Target reports dismal earnings amid DEI ‘headwinds’ and says two C-suite women leaders are on the way out

The giant goal of retail continues in the troubled lands.

In today’s profit call, CEO Brian Cornell told investors that the company has suffered a decrease in sales, partly due to the fact that consumers spend less on estimated goods amid uncertainty about the definitions, but also because of the “opposite winds” caused by a customer boycott of its decision in January to calm the Dei initiatives. Target has seen its total sales decreased by almost 3 %, while similar sales decreased by 3.8 %. Like many other companies, the retail company has reduced sales guidelines for this year, citing the costs of customs tariffs.

“I want to be clear that we are not satisfied with these results,” Cornell told reporters. The price of Target fell 37 % over the past year and has decreased more in today’s ads.

Against this background, Target participated in mixing a major leadership work on Wednesday that includes the departure of two women from the C-C-Christina Hennington, chief official of strategy and growth, and Amy to, chief legal official. The company also said it would create a new “acceleration office” to help increase efficiency and growth.

But analysts and industry managers are not convinced that the company’s amendments will turn things on. Neil Sonders wrote from Globaldata Retail in a research note that the changes “do nothing to restore confidence in the company. On the contrary, it is symbolic in a company that made many mistakes and lost its way on several fronts.”

Dean Campbell, an independent selling store advisor in Atlanta, says she is concerned that the goal has lost great talent in Hennington, who worked in Target for 21 years and was widely seen as a possible successor for Bian Cornell. Campbell told luck.

She added that Hennington has a “wonderful mind” for partnerships, and it had a fundamental role in building a Target partnership with Ulta and CVS. The loss of this type of strategy at the present time is disappointment, as you say, Astarget is trying to stimulate its sales experience inside the store. “How will we return to this large square, feel boutique?” She says.

The goal, Hennington, and TO did not respond to luckRequest to comment.

Hennington first joined the retail seller as a buyer of the Games Department in 2003, according to its personal file, LinkedIn, and eventually C-SUITE roles in promotion and growth before its main designation in the field of strategy and growth just one year ago. Before arriving at Target, Amy Tu spent six years in Tyson Foods, and a similar time in Boeing.

Behind de problems, long -term pain

Five years ago, after the death of George Floyd in the hometown of the retailer, Target made pain to increase its obligations to Dei and the Black Society. After that, in January, shortly after president Donald Trump took office and signed a number of anti -executive orders against Dei, the target expanded diversity efforts, including suppliers around suppliers. The response to riding the back target was quickly. Activists in Minneapolis and Georgia called for the boycott, while the daughters of the founding founder expressed their concerns that the company is abandoning its original culture.

However, Campbell and other retail monitors say that although the weak boycott of the master and the goal of this has contributed to the destroyed store reputation, the company was suffering from a lack of investment in its stores and products for a much longer period, and these tiring targets had a greater impact on its decline in their money.

The days when shoppers were happy with the designed boilers or when the first women were wearing targeted dresses, says Campbell. Although Target has faced a permanent decrease, competitors like Walmart are creating ways with both their products and experiences inside the store.
On social media, Sonders also suggested that some of the company’s primary growth-an increase of Net’s income by 10 %, which is a bright point in today’s profits-is reflected in the lack of investment in targeted stores and employment, which was called “short-term earnings at the expense of long-term pain.”

This story was originally shown on Fortune.com

2025-05-21 16:23:00