Patricia Battle
3 min read
In This Article:
Target (TGT) continues to feel the impact of several consumer frustrations, which recently contributed to weaker sales. Amid this startling trend, the retailer has conjured up a plan to win back customers.
In Target’s first-quarter earnings report for 2025, it revealed that while its comparable digital sales increased by 4.7% year-over-year, its comparable store sales decreased by 3.8%.
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Specifically, the number of transactions in stores dipped by 2.4%, while the average amount of money customers spent per transaction declined by roughly 1.4%.
Related: Target CEO admits a major mistake amid boycotts from customers
The decrease in sales comes during a time when Target faces backlash and boycotts from consumers over its decision in January to scale back its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. This includes withdrawing its participation in the Human Rights Campaign survey, which tracks LGBTQ+ corporate policies and practices.
Target also discontinued its three-year DEI goals and concluded its Racial Equity Action and Change initiatives, which involved advancing the careers of Black employees, implementing anti-racism training for team members, promoting Black-owned businesses, sourcing products from Black suppliers, and more.
After this decision was announced, Target’s foot traffic in stores started to suffer. According to a recent report from Placer.ai, Target’s visits during the first few months of 2025 fell by 4.1% year-over-year, and visits per location were down by 4.8%.
During an earnings call on May 21, Target CEO Brian Cornell said that the company is “not satisfied” with its recent performance and emphasized that it is operating in an “exceptionally challenging environment” that has impacted foot traffic and sales.
He said several challenges had a negative impact on business, including inflation, tariffs, and Target’s recent decision to cut back DEI.
“For several years now, we’ve seen pressure in our discretionary businesses, as spending adjusted down from elevated levels during the pandemic and then moved further away in the face of historically high inflation in needs-based categories,” said Cornell. “On top of those ongoing challenges, we faced several additional headwinds this quarter, including five consecutive months of declining consumer confidence, uncertainty regarding the impact of potential tariffs, and the reaction to the updates we shared on Belonging in January.”
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In order to combat these pressures, Cornell said Target will open a new Enterprise Acceleration Office to simplify how it operates. The company will also make several organizational changes to “bring even more clarity and speed” to how it conducts business and advances its strategy.
