For more than a year, Target (TGT) It has suffered a decrease in sales, significantly impacting its final result.
The decrease in sales began for the first time during the summer of 2023 when the retailer faced a massive boycott of consumers for their collection of pride, who faced criticism for being marketed towards children.
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Later that year, Target lifted the alarms on the increase in retail theft in his stores throughout the country, which forced him to close nine locations in four different states.
Related: Target's last attempt to recover buyers faces criticism
More recently, Target also marked that his clients have been withdrawing their expenses in their stores even after reduce the prices of thousands of articles last year. The retailer blamed the change in customer behavior to economic pressures such as inflation and the highest costs of life.
In his profits of the Third Fiscal Quarter, published in November, Target revealed that his comparable sales only increased by 0.3% year after year. (Comparable sales refer to sales in open stores more than a year).
Target is expected to release the fiscal results of the fourth quarter around March 4.
The money that customers spent by purchase also shrunk in 2% compared to the same period of the previous year.
The objective discontinues the main initiatives
As Target struggles to recover customers, he has chosen to make a controversial movement.
The retailer has reduced his program of diversity, equity and inclusion, a growing trend in corporate America that has obtained praise and the reaction of consumers.
Bloomberg & Sol; Getty images
Target recently sent a memorandum to employees by informing them that it will no longer inform the campaign of the human right, which tracks LGBTQ+ corporate policies and practices.
It is also finishing its three -year -old Dei goals and will conclude its initiatives for action and change of racial capital.
Some of these initiatives include progress in black employee races, institute anti -racism training for team members, promote black property companies, obtain products from black suppliers, prioritize philanthropic investments to address racial inequalities in black communities, etc.
Related: Walmart, Lowe's Among the retailers who yielded to go back in 2024
“Many years of data, ideas, listening and learning have been shaping this next chapter in our strategy,” said Kiera Fernández, community impact director and Equity Officer at Target, in the Memo. “And as a retailer that serves millions of consumers every day, we understand the importance of staying in tune with the external panorama in evolution, now and in the future, all in service to boost the growth of Target and win together.”
The objective, like many large companies throughout the country, promised for the first time with these initiatives of Dei in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd brought to light many inequalities faced by blacks in the United States.
Dei is in the cutting block in corporate America
Target's decision to reduce Dei is produced after President Donald Trump issued an executive order on January 21 that dismantles the Federal Government's programs. In the executive order, he said that the programs enforce “illegal and immoral discrimination.” Within the next day, he ordered that all federal employees of DEI were paid license.
Many great retailers like Walmart, Lowe's, Tractor Supply, have chosen to reduce their Dei policies amid scrutiny and boycott the threats of conservative consumers who criticized companies for going to “arouse.”
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The decision also followed the decision of the United States Supreme Court in 2023 to put an end to affirmative action in university admissions, which raised legal issues around the dei programs in workplaces throughout the country.
While some companies have decided to reduce or even completely eliminate their DEI policies, there are some that have remained firm against the Anti-Dei movement.
January 23, Costco (COST) Shareholders voted against a proposal to reduce their Dei program. In addition, according to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal, Goldman Sachs defended his Dei program against a group of shareholders who seek to eliminate it due to legal concerns.
A Goldman Sachs spokesman told the Journal that his Dei policies comply with the law and that diversity can be beneficial for workplaces.
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