed to penetrate the US.

@@JulianKazmier-vo3fn Yes, now they do. When the company first went to Japan they didn't. The company headquarters are based in Irving Texas and it started in 1927.

"I even saw American brands there that have almost disappeared in many US markets." Seeing Lawsons in Japan cracked me up.

Exactly this. You take the advantages of a parent company (logistics, purchasing power, etc) and you tailor the user experience based on local needs/wants. You don't force the experience on a different culture or abandon the economies of scale you already have.

Navy?

I triedb Target a couple of times. Too much empty shelving.

Consequence of not accounting for french labeling requirements and trade barriers, so they (unfortunately) couldn't just haul stuff in from their DCs in Minnesota to sell in Winnipeg Targets, for example.

😂😂 you need to stock up man. Each trip takes a few hours.

Target Australia isn't Target. They just got permission to use the name, that's it.

Government to blame over taxing & regulating private sector... socalism policy sucks

In Australia, KMart and Target are the same company.

A lot of large retailers did pretty well during the Pandemic. Mostly because they were the only stores allowed to be open. But although Target's stock price nearly tripled during the surge, it's about half of that now

Easier than making a trip to another place

Quebecois customers are Canadian customers. The arrogance of US retailers is regularly on display. They assume Canada will be the same as the US. It isn’t. Not at all.

@@j2174 Québec is considered a different market than Canada due to different consumer habits, and as such, are treated as distinct from Canadian customers (which is why La Petite Vie has the world record for highest market share achieved by a single television program, despite having around 4 million watchers : that represented over half of the population of Québec at the time). Let me guess, you're Ontarian ? Maybe Albertan ?

@@bastobasto4866 Nonsense.

@@j2174 strong argument

@@bastobasto4866 just as good as yours. All you said is “Quebec is considered a different market than Canada due to different consumer habits”. That an intro sentence, it’s not actually a point. And then all you had was “oh a show had the largest market share in a market”. Not evidence of a “different market”. Then you went down the generic path; “let me guess, you’re Ontarian ? Maybe Albertan ?” 🤣 Did you think that was point as well?

Costco does very well in Canada also. They treat their employees very well and it shows. Walmart on the other hand….I rarely set foot in