Target online sales drop

[storewanderer]

Yep, and some companies will not allow the D/C to post shrink numbers. They distribute that shrink to the stores.

Fresh & Easy comes to mind!

I've heard of that. They say it all "evens out" for the store so the store cannot dispute or get credit or anything. Sure, they shorted you a box full of steaks on the last load. But they sent you an extra case of paper napkins.

Basically makes stores just not care about shrink since they can't control such a major cause of it.

[veteran+]

Yep, and some companies will not allow the D/C to post shrink numbers. They distribute that shrink to the stores.

Fresh & Easy comes to mind!

I've heard of that. They say it all "evens out" for the store so the store cannot dispute or get credit or anything. Sure, they shorted you a box full of steaks on the last load. But they sent you an extra case of paper napkins.

Basically makes stores just not care about shrink since they can't control such a major cause of it.

What they mean by "evens out" is more in regards to all the stores, not specifically the store that got shorted. They figure that even if you were shorted, someone else got it. Ridiculous!

Some stores were consistently shorted perhaps because they were the first delivery. The tail end deliveries usually got all the surpluses. If that LAST store was a "friend" they would sometimes call you and say they have your stuff.

But, often no one got the surpluses and the stores just suffered the shrink.

[storewanderer]

What they mean by "evens out" is more in regards to all the stores, not specifically the store that got shorted. They figure that even if you were shorted, someone else got it. Ridiculous!

Some stores were consistently shorted perhaps because they were the first delivery. The tail end deliveries usually got all the surpluses. If that LAST store was a "friend" they would sometimes call you and say they have your stuff.

But, often no one got the surpluses and the stores just suffered the shrink.

Shrink for the store that received too much (since it couldn't sell that much), and lost sales for the store that got shorted (didn't get a complete order). Sort of like a double hit.

I can see with F&E doing so many stops leaving few products at each stop how this was especially an issue.

I sometimes see these Starbucks and 7-Eleven prepared food deliveries (sometimes the Starbucks ones occur when the store is already closed for the night) and nobody is checking anything, the driver just drops the stuff and goes. I always wonder how that works or where is the accountability. Maybe in those cases the product is so low value...

[storewanderer]

Meanwhile on the employee Reddit, there are reports of stores trashing the various seasonal marketing signage for what was supposed to be the June promotion.

~ttps://www.reddit.com/r/Target/comments/13w8y6 ... ould_take/

This is getting more pathetic by the day. So wasteful and in the end they will piss off everyone who is paying attention to this for one reason or another. Target: if you didn't want to go through with this marketing plan, the time to not go through with it was BEFORE you planned the promotion, got vendor buy in (there are or maybe now WERE even Pride themed pet treats from Milkbone and Temptations), bought all of the merchandise and marketing materials, and set up displays in the store. At this point, Target, my advice is: stick with your marketing plan. Oh, too late now if stuff is going into the compactor on May 30 for what was the June seasonal promotion.

Meanwhile customers are in the sloppy mess stores looking for this Pride merchandise, finding some of it from the especially disorganized shelves known as "Bullseye's Playground" then when they take the items they find to self checkout (since there are probably no cashiers or just one cashier with a huge line) the items won't scan since they are all in the system as RECALLED and the Target employee refuses to sell you the merchandise since the register has this block. At a minimum if a customer finds merchandise on the sales floor that was intended to be pulled (a move which I disagree with), at least let them BUY IT.

No clue how this is going to go down in the end but my biggest concern continues to be the impact these actions have on the employees. Just cannot believe the response seems to be getting worse by the day.

I am starting to think Target walked into this on purpose to blame upcoming poor results on "the backlash from the situation with the June promotion," extremist groups, whatever. When in reality the reason Target is having poor results to this point is due to out of stocks, messy stores, understaffed stores, high prices, and a lack of proper focus/mix/pricing on essential/consumable goods to keep customers coming back week after week when they have less disposable income.

Also starting to wonder if any Target Executives ever walked the stores and paid attention to the June seasonal displays in the stores that have been up for the past 10+ years, or if this is the first time they became aware this merchandise even existed.

I also have to assume sales of this merchandise were strong last year, to justify increasing the mix and going after new vendor partnerships for the lines this year. Otherwise if sales were weak last year and mix was expanded this again represents a management failure because the mix expansion should not have occurred unless strong sales last year justified it. Any way you cut it it all comes down to management that does not seem to know what is going on and exposes a lot of holes with how Target is run.

[ClownLoach]

Meanwhile on the employee Reddit, there are reports of stores trashing the various seasonal marketing signage for what was supposed to be the June promotion.

~ttps://www.reddit.com/r/Target/comments/13w8y6 ... ould_take/

This is getting more pathetic by the day. So wasteful and in the end they will piss off everyone who is paying attention to this for one reason or another. Target: if you didn't want to go through with this marketing plan, the time to not go through with it was BEFORE you planned the promotion, got vendor buy in (there are or maybe now WERE even Pride themed pet treats from Milkbone and Temptations), bought all of the merchandise and marketing materials, and set up displays in the store. At this point, Target, my advice is: stick with your marketing plan. Oh, too late now if stuff is going into the compactor on May 30 for what was the June seasonal promotion.

Meanwhile customers are in the sloppy mess stores looking for this Pride merchandise, finding some of it from the especially disorganized shelves known as "Bullseye's Playground" then when they take the items they find to self checkout (since there are probably no cashiers or just one cashier with a huge line) the items won't scan since they are all in the system as RECALLED and the Target employee refuses to sell you the merchandise since the register has this block. At a minimum if a customer finds merchandise on the sales floor that was intended to be pulled (a move which I disagree with), at least let them BUY IT.

No clue how this is going to go down in the end but my biggest concern continues to be the impact these actions have on the employees. Just cannot believe the response seems to be getting worse by the day.

I am starting to think Target walked into this on purpose to blame upcoming poor results on "the backlash from the situation with the June promotion," extremist groups, whatever. When in reality the reason Target is having poor results to this point is due to out of stocks, messy stores, understaffed stores, high prices, and a lack of proper focus/mix/pricing on essential/consumable goods to keep customers coming back week after week when they have less disposable income.

Also starting to wonder if any Target Executives ever walked the stores and paid attention to the June seasonal displays in the stores that have been up for the past 10+ years, or if this is the first time they became aware this merchandise even existed.

I also have to assume sales of this merchandise were strong last year, to justify increasing the mix and going after new vendor partnerships for the lines this year. Otherwise if sales were weak last year and mix was expanded this again represents a management failure because the mix expansion should not have occurred unless strong sales last year justified it. Any way you cut it it all comes down to management that does not seem to know what is going on and exposes a lot of holes with how Target is run.

I still am not finding anything less than well run stores wherever I look in SoCal (unless I look in a rough area that frankly shouldn't have a Target, like that small format Westchester abomination). In fact the one store near me that has not met my expectations on store standards, a SuperTarget in Northeast Murrieta, seems to have finally been fixed. Someone must have noticed the 50 foot tall mountains of dirt from the construction of a new Home Depot, PetSmart, and Ross in their parking lot along with the wildly successful new Costco across the freeway and decided Target couldn't run a subpar operation here anymore.

Anyway the damage done to their brand with this Pride Month disaster was on par with the Disney fiasco where the (now deservingly fired) CEO managed to piss off the left, the right, and the governor of Florida amongst others. Something needed to give after this was botched so badly.

So... It seemed like this announcement happened silently. Target changed out the Chief Marketing Officer. The new CMO was named last week.

https://corporate.target.com/article/2023/07/lisa-roath

[storewanderer]

I still am not finding anything less than well run stores wherever I look in SoCal (unless I look in a rough area that frankly shouldn't have a Target, like that small format Westchester abomination). In fact the one store near me that has not met my expectations on store standards, a SuperTarget in Northeast Murrieta, seems to have finally been fixed. Someone must have noticed the 50 foot tall mountains of dirt from the construction of a new Home Depot, PetSmart, and Ross in their parking lot along with the wildly successful new Costco across the freeway and decided Target couldn't run a subpar operation here anymore.

Anyway the damage done to their brand with this Pride Month disaster was on par with the Disney fiasco where the (now deservingly fired) CEO managed to piss off the left, the right, and the governor of Florida amongst others. Something needed to give after this was botched so badly.

So... It seemed like this announcement happened silently. Target changed out the Chief Marketing Officer. The new CMO was named last week.

https://corporate.target.com/article/2023/07/lisa-roath

The poorly run Reno Store is better than it was earlier this year but it is still unacceptably bad on in-stock, service, checkout, clothing department appearance, etc.

What has changed now is the Sparks Store which had been better, has been going through a remodel for a few months now, and their remodels are very disruptive and seem to basically destroy the store. The remodel is almost done but the store is far from back to the level of service it offered before the remodel. Also the remodel is awful, disorganized layout, cut space from Hardlines, and didn't do much other than adding the Ulta space in. The Ulta is also undersized and very underwhelming. A full size Ulta elsewhere in the shopping center would have been a lot better.

Any idea where the former CMO went?

Target is running these generic sounding radio ads in Reno trying to talk up family friendly type events like sports games, beach trips, BBQs, etc. and how they have everything you need for your family gatherings. We will see how long the memory is of the parties Target made upset back in June. I have been very surprised at some people I've talked to who have told me they will no longer shop at Target due to that situation. People I never thought would care... seem to care. I still expect they'll shop there again before the end of the year, but maybe not.

[ClownLoach]

I still am not finding anything less than well run stores wherever I look in SoCal (unless I look in a rough area that frankly shouldn't have a Target, like that small format Westchester abomination). In fact the one store near me that has not met my expectations on store standards, a SuperTarget in Northeast Murrieta, seems to have finally been fixed. Someone must have noticed the 50 foot tall mountains of dirt from the construction of a new Home Depot, PetSmart, and Ross in their parking lot along with the wildly successful new Costco across the freeway and decided Target couldn't run a subpar operation here anymore.

Anyway the damage done to their brand with this Pride Month disaster was on par with the Disney fiasco where the (now deservingly fired) CEO managed to piss off the left, the right, and the governor of Florida amongst others. Something needed to give after this was botched so badly.

So... It seemed like this announcement happened silently. Target changed out the Chief Marketing Officer. The new CMO was named last week.

https://corporate.target.com/article/2023/07/lisa-roath

The poorly run Reno Store is better than it was earlier this year but it is still unacceptably bad on in-stock, service, checkout, clothing department appearance, etc.

What has changed now is the Sparks Store which had been better, has been going through a remodel for a few months now, and their remodels are very disruptive and seem to basically destroy the store. The remodel is almost done but the store is far from back to the level of service it offered before the remodel. Also the remodel is awful, disorganized layout, cut space from Hardlines, and didn't do much other than adding the Ulta space in. The Ulta is also undersized and very underwhelming. A full size Ulta elsewhere in the shopping center would have been a lot better.

Any idea where the former CMO went?

Target is running these generic sounding radio ads in Reno trying to talk up family friendly type events like sports games, beach trips, BBQs, etc. and how they have everything you need for your family gatherings. We will see how long the memory is of the parties Target made upset back in June. I have been very surprised at some people I've talked to who have told me they will no longer shop at Target due to that situation. People I never thought would care... seem to care. I still expect they'll shop there again before the end of the year, but maybe not.

I dug in some more and it sounds like they're practicing some historical revisionism. The CMO had moved to a different role in the company but was still overseeing marketing. Now the story has changed and they're acting like it's been an open position for a year or so. Either way there is someone new in charge now so it will be interesting to see how they handle situations going forward.

[ClownLoach]

I still am not finding anything less than well run stores wherever I look in SoCal (unless I look in a rough area that frankly shouldn't have a Target, like that small format Westchester abomination). In fact the one store near me that has not met my expectations on store standards, a SuperTarget in Northeast Murrieta, seems to have finally been fixed. Someone must have noticed the 50 foot tall mountains of dirt from the construction of a new Home Depot, PetSmart, and Ross in their parking lot along with the wildly successful new Costco across the freeway and decided Target couldn't run a subpar operation here anymore.

Anyway the damage done to their brand with this Pride Month disaster was on par with the Disney fiasco where the (now deservingly fired) CEO managed to piss off the left, the right, and the governor of Florida amongst others. Something needed to give after this was botched so badly.

So... It seemed like this announcement happened silently. Target changed out the Chief Marketing Officer. The new CMO was named last week.

https://corporate.target.com/article/2023/07/lisa-roath

The poorly run Reno Store is better than it was earlier this year but it is still unacceptably bad on in-stock, service, checkout, clothing department appearance, etc.

What has changed now is the Sparks Store which had been better, has been going through a remodel for a few months now, and their remodels are very disruptive and seem to basically destroy the store. The remodel is almost done but the store is far from back to the level of service it offered before the remodel. Also the remodel is awful, disorganized layout, cut space from Hardlines, and didn't do much other than adding the Ulta space in. The Ulta is also undersized and very underwhelming. A full size Ulta elsewhere in the shopping center would have been a lot better.

Any idea where the former CMO went?

Target is running these generic sounding radio ads in Reno trying to talk up family friendly type events like sports games, beach trips, BBQs, etc. and how they have everything you need for your family gatherings. We will see how long the memory is of the parties Target made upset back in June. I have been very surprised at some people I've talked to who have told me they will no longer shop at Target due to that situation. People I never thought would care... seem to care. I still expect they'll shop there again before the end of the year, but maybe not.

I'm puzzled at this point as to what they're doing at all with remodels. They basically announced they were "making remodels easier for the guest by making less changes" which amounts to basically just doing some painting, the new hanging light bars over checklanes, restroom refreshes and the new back-lit aisle signs. Most of these new remodeled Target stores don't appear to have any changes at all to the untrained eye. Basically paper goods move to the aisles across from foods. Nothing like the remodels they were doing a few years ago where all of apparel moved to center store (like a Super or Greatland) and not one item stayed in it's original home.

I live next to a odd group of Target stores, one that never got P-fresh due to a non compete with the Albertsons next door, one traditional that was expanded by knocking down the walls into the old garden center, and two Super Targets. The non P-fresh store looks fine and seems to have all the current Target features, but right now dozens of construction trailers are arriving for a remodel. I doubt they got Albertsons to waive the non-compete so they're certainly not getting foods added (they have only a small row of coolers, no produce or meat). So no clue what exactly there is to remodel there unless they're going to expand into the mothballed garden center space. Visiting a non P-fresh Target is an interesting experience because it's like going back in time to 2010 or so. Because they never reduced the assortment to expand foods you see thousands of items that aren't in any other locations, not even the Super Target stores. Same clothing. More toys, luggage, automotive, much more bed and bath and other home essentials. I find it to be a much better store to shop, and much more competitive with Walmart's assortment of household goods. Personally I would like to see more stores where foods aren't productive get that space reduced and given back to the other departments.

[storewanderer]

The Target in Carson City doesn't have P fresh either and was remodeled around 2020. The nearest grocer is Wal Mart and Trader Joes a mile away, then a very low volume Save Mart about 3 miles away. No reason why Target should not have added P Fresh. Before the last remodel, it had its original 1995 interior with zero Capex, including original flooring, carts, and everything. Extremely low volume store historically but in recent years it has been doing better. There is no noticeable mix increase in this store, if anything it has less mix than others, due to the lack of sales volume.

Meanwhile I took more photos at the Reno Target this week. This store some sections have better in stock than before but it is still a garbage store. Lousy operations and store level and regional management overseeing this store from Sacramento area that are clearly not around much, therefore ineffective and or indifferent.

My favorite is the graffiti on the shelf that is one aisle away from the "office" at the back corner of the store. Maybe the store management here is so disengaged they really didn't notice this despite it being within the walking path to the "office."

I also didn't photo the toy areas which looked about like Toys R Us a week before they went out of business.

This is the only Target in Reno and it is in a good part of town. No other surrounding retailers at the mall, etc. look anything like this for so long of a time period as this Reno Target. Some stores have bad months but manage to get fixed up. Not the Reno Target.

[veteran+]

Wow................that's just awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!