#44 – Target: Everyday Life At Scale

“To help all families discover the joy of everyday life.”

This is the purpose statement by Target, one of the largest U.S. retailers and private employers, founded in 1902 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

With more than 1,900 stores, over 415,000 employees, and $107+ billion in annual revenue, Target operates at a scale that makes its purpose anything but innocuous.

Helping families “discover joy” in everyday life has historically translated into accessibility, affordability, and design-led retail — the well-known cheap chic positioning that made Target culturally relevant.

But at this scale, affordability is never neutral. A business model built on low prices raises unavoidable questions:

• Who absorbs the environmental cost of mass production?

• Who pays the human price across global supply chains?

• And how is “joy” distributed when margins are compressed and volume explodes?

Target has taken steps to address these tensions — from science-based climate targets and packaging reduction, to supplier standards and human rights audits.

Yet the contradiction remains structural: cheap products don’t eliminate costs; they relocate them — often to ecosystems and communities far from the point of sale.

This is where purpose becomes a test, not a slogan.

At Target’s scale, helping families live better cannot stop at convenience or price. It must confront the full footprint of consumption — environmental, social, and ethical.

Because when everyday life is shaped by global retail giants, responsibility becomes part of the product — whether acknowledged or not.