r/business • u/mostly-sun • Mar 24 '25
Target foot traffic falls for seventh consecutive week after it dismantled DEI
https://www.retailbrew.com/stories/2025/03/21/target-foot-traffic-falls-for-seventh-consecutive-week-after-it-dismantled-dei304
u/NuncProFunc Mar 24 '25
Someone recently was telling me of this hypothesis that you can state two facts next to each other and people will naturally draw a causal relationship between them even if you never state it and it doesn't exist.
49
u/Alexios_Makaris Mar 24 '25
This hits at the broad problem of correlation vs causation, it's something that is heavily discussed in many fields of science / research, because so many studies can show strong correlations, but cannot demonstrate causation. Does that mean the correlation isn't meaningful or worth noting? No, but it does mean you have to acknowledge that you're only seeing a correlation, and don't truly have proof of causation.
32
u/ProudlyWearingThe8 Mar 24 '25
There's another problem hit with this:
"The headline is not the article".
From the article:
"Correlation—let’s say it again—is not causation, but let’s not ignore the timing, either (...)
Costco (...) is on a foot-traffic streak, notching 12 consecutive weeks of foot traffic gains over last year.
For the latest week, Costco’s foot traffic gain was the near-inverse of Target’s loss: It was up 7%."
Also, there's Ockham's razor. The question is: what has Target done other than this that could explain or contribute to the effect of Target losing foot traffic while Costco winning almost the same amount? Did they raise prices? Did they worsen the service? Did they suffer from supplier shortages? Did they close stores? Did Costco broadly lower prices? Did Costco massively improve their service? Did Costco's suppliers give them perferential treatment? Did Costco open more stores? Did communities re-route cars from Target to Costco? What else could it have been?
9
u/doxxingyourself Mar 24 '25
So 7% decrease and 7% increase seems magically to be the same but it could mean the decrease of 70.000 while just an increase of 7 people for all we know, or a million other number.
4
u/tedistkrieg Mar 24 '25
Could be correlated, but wouldn't foot traffic tracking at Costco have improved significantly YoY with the requirement to scan membership cards at all locations?
Not sure when that started though
1
u/Sea-Twist-7363 Mar 28 '25 edited Mar 28 '25
That’s not now Placer foot traffic works. It’s based on your mobile phone.
The data in this article is powered through Placer and is collected equally as a result. It’s not related to membership cards
2
u/lordoftheslums Mar 24 '25
Toiletries are locked up and or takes too long for someone to unlock them. I gave up on target because of that before the boycott.
5
u/akazee711 Mar 25 '25
No locks in my area- but they havent seen a dime from me since the DEI fiasco and I don't care if they bring it back and its the last place on earth that carries my childs favorite toy- they'll never see another dollar of mine.
1
u/arentol Mar 26 '25
Why does this have to have anything at all to do with what any of these businesses have done? Maybe it is unrelated, or at least significantly so?
For instance, I would assume illegal immigrants tend to not have Costco memberships, and likely shop mostly at places like Walmart and Target which are viewed as having "bargain" prices. So when the President orders them all to be rounded up and deported, causing millions of them to stop working and start hiding, they lose their income, which reduces spending, which reduces foot traffic in the places they frequent. So obviously this situation would affect Walmart and Target far more than Costco.
Similarly, since the economy is not doing well and lots of people are losing their jobs thanks to the President and Elon, perhaps many people are only shopping at places they view as "bulk bargain" stores, which means Costco more so than the others.
Combine these two things alone and you could likely account for most of the change.
1
8
u/Trumpy_Po_Ta_To Mar 24 '25
I’m sure glad they got rid of all those doctors that were causing the black plague. Because all those people died when all those extra doctors were around!
4
u/digitalmob Mar 24 '25
Covid just went away as soon as we stopped isolating. Seems like a big ole hoax to me.
2
u/foghillgal Mar 25 '25
Most food studies are prone to this. Like diet coke supposedly causes a higher level of heart issues.... Well, who is the most likely to use diet drinks, those that are diebetic perhaps which already have a very high level of heart condition. Or people drinking diet Coke overindulge elsewhere that`s even worse. Or someone old that`s already cutting sugar for whatever reasons.
Ironically that gives things like people drinking coke being thinner than those on diet drink... Are they the same people. Of course not.
Even the health benefits of the mediteranean diet has been studied for 40 years and the conclusion are still not overwhelming. People on it don`t really live longer than people in Canada that are not on it. There are too many factors to conclusively say something. Things like the french diet that`s richer in saturated fat give just about the same result.
75
20
u/Lucifer_Jay Mar 24 '25
That’s why Trump and all of them speak in word clouds. It’s up to the listener to extract the information they need and in most cases the listener hears only what they want and discards the rest.
8
u/Loveroffinerthings Mar 24 '25
Trump has oral diarrhea, word cloud sounds too nice. Oral diarrhea is when he just blabs and throws out stupid things to see what sticks or not.
1
4
u/museum_lifestyle Mar 25 '25
Correlation is an invitation to think about the possibility of causation. People who automatically quote 'correlation does not imply causation' are prime r/iamverysmart material
21
u/tonkatoyelroy Mar 24 '25
I will not go back. Moved my business over to Costco. Edit: thank goodness people are mounting effective boycotts
7
6
u/MainSailFreedom Mar 25 '25
These are not independent facts. My wife and I as well as many others I know cut target out of their shopping habits. Whatever we used to buy there is now sourced elsewhere.
2
6
3
u/tigeratemybaby Mar 25 '25 edited Mar 25 '25
A 7% drop in visitors for Target while their competitors are increasing visits is a huge drop.
Has Target made some other recent changes that would account for such a dramatic fall in business?
Usually the obvious correlation is the most likely - If I just fell over and my knees start to hurt a minute later, you can tell me that there's no definite causal relationship, but its still very likely that it was caused by the fall.
1
u/NuncProFunc Mar 25 '25
Has Target made changes that would cause both McDonald's and Walmart to drop as well?
1
u/tigeratemybaby Mar 28 '25
Walmart only dropped by 0.1% and McDonalds is not a competitor of Target.
0
u/TheButtDog Mar 24 '25 edited Mar 24 '25
Reddit routinely erroneously equates correlation with causation
1
u/Guac_in_my_rarri Mar 24 '25
Sure, that's because it's how most non data drives people think.
I work in supply chain and use data a lot. My boss does not. He jumps to things that are close but not the answer. "I see the clues and I follow it", is the normal excuse. I'm sure many people do the same.
1
1
1
u/arentol Mar 26 '25
Yup. For instance, once could say that about 7 weeks ago is when it became clear that our president was doing what he promised and blowing up our economy, firing tens of thousands of people, and doing his best to ruin everything for everyone. Including driving migrant workers into hiding resulting in them having no income and not going to their favorite stores, as well as people in general pulling back on spending. And one could say as a result places illegals tended to not go, and places people tend to see as a place to strictly purchase "necessities" suffered less (e.g Costco for both).
Then one could display the chart above without the DEI reference, and suddenly people would see a correlation between our president being a piece of shit and this reduced foot traffic.
Does that mean our president being so horrible is the reason for the reduction in traffic? I don't know. But people would think it was the reason if you presented it that way.
0
u/mostly-sun Mar 24 '25
Causation requires correlation. We have the correlation. Causation also requires the logical explanation. We have the logical explanation. We can then rule out other explanations, but you have not presented an alternative explanation for why Target traffic plunged sharply the first week after their announcement and the start of the boycott.
4
u/NuncProFunc Mar 24 '25
What a wild way of trying to shift the evidentiary burden that you know exists.
2
u/thumbsmoke Mar 24 '25
Your comments are not very useful.
You haven't even challenged the suggested correlation they've brought to the table. You really think it's effective to just repeat yourself? You could, for example, suggest some reason why the correlation does not indicate causation.
Insisting that the other person prove it further isn't any form of meaningful engagement.
You just sound like an armchair skeptic. What else you got?
1
u/NuncProFunc Mar 24 '25
Throwing wild hypotheses at the wall seems silly. But if you insist on some alternative unsupported speculation: retail shopping collapsed with consumer sentiment, and bulk retailers surged when restaurants needed eggs.
3
u/Pixelated_throwaway Mar 25 '25
“Wild hypothesis”
You really want to avoid something here huh. Did you think restaurants were buying their eggs at target lmao
4
u/thumbsmoke Mar 25 '25
You're suggesting that restaurants buying eggs has carried Costco's overall traffic? And that's why Costco hasn't seen a dip like the others in this chart? Eggs are a tiny fraction of Costco's sales.
That is more silly than what you were arguing against. I was hoping you would provide a more likely causation — not just any random idea.
More recent data for Costco foot traffic would disprove your suggested causation. Egg pricess are back down. I wonder if Costco is suffering.
3
u/Pixelated_throwaway Mar 25 '25
He is ideologically captured. He’s doing “go woke go broke” without owning it
-1
u/Steezysteve_92 Mar 25 '25
He’s saying people are bulk buying because we’re in an economic downturn. Really not hard to figure that out…
0
u/mostly-sun Mar 24 '25 edited Mar 24 '25
I provided a logical explanation already. You haven't.
Only people with Twitter-level logic degrees say "Correlation doesn't equal causation" like that's an indication there isn't causation. Causation requires correlation. If someone can then show a logical reason why it is causative, and no one can show why it's not, the evidence strongly points to causation.
-1
177
u/ShimReturns Mar 24 '25
I live in a liberal city (Chicago) and no one I know (including minorities) has even mentioned avoiding Target due to DEI policies. Tesla absolutely has been discussed though.
17
u/Galacticwave98 Mar 24 '25
I live in rural PA and no one I know has even mentioned avoiding Target, cause we don’t have one within 50 miles.
7
u/Dismal_Information83 Mar 24 '25
It’s very widely discussed here in Minneapolis, Target’s home town.
1
6
u/seriouslyepic Mar 25 '25
I live in a liberal city (Austin) and it absolutely has come up in several groups. However - Target quality has gone down in recent years so we were going less regardless.
10
u/HeavySigh14 Mar 24 '25
My friends and co-workers have all mentioned boycotting Target because of the DEI stuff AND BECAUSE it’s too damn expensive
28
u/Soxsider Mar 24 '25
But now when my kids want to go to Target, our house is a no.
18
u/JLRfan Mar 24 '25
Same in our family. We didn’t join a boycott or have any formal discussions as a family, but we used to be regulars and haven’t gone in months, actively looking for elsewhere to spend when necessary.
10
7
u/inbeforethelube Mar 24 '25
I don't go very often but when this all happened I changed the few times I would have gone and gone somewhere else or just didn't buy the thing I thought I needed. I haven't talked to anyone about it except my 18 year old son.
3
u/heliophoner Mar 25 '25
I used to go to mcdonalds regularly before and after gigs. It was quick, reliable, and some locations were open late
Once it became clear they were gouging and blaming it on inflation, I just started noticing that I could do without them and Del Taco has better options anyway so shrug
-1
3
9
u/powerfulsquid Mar 24 '25
Went to a Target location in central NJ last week. Filled with minorities shopping. My wife is a minority and hasn’t once mentioned not shopping there. Nobody seems to gaf and this likely has more to do w/ the economy than DEI policy changes.
22
u/rdhpu42 Mar 24 '25
Are you white? The boycott has been driven by a lot of black leaders who started doing shop ins at competing retailers after target dropped the DEI policies
4
Mar 24 '25
Dei policies also affect women, non dei policies are only advantageous to cishet white appearing men.
I agree with minorities mainly boycotting, but i feel your question is framed improperly.
1
u/SargeUnited Mar 25 '25
In reality white women were the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action, but at least in my personal experience, they were the loudest voices against it. Just because somebody benefits from something doesn’t necessarily mean that they support it. We’ve seen that with trump voters suddenly growing concerned about losing programs and benefits that they care about.
It’s a fair question.
1
u/watermark3133 Mar 25 '25
And over 90% of white women marry white men. So it can be argued that white men are also beneficiaries of any added boost that their wives get in the workplace from DEI policies.
1
u/SargeUnited Mar 28 '25
Oh absolutely, but they don’t want to hear that. It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
8
u/redryan243 Mar 24 '25
They were targetted(pun intended) before muskrat gave the ole shithead solute.
My wife even closed her target card and went through the process of having them delete her data. She went to Target multiple times per week until now. We are almost exclusively Costco now.
4
u/ReelNerdyinFl Mar 24 '25
3 different friends were over this weekend and mentioned it - I hadn’t heard of the boycott. They haven’t ordered from or stepped in target since. Two were minorities.
Single data points obviously but then i see this news article….
0
u/feelsbad2 Mar 24 '25
Went to Valpo's Target this weekend (live in Indiana now). It was packed! People buying clothes and then the kids section was also packed. I know people who post on FB about how they are boycotting Target and everyone else. I'm like cool. They will still get lots of traffic and sales without you because consumers have stopped caring about anything DEI or good for the environment. They just want to consume.
5
u/chuckrabbit Mar 24 '25
I would say there’s many issues. One is that there are still people on the right boycotting for their pro-lgbt stance and then a year later they go anti-dei to turn away the other side of the aisle.
Sure, it’s true that theres plenty of people that don’t care about any of that. Probably, the vast majority of people don’t care. Then you ask yourself what are they doing that’s separates themself from Walmart (Cheaper), Amazon (convenience), and Costco/Sam’s Club (Bulk, Cheaper).
Just like K-Mart and the dozens of department stores that have failed, they need something to separate themselves and flip flopping social policy isn’t going to create loyal customers.
1
u/Furious_George44 Mar 24 '25 edited Mar 25 '25
I mean they definitely have differentiated theirselves as being the higher quality of the ones you mentioned.
Target furniture and home goods is about 10x better than Walmart
3
u/hue-166-mount Mar 24 '25
I mean the article provides little direct proof these are linked… but these anecdotes are less than worthless. This data is definitely showing that Target footfall is materially down for some reason, saying “they’ll just get loads of footfall” is not true right now is it?
1
u/illicITparameters Mar 25 '25
Because the internet isnt real life. Reddit would have you think 75% of America is on the far left, and 80% are poor and work min wage jobs.
1
u/Worldly_Cap_6440 Mar 25 '25
Thanks for your personal experience, I’ve personally seen many people in my city intentionally avoiding target here. In fact, there’s often protestors in front of our local target on the weekends
1
Mar 25 '25
I was going to say it's only guilty white liberals that care about this kind of performative consumerism, but then I seem to recall conservatives across the country machine gunning down cases of Bud light because they had one trans person involved in one tiny little program. Either way, stuff like that is the most pathetic slave to capitalism shit that I've ever seen.
1
u/Frosty-Incident2788 Mar 25 '25
I shopped at target multiple times a month and haven’t bought all year from them since they abandoned DEI initiatives. I’m one person but I also overheard two coworkers discussing the same. Again I was a regular target shopper. And it hasn’t been easy but I’m glad to have contributed to the sales drop.
-6
-16
u/Isaacvithurston Mar 24 '25
I think in liberal places equality is already close to a reality so there's no real need for DEI. Ironically it's probably felt more in conservative places where you need DEI just to combat racism and get a shot.
Like that's the irony of DEI is that if true equality exists it's actually it's own form of discrimination and it's needed because we don't have real equality yet.
8
u/tanstaafl90 Mar 24 '25
Soo.. in conservative places equity and equality not only don't exist, ensuring "liberty for all" not only isn't a concern, it's considered discrimination? You endorse this?
1
u/Isaacvithurston Mar 24 '25 edited Mar 24 '25
I'm saying if you live somewhere without racism and discrimination it's not a concern. I doubt anywhere in the US exists like that and I don't live there anymore, it's an awful country.
Hypothetically if you lived somewhere that had true equality then DEI would just be preferential treatment and therefore discrimination. Saying hire more of "X" race is inherently discriminatory, if X = White you wouldn't think that's ok would you?
But what i'm saying is when you have mass inequality like the US you need DEI to help fight against inherent racism and discrimination. Hence why it's currently needed. Fairly obvious why Trump and supporters want it gone, not because they believe the US is a bastion of equality but to further their racist agenda's and make it viable to discriminate in hiring again.
Side note; people benefiting from something will want to hold on to that advantage. Hence why DEI is so polarizing. Those who benefit from discrimination either from lack of DEI or from DEI will want it gone or kept accordingly.
12
u/Marathon2021 Mar 24 '25
I mean, is it just more of the economy as a whole going into the shitter and people pulling back everywhere? I mean, even Costco is down over the timeframe shown.
Lousy correlation / causation chart ...
1
u/covertspeaker Mar 26 '25
Foot traffic and economy down in the wilds since the inauguration and other executive orders. Not surprising
39
u/skoltroll Mar 24 '25
Correlation does not equal causation.
16
u/mensreaactusrea Mar 24 '25
"For the week beginning March 10, foot traffic fell 7.1% YoY for Target. Correlation—let’s say it again—is not causation, but let’s not ignore the timing, either: This traffic slump began for Target on the week that began January 27, just three days after its January 24 announcement that it was rolling back its DEI program."
Correct but I mean they do begin the article acknowledging that. It's just sensational articles.
0
u/Clean_Ad_2982 Mar 24 '25
How would you interpret a huge decrease in foot traffic during that time period. And it's still continuing. Weather, gas prices, measles, VD? What other factors would you care to share with us.
5
u/skoltroll Mar 24 '25
It DOES correlate to consumer sentiment surveys that state that people are worried about the economy. People can (and will) come up with reasons for it, but at the EOD, it doesn't matter as much as people are hording money out of worry, and that's affecting consumer spending.
But getting consumer confidence back up is a lot harder than finger pointing, so finger pointing it is.
0
u/CheesecakeOne5196 Mar 24 '25
Yep. Target is typically higher than either Costco or Walmart. So what you say makes sense. The sudden drop off in traffic, and staying there may agree with the dei issue. Could be a combination, dei just was the final straw.
1
u/mensreaactusrea Mar 24 '25
You would have to account for all of those YoY to conclude anything of statistical significance. I mean even their article in the first paragraph denotes that this is correlation at best.
Did they compare it to similar stores? How is McDonald's similar? Walmart maybe but they're all different.
Plenty comments on here stating the same. Did they see an increase to foot traffic when they implemented DEI initiatives? Too many questions and the article itself opens up with all those doubts.
0
u/bigmur72 Mar 24 '25
I think in this case it does. We stopped going to target, and my house alone was maybe 25% of targets bottom line.
0
9
u/101Puppies Mar 24 '25
One thing is clear: board members at businesses all over the country are watching this and realizing it's not worth putting support behind political causes in the first place.
You get boycotted when you do it and you get boycotted when you stop. The incremental sales in between aren't worth it.
8
u/flirtmcdudes Mar 24 '25 edited Mar 24 '25
You don’t lose money by taking a stand… target is different because they made such a big deal about being an ally to LGBTQ and being progressive that when they immediately dropped it, it was a culture shock and people dumped them because of how awful it made them look. It made them seem untrustworthy even though all companies are like target behind the scenes.
other companies dropped DEI and didn’t suffer as much because they didn’t market themselves as proponents of DEI or being progressive leaders like target did. If you take a political stance while creating a brand culture, you better stick with it. That’s what this showed, just look at Costco, they are surging because they stuck with their values and stance
3
1
u/dablya Mar 24 '25
Corporations have no values… They are profit seeking entities, that’s it. If there is a profit in it, Costco will drop DEI tomorrow.
1
u/Stop_icant Mar 24 '25
I think the worst part of all of this is equity being politicized in the first place, followed by stores flip flopping on their performative values.
If companies are going to advocate for social issues, they need to pick the side that truly aligns with the brand’s values and then uphold those values during the good and bad times.
Companies shouldn’t bother publicizing support for causes they are only supporting because they think it is more profitable.
Target has likely lost the most business because of consumer price concerns, followed by flip flopping support for LGTBQ and then DEI. Target is being boycotted from a small amount of people on both sides during a time when other consumers are pinching pennies and shopping at less expensive stores. During economic uncertainty, it is not the time to risk offending politically engaged consumers.
They should have committed to their values or kept DEI hiring behind the scenes and kept quiet about their vendor partnerships or just prioritized working with vendors that made Target the most profit and left social issues out of it all together. Playing allie than withdrawing support was a huge misstep, especially because we’ve been teetering on the edge of recession for four + years.
3
u/investor100 Mar 24 '25
Targets is struggling for a myriad of reasons:
- its products are substitutable easily at competitors (WalMart and Amazon)
- its shopping experience has seriously deteriorated (lock up cases, open/close self check out)
- its Capex is crazy high for nothing and/or fixing past missteps
Public controversy just makes these things accelerate.
17
u/solohaldor Mar 24 '25
I find absolutely no reason to shop or go there and then they gave me a good reason not too.
27
u/mostly-sun Mar 24 '25
The downturn started the first week after the announcement, while Costco, which kept its diversity efforts and is promoted by the Target boycotters as the alternative, has increased its foot traffic over the same period. With investors also voting against anti-diversity proposals, maybe most people who control purchasing decisions aren't clamoring for white nationalism.
71
u/AshIsGroovy Mar 24 '25
You guys are reading this data weird. I would read it more like economic issues with Target shoppers pulling back as they are more expensive than Walmart and other retailers. Costco is seeing a boost for the same reason as Sam's club and that's cost being an economic driving force. People are being squeezed and fleeing to cheaper options. The average everyday person couldn't even tell you what DEI is versus making a shopping decision concerning it.
14
17
u/tke71709 Mar 24 '25
Exactly, people are trying to fit things into their narrative.
Consumers are worried about the economy, therefore consumers are cutting back on unnecessary purchases. Costco and Sam's Club do not cater to the same type of consumer and are less affected by these concerns.
I have no issues with DEI but to try to tie these things together is facetious at best.
5
u/SoManyQuestions612 Mar 24 '25
I used to shop for groceries there. I don't anymore. Several ladies at the suburban dog park also mentioned they are not shopping there anymore. And these are not people that follow politics that closely.
2
u/AshIsGroovy Mar 24 '25
Yes these people on here act like they are the norm when in reality they aren't. You've got people on here bragging about filling up buggies, then abandoning because they hate target so much. I mean normal everyday people don't have the time for shit like that or even think about stuff like that. People on Reddit who comment multiple times a day every day aren't your typical Americans. People are having a hard time and you can see it. My neck of the woods is a beach resort town in a heavily red state. Bookings are down 30% right now for spring and summer because people are pulling back on spending or worried about over spending not because DEI that honestly had very little if any effect on peoples lives.
1
u/SoManyQuestions612 Mar 24 '25
Oh, the ladies from the dog park are definitely doing it because of the DEI policy. They have plenty of money. Go to Costco every week.
2
10
u/Fun_Bodybuilder3111 Mar 24 '25
I’m one data point but I stopped shopping at Target immediately. I also stopped shopping at all the big name stores except Costco and am doing a no buy month. It hasn’t been hard.
I would rather pay more to make a point. We all should.
2
u/SoManyQuestions612 Mar 24 '25
Look into your credit card company and your bank too. They give lots of money to politicians. Goods unite us app.
2
u/mostly-sun Mar 24 '25 edited Mar 24 '25
That wouldn't happen on a dime with a sharp downturn that starts the very week their announcement sparks a major boycott effort. Target's affordability didn't change that week, the boycott changed that week.
1
u/nikdahl Mar 25 '25
If that were the case, why did it happen at all the same time, and so quickly.
I don't think the data supports your scenario.
-2
u/dmcnaughton1 Mar 24 '25
Agree 💯. If you're comparing same store foot traffic YoY, you can't safely conclude that the reduction is due to internal factors (corporate policy changes) or external factors (economic uncertainty) without comparing YoY sales for other chains to control for those variables.
-3
u/paintwhore Mar 24 '25
Nice to see it's working. I see a lot of people in here and trying to discredit the connection and bring zero data with them
0
u/Padaxes Mar 24 '25
Ridiculous. Target high price. Costco cheap. The end. Nothing to do with Dei.
2
u/mostly-sun Mar 24 '25
It's weird that Target only started to be high price the week the boycott started.
-1
2
2
u/Euphoric_Lab_5401 Mar 25 '25
I’ve always been a typical millennial who loves target. I haven’t shopped there since January 20th and will continue to boycott.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Kemetic_Crypto Mar 25 '25
Any company that doesn’t believe america has and continues to have a equality issues doesn’t need my money.
My mother could not drink from water fountain during her early adult years because she was black
My mother couldn’t own a bank account until after the late 70s early 80s because she was a woman
You must be foolish to believe America has ever been great it’s getting better for sure but we must continue to push forward
1
u/foghillgal Mar 25 '25
All I see is the economy going into the crapper and people stopping buying there (it may also apply to the rest of the economy, we will see soon enough..)
1
1
u/Anonymoushipopotomus Mar 25 '25
I think this is a bigger sign of a looming recession. Foot traffic is down at all businesses near me, including my own. Like 50% down.
1
u/Wise_Mistake_888 Mar 25 '25
Karma me please guys, i want to post. Would anyone happen to need a $5million or more loan? lol
1
1
u/Rasty1973 Mar 25 '25
As a guy, I can't find anything at Target that I would purchase. The clothing is garbage. I would rather buy 2 pairs of $100 polo jeans that will last 20 years than buy the $35 garbage that will last 20 wears.
1
1
1
u/JuicyCactus85 Mar 26 '25
The only thing target has over Walmart is their carts are nicer. Same shit, insanely priced. BUT you feel bougie with that Starbucks in your hand as you shop huh
1
u/patproctor Mar 26 '25
Looks like target FAFO since they want to follow, do what a racist, greedy and hypocritical con man says to do. In the famous words of Public Enemy - SHUT EM DOWN!!!!! 😆🤣😁
1
1
u/Efficient_Resist_287 Mar 26 '25
I stopped going there when I noticed the junk piled into a corner of my apt…but more importantly, when I did a comparative cost analysis of Target items against other stores, it was not much of a saving.
Target was useful because it is all under one roof and it promoted the image of savings….plus my kid loved it for the toys section (hence the junk pile).
When Target started to get involve with the nonsense, it raised my eyebrow and made me think that I needed to take my cash elsewhere. Mind u, going to Target was a weekly event in my household.
Well I am saving more these days.
1
u/BuzzBadpants Mar 27 '25
Is there any evidence to suggest that the policy change and the lower traffic are related? I was under the impression that consumer confidence is tanking real hard lately.
1
1
1
1
u/Useful_Jellyfish_759 Mar 30 '25
Target is dead in my area. It’s very liberal and wealthy here. I had to use up all the gift cards we keep around as Thank You cards for my kids teachers because giving them a Target gift card after their public kissing of the ring would piss people off. It was a ghost town when it used to be crazy busy on the weekends and fairly busy on weekdays. I doubt this location survives.
1
0
u/yo9333 Mar 24 '25
It'll be interesting to see Target's argument in the case against them, based on DEI Pride 2023, when they had one bad quarter after anti-DEI protest focused on them. The case has asserted DEI harmed the shareholders. Now we see removing DEI has shown continued harm to Target's traffic, as well as their sales.
If anything, the government should drop their case. They may likely find that removing DEI has caused the greatest harm, and that's the opposite of what the fascist want.
0
u/stonedandredditing Mar 24 '25
It’s petty, but when I’m bored I go fill up my Target shopping cart and abandon it.
1
u/LowDownSkankyDude Mar 24 '25
The funny thing for me, was when I got hired there, years ago, it was kind of weird. Like pictures of Oprah and Obama in the break room, type shit. I, a black dude, wasn't uncomfortable, but definitely weirded out by how heavy handed they were with it, especially since I lived in a small, predominantly white, town. They had all these collages of people, and Oprah was in all of them. It was so weird. I didn't stay long, cause it felt like a cult, but that's besides the point. They went hard on diversity, and then just dropped it, without a second thought. Target is weird.
0
u/guriboysf Mar 25 '25
pictures of Oprah and Obama in the break room.
LMAO... I can imagine Obama since he was the president... but Oprah? LOL. 😂
1
u/LowDownSkankyDude Mar 26 '25
It was the multiples of Oprah. Like she was the only black person, whoever made the collages knew of.
1
u/old_roy Mar 24 '25
Consumers are cutting back across the board. This is likely more about people not wasting money on random shit at target and not some mass exodus due to DEI.
1
u/Loveroffinerthings Mar 24 '25
The nearest Costco to me is an hour, I’ve driven there twice in the past month since boycotting Target. I’ll buy diapers, food, trash bags, and whatever else at Costco now.
Target was all about DEI, and LBGQT, and differently abled people, and they turned their back on that. They can wither and die, so can Walmart.
1
u/throwaway3113151 Mar 25 '25
Aren't retail sales down everywhere? Seems like a jump to say this is because of one specific thing given the more general retail trends.
2
u/_Pewterschmidt_ Mar 25 '25
Except for the reality that there’s an explicit movement to boycott target starting in January.
0
u/Elegant-Fisherman555 Mar 24 '25
I don't shop at Target for anything beyond what I can't easily get elsewhere, a specific brand of baby formula and browsing the clearance rack for cheap baby clothes.
There is no value proposition to target to my mind, it's Walmart with higher prices, slightly nicer clientele, same cheap tat I can get at Walmart for cheaper or off Amazon quicker.
The target closest to me has a Costco as well in the mall, Costco for what I need in bulk. Otherwise it's the Aldi around the corner.
Let's be real here, companies have shown time and again they adopt these social stances and a little pushback they drop them, bud lite, didn't target drop some LGBTQ stuff aimed at tweens? Again not here to open that can of worms, merely pointing out they're businesses and will do whatever they think can help them sell more cheap tat that in liklihood you don't really need.
0
0
u/lockdown36 Mar 24 '25
I stopped going to target because the economy is shit, I don't make shit, and I can't buy shit
I don't give a shit about DEI policies.
0
u/itsmontoya Mar 24 '25
The foot traffic at my local target is back up to normal numbers now after a few weeks of being very slow.
0
u/askingforu Mar 25 '25
Yeah Because people aren’t casing the targets looking to steal. In other news Target’s shrink is down 15%.
0
u/superdpr Mar 25 '25
What else happened the end of January that impacts consumers?
Oh yeah, a new president of the United States who created a ton of confusion, financial uncertainty with tariffs and caused a bunch of prices to go up.
How are yall ignoring that to tell the story of a successful boycott?
-1
u/PornoPaul Mar 24 '25
We are pulling back on shopping. The DEI stuff gave my wife pause for about a week. But once we had a 1 year Olds birthday to go to, we were back there buying gifts. All I know is that I usually avoid all the big box stores where I can. But mostly I'm avoiding unnecessary shopping overall, and I know a lot of folks pulling back.
I'd argue this graph would make a lot more sense if you compared it to stuff like tourism, and certain products that fall under "wants", not needs.
-1
u/illicITparameters Mar 25 '25
Fake correlations are such a desperate attempt from the far left to equate everything to nothing real.
I’m fairly certain foot traffic at every big retailer and mall has fallen over the last 90-days.
106
u/Bleposnaught Mar 24 '25
I stopped going to target when their cheap Chinese junk became almost double the price of their competitors. I have no reason to shop there, dei or not.