Target has an unexpected customer problem

There's a crushed truthful galore radical prevention their buying for the weekends.

When you enactment full-time, it's hard to find the hours to prime up groceries oregon marque a pitstop to restock shampoo. So a batch of radical people bash the bulk of their buying connected Saturdays and Sundays.

Unfortunately, that tin pb to precise crowded stores.

Ask anyone who shops astatine Costco connected a regular basis, and they'll archer you that doing a Saturday oregon Sunday travel is thing abbreviated of a nightmare.

But portion immoderate retailers whitethorn person lines snaking retired the doors connected weekends, Target seems to beryllium struggling to gully shoppers in. And that's not astonishing fixed the company's caller woes.

Target's numbers haven't looked large lately. During the company’s astir caller quarter, Target reported a 3.8% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth driblet successful comparable income and a whopping 18.9% simplification successful operating income.

Meanwhile, connected an yearly basis, ft postulation astatine Target declined during each period successful the 2nd fractional of 2025 but for October, and fourth-quarter visits fell 2%, according to Supermarket News, citing information from Placer.ai

Related: Target argumentation makes immoderate shoppers uncomfortable

But what's truly astonishing is that play store visits for Target declined 6.1% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth successful 2025.

You'd deliberation shoppers would beryllium much inclined to sojourn connected weekends, fixed that Target runs, by nature, don't thin to beryllium abbreviated buying trips.

A abbreviated travel is erstwhile you tally into your section supermarket to drawback a gallon of milk. Big-box stores similar Target thin to pull shoppers looking for items successful aggregate retail categories.

It's hard to acceptable those longer trips successful during the week. But the information that play ft postulation declined astatine Target could beryllium an denotation that customers are progressively not making those longer trips. And for bully reason.

Target has seen its stock of atrocious property implicit the past fewer years. Many consumers were angered erstwhile the institution rolled backmost its DEI policies astir a twelvemonth ago.

But Target's diminution successful ft postulation whitethorn not beryllium political. It could beryllium a grounds of the information that the buying acquisition has changed for the worse.

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"The buying acquisition has truly gone downhill," said 1 idiosyncratic connected a Reddit thread slamming the store. "Things aren't stocked and the checkout is truly slow. Executives volition bash thing to amended sales, but prosecute capable radical to tally the store properly."

"If you marketplace yourself arsenic the 'upscale' Walmart you'd amended really beryllium the upscale Walmart," said another.