Target saw foot traffic fall for the eighth consecutive week, extending a losing streak that began just a few days after the company announced it would end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program in late January.

For the week that began March 17, foot traffic fell 5.7% YoY for Target, according to data from Placer.ai. That’s compared to the 7.1% it fell last week, and an average weekly decline over the last eight weeks of 6.2%.

In a March 4 earnings call, when it reported a 3.1% Q4 loss and a non-specified sales decline in February, Target executives were bullish about its Easter assortment boosting business. But if it has so far, it’s not reflected in the foot-traffic data. What may have taken the spring out of the Easter Bunny’s hop for Target is a 40-plus day boycott coinciding with Lent (so ending on Easter) spearheaded by Black clergy for which more than 150,000 have signed up, exceeding organizers’ stated goal of 100,000.

  • alyaza [they/she]@beehaw.orgOPM
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    19 days ago

    maybe you can be skeptical of the data source–but i think it is fairly reasonable to conclude, at this point, that trying to ditch DEI to placate conservatives has at the very least not helped Target

    • Pete Hahnloser@beehaw.orgM
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      19 days ago

      Target positioned itself in a specific way that set it up for this self-imposed wound. “Come shop here so you don’t have to deal with Walmart” only works when your slightly-more-affluent consumer base is racist and sexist as fuck.

      As it happens, they’re not.

    • Icarus@beehaw.org
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      19 days ago

      Except for my medications, which I am now working to move to another pharmacy, I haven’t bought anything at target since I learned about the boycott