Target, Pls Listen..

I will start this post off by saying that I am a ride or die lover of Walmart. But today, we are going to shift the focus (briefly) to Target. 

Target has had its back against the profitability wall for quite some time - going all the way back to the pandemic. Earnings and earnings and they’ve pointed the fingers at shrinkage, the economy, logistics. I think the real issue here (although the others mentioned are also very important), is that they are not listening to their customers. One of my favorite things about Target and its leadership is that they do not take that lazy approach of “we’ll sit back and xyz will sort itself out in time”. I love how hands-on they are, how creative their solutions have become over the years. The company has the capability to do phenomenal things! I truly believe that with all of my heart. But babes, the execution is missing a very key part.. The buyers!

Target needs people to get from behind the numbers, and get into the stores to figure out why all of that marketing is not transitioning into the sales. What’s the first thing that they find? THE SHELVES ARE ALWAYS EMPTY!!! Left and right, you go into any Target location (I have done this in four states within the last 90 days), and you can not complete your shopping list because there is never any product on the shelves. I love that the focus is on inventory and making sure we have the right numbers to meet the needs of demands. Great. But at what point do we see these actual products ready for people to buy? This is an issue that has now left my own hemisphere and is now an overwhelming complaint and recurring problem that people can relate to on social media. I have even said it myself “I love the vibes at target, but I already know that I am not going to find anything”.

Someone prove me wrong and I'll send them a $20 target gift card right now. 

I think Target is at a place where they need to take a page from E.L.F beauty, and keep an open ear to the concerns of customers. Listen and acknowledge. After the stock issue, you'd hear how God awful the rewards program is. The revamped Target Circle has been rolled out, they pushed the marketing for three months, now it has hit the back burner. Holiday season would have been the perfect environment to offer leverage when we already know that customers would rather be at home buying their gifts on Amazon. When high income customers are also now complaining to say that they spent $500 and got $.85 as a cash back reward? Come on. We all know that this is not a Discover Card, but please. Try. Pretend. Pull an incentive from the sky that makes people feel more valued for their repeat store visits. 

Other common concerns from customers involve store appearance. I will not get into that one too much but.. If Johnny grabbed 5 apples from a tree to feed his family, would you not try to grab 5 to also feed your family? Walmart is one of their larger competitors and has invested heavily in the past 2 years in their visual merchandising. What’s stopping Target? Buying 100-too many televisions? 

Let’s hope the holiday season doesn’t plummet the brand value any further. 

Frank.