Target is reporting its second straight quarter of comparable sales gains, saying a merchandising overhaul under the discount retailer’s new CEO was attracting more customers.
Target, which embarked on a turnaround plan under its new CEO earlier this year, reported the biggest increase for a widely watched measure of quarterly sales in four years.
Target plans to spend billions of dollars this year to end a persistent sales slump and to regain its image as a fun place to shop for stylish clothing, housewares, beauty products and packaged food at affordable prices.
Target is investing another $2 billion in its business this year to spruce up the store experience, remodel stores and invest in its workers as it tries to turn around a persistent sales malaise and reclaim its authority on style.
Activists have planned protests at more than two dozen Target stores around the United States to pressure the discount retailer into taking a public stand against the 5-week-old immigration crackdown in its home state of Minnesota.
Target CEO Michael Fiddelke is reshuffling his leadership team and making other changes shortly after stepping into the top job at the retailer that has struggled operationally.
Businesses are coming into the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, whether it’s public pressure for them to speak out against aggressive immigration enforcement or becoming the sites for arrests themselves.
More than 60 CEOs of Minnesota-based companies signed an open letter posted on the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce website on Sunday calling for state, local and federal officials to work together, as businesses grapple with how to address tensions in the state and across the country following two fatal shootings by federal agents amid a massive immigration enforcement operation that has spurred protests.
Target’s third-quarter profit tumbled as the retailer struggles to lure shoppers that are being pressed by stubbornly high inflation.
Target is eliminating about 1,800 corporate positions in an effort to streamline decision-making and accelerate initiatives to rebuild the flagging discount retailer’s customer base.
When Target announced its current chief executive officer was stepping down, organizers of a months-long consumer boycott took it as a hopeful sign and stressed that their actions will continue as long as promises go unfulfilled.