The Right Brands, Right Now Of course, satisfying our guestsGLYPH<213> needs is only part of the equation. To retain our reputation as a cool place to shop, we consistently deliver differentiated merchandising, too. Our competitive advantage lies in our ability to surprise and delight our guests on every visitGLYPH<209>offering them the opportunity to fill their baskets with what they want while allowing them to buy what they need. Design partnerships clearly set Target apart from other discount retailers. Our guests know and want products by Isaac Mizrahi, Liz Lange, Sonia Kashuk, Michael Graves, and Mossimo. Names such as these add excitement to our assortment and enhance the Target image with our guests, while our sourcing expertise, scale and brand strength give these renowned names broad distribution at uniquely affordable prices. We also delight our guests by offering trusted national brands that include Genuine Kids by OshKosh, Virgin Pulse, Bialetti, Waverly and Woolrich. These brands provide the reliability and quality our guests demand and their exclusivity at Target reinforces our unique positioning in the discount channel. Among discount retailers, Target is unquestionably the leader in trend merchandising and innovation. In fact,  in 2003, Target became the first general merchandise retailer to receive an award from the Smithsonian InstitutionGLYPH<213>s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum for helping advance the relationship between design and the quality of life. The talent and experience of our in-house product design and development team, in combination with the extensive resources of Associated Merchandising Corp. (AMC), our global sourcing organization, enable Target to offer owned brands, such as Merona, Xhilaration and Room Essentials, that represent current-season fashion and themes at considerable savings to similar specialty-store items. By leveraging technology and working directly with manufacturers around the globe, AMC ensures that our goods are produced in accordance with our high-quality, low-cost standards and meet our speed-to-market objectives. As other companies work  to create their own sourcing organizations, we continue to enhance TargetGLYPH<213>s sourcing power, speed new products  to our guests and maintain competitive prices. Our commitment to pleasing our guests is inherent  in our strategy: it drives our merchandising as well as many of our investment and operating decisions. As a result, we strongly believe that we need to know our guest and understand her prefer- ences. Though we recognize and respect the individuality of each guest, our research suggests that more than 90 percent of our guests are female with a median age  of 45 years. Approximately one-half have earned a college degree and about 40 percent have school-age children  at home. By continuing to supplement this guest profile, we are better able to satisfy each guestGLYPH<213>s wants and needs. Guest Demographics Trusted National Brands As a complement to our owned brands and exclusive design partnerships, we also offer our guests the quality and trend of such trusted national brands as Waverly, Calphalon, Virgin Pulse and Sony Liv. 5