1ºThe companies taking losses while also engaged in social causes and politics. Is it hypocritical to fire or layoff employees? Extended paid family leave, and other things, then you fire or layoff people because of your stock price or the bottom line. Shouldn’t those in high management be taking pay cuts, taking bonus reductions to keep employees? It is said that Wall Street wishes to impose such things on Main Street, but then do the things Main Street wants to avoid. Basically Wall Street has to do what they wish to impose on Main Street. Forget the investors and your obligations, pay your workers better even if it bankrupts your business.
2ºNobody who shops at Target has any money. Plus, the CFO and CEO saw the quarter was going to be poo poo anyways, and probably wrote off all of the losses they had been hiding for years, in order to get prior bonuses. My guess is that we will see much better numbers from them in the future, with this doo doo quarter behind them, so long as gas prices don't go way up and again, and everyone doesn't become homeless. Those are big "if's," I know. With the middle class shrinking into poverty, it doesn't bode well for Target long-term.
3ºAshley Schmidt As I mentioned, It is one of the negative changes they have made recently that is likely causing them a loss in revenue. Target Circle offers used to be available for people who selected shipping. It no longer is. I don’t WANT to go into the store. No desire to be around a majority of unmasked and non-social distanced people in an area with high covid positivity.
Target it attempting to get people to go in the store rather than have things shipped to their home. My answer is still NO.
It’s easy to just hope over to Amazon’s website and get it there with free shipping and no Target Circle exclusion issues.
4ºLynne Arnold I agree the quality is nowhere near the same but perhaps a better price point for the super young crowd they seem to be targeting. I wasn’t a fan of many of the shapes but they seem to sell.
I think the fashion change in clothes accompanied with their lack of change in home decor made the “extras” sit, while the chip and Joanna Gaines, modern farmhouse, landlord special white everything and barn doors was popular before it really seems to be shifting. (Maybe just dying out or maybe people want more color and change in the homes they’ve been confined to)
The renovations and crap economy are certainly factors too. I don’t buy nearly as many “wants” as I used to.
5ºThe city proper and inner-suburbs favor the Democratic Party, while outer-suburbs of Grand Rapids tend to support the Republican Party.
Traditionally, Grand Rapids supported the Republican Party. The city is the center of the 3rd Congressional District, represented by Republican Peter Meijer. Former President Gerald Ford represented the district (then numbered as the 5th) from 1949 to 1973 and is buried on the grounds of his Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids. The city and its suburbs are home to several major donors to the national Republican Party, including the DeVos family and Peter Secchia, former Ambassador to Italy.[citation needed]
Both representatives in the Michigan State House of Representatives are Democrats, and the city's State Senate seat was taken by a Democrat in 2018. In the eight most recent presidential elections, Democratic candidates Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden won a majority or plurality of votes in the city of Grand Rapids. The last Republican candidate for president to carry the city was George H.W. Bush in 1988.
6ºThey are basing the reports on hyped up profits from bailouts and stock buybacks! They have lost nothing but the potential to keep the inflated pricing going. I have been to Target in store and online and neither is selling anything at prices to move inventory…no sales. They have cut cashier and stocking jobs during the pandemic and are not in any hurry to replace them because that has become another revenue stream. Corporate America is cannibalizing the consumer and once they have sucked our bones dry they will switch their focus to China and India’s consumers. Manufacturing will come back to the USA finally in the form of sweatshops and dangerous conditions like days of old because we will be so desperate for work any crumbs they throw workers way will welcome. The time is now to curb corporate control of our government and put safety measures in place to protect citizens.
7ºChris Jahn You have mischaracterized fashion and my comments. Obviously Target is low budget fashion, duh. That has been the Target niche and until lately, it’s been highly successful.
And that’s why (drum roll…)
This article was written. To point out that Target merchandising has lost its way. It previously was able to pivot quickly and provide the looks that it’s demographic wanted at an affordable price. It has eaten the lunch of JC Penney, Sears, etc. in catering to the middle class in recent years. It’s been brilliant and profitable.
And here you are cluelessly pointing to Nordstrom which has a teeny number of stores in comparison to the ubiquitous placement of Target throughout US communities.
8ºOh yeah, I was waiting for this. . . All of a sudden Corporations are going to be paying 15% tax - - - So, it's now time go tell themselves, "Oops, we been bragging about all these record profits we been making - time to start posting some losses". . . . . Who do they think they're fooling, moving those numbers around is nothing new, and they will do it. . . . . . . . I think we are all of a sudden going to be hearing about - wait for it - LOSSES!!!!!! All over the place, because you know, inflation and all that stuff.
9ºWhere I live at there is not a Target store near me (the nearest one is like two towns away). I always look at the ad's near to the town that does have it and to me Target was always over price there items way more than the local Walmart store that is in my town. If they do have a item that is on sale that I do want to buy I usually order it online if I can get it online now and have it ship to me but that is very rare for me to do that. I also been in the store a few times but I hardly buy anything at all when I did go into the stores.
10ºKathy Lattin Johnson I don’t disagree on quality. I very seldom but new with tags anything because I’m very concerned about fast fashion’s impact on the environment/ the people making them and because they make clothes to be almost disposable. They are one step above the paper swingers dresses of the 60s
Stumbling upon vintage clothing was eye-opening not just because I like it but because it seriously feels so different than modern clothing.
I have plenty of things from the 70s I could throw in a modern washer and it will last much longer than the off the rack stuff from target or shein.
I’ve even noticed a different smell from clothing stores. It smells cheap and like chemicals of sort that I can’t explain. (If that makes sense)
If Covid taught me anything about our economics it’s that so much if it relies on pumping out low quality no one ends and getting them to spend money they don’t have on it.