Fast Five Shorts | Target: Dull Or Chic?
In the latest edition of Omni Talk’s Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Avalara, Mirakl, Ownit AI, and Ocampo Capital Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss: If Target Is Dull Or Chic?
For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/xDKKCu9Alfk
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Transcript
Line number one is from the Wall Street Journal this week, which asked if Target has moved from cheap chic to a dull chore.
Speaker A:According to the Journal, Target's share price tumbled more than 20% after the company reported another disappointing quarter and executives lowered financial targets they had set back in August.
Speaker A: in November of: Speaker A:We also have heard that customers have long bragged about their cheap, chic target purchases, but now many are griping about items missing on shelves, long checkout lines and products being locked up to prevent theft, said longtime Target executive and former Toys R Us CEO Jerry Storch.
Speaker A:Target quote is like an, an old friend.
Speaker A:You kind of have to wander away from an old friend who has become boring.
Speaker A:End quote.
Speaker A:Chris, we, we are starting you off with the A and M put you on the spot question of the week, which is are you ready?
Speaker A:Bring it.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:As we recently discussed in our five insightful Minutes segment with you about our most recent consumer sentiment report, the US Consumer across all income levels continues to pull back on discretionary spending in favor of fulfilling basic needs.
Speaker A:Is Target slow slide really about retail execution?
Speaker A:Things like stockouts, long lines and products under glass, or those things just amplifying the problem that Targets customers are cutting back on the things they normally shop at Target for?
Speaker A:Chris, the floor is yours.
Speaker B:Oh, Ann, I love that question.
Speaker B:First thing I think about is Anne, our customers love products under glass.
Speaker B:Remember when Cornell said that, yes, they just love us.
Speaker B:They're coming up to me and thanking me for putting our products under glass.
Speaker B:What a bunch of baloney.
Speaker B:But, but, all right, getting back to the question at hand to put you on the spot, question from our friends at the A and M Consumer and Retail Group.
Speaker B:I think it's a great question and my answer is actually yes and an I think it's, it's partially macroeconomic, it's partially execution.
Speaker B:But the real root is honestly CEO Brian Cornell's leadership.
Speaker B:You know, we've been, we've been, we've been circling this, this eventuality for a long time on the show.
Speaker B:I think you could go back a year, year and a half to us predicting that this type of thing was going to happen.
Speaker B:And I've never shared this anecdote, I've talked about it with you, but I've never shared it on this podcast.
Speaker B: Cornell's stated strategy in: Speaker B:This is 100%.
Speaker B:Why I decided to leave Target when I did was to retrench, refurbish the stores and pick up share while other competitors died off.
Speaker B:So essentially his strategy was to grow through other people's deaths versus to make yourself more compelling.
Speaker B:I didn't find that inspiring.
Speaker B:I believe in the, I believe in the idea of how good is your good, not grow from other people dying.
Speaker B:Like, I'm just going to put it out there.
Speaker B:And so, and I think so now let's flash forward.
Speaker B:Like now we're what, seven years later and the pandemic happened.
Speaker B:And like a novice blackjack player who wins when the dealer bust, the pandemic happens.
Speaker B:And all of a sudden people don't have that many places to shop and want to consolidate their trips.
Speaker B:So he mistakenly looks like a hero because they start selling more groceries and apparel than ever before.
Speaker B:Because quite honestly, they were the only one of the only few stores that was open.
Speaker B:But now, two years out from the pandemic, the company doesn't have a single stated growth strategy to write home about.
Speaker B:The culture is reportedly awful, according to our sources, the friends of whom we talk to regularly.
Speaker B:And meanwhile, on the flip side, Walmart is growing via high income earners, is selling its tech to other retailers, has a far more robust marketplace on a scale literally.
Speaker B:Literally.
Speaker B:Because I looked the numbers up a hundred times more than Target, which goes back to what we talked about the outset of this podcast and it's getting into banking and making moves in finance.
Speaker B:And the biggest thing coming out of Target's earnings release this past week was the launch of some wild fable apparel brand.
Speaker B:I say that, but that's real.
Speaker B:That was the best thing they were talking about.
Speaker A:And wicked.
Speaker B:So it's.
Speaker A:And wicked.
Speaker B:And wicked, right?
Speaker B:And Taylor Swift, right?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And wicked.
Speaker B:And Taylor Swift, yes.
Speaker B:Being fair.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Oh, and the amorphous, like X number of stores are going to build out over 10 years, which no one's defined in any way, shape or form.
Speaker B:So in my opinion, and I hate to say it, but it's time the shareholders take a hard look at what Cornell has really accomplished and start to start the process of deciding who stays and who goes under his regime.
Speaker B:Because Emperor Cornell is at risk of standing naked for all to see here very soon, and it's time for him to step down, honestly, before it's too late.
Speaker B:That's my op.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:How do I follow that up?
Speaker A:Chris.
Speaker B:Agree or disagree?
Speaker B:Let's start there, Ed.
Speaker B:I mean, I know that was.
Speaker B:That was.
Speaker B:It was it was, it was not a rant.
Speaker B:It was, I thought it was a very, very.
Speaker B:It was, it was, it was definitely, like, pointed.
Speaker B:But I, you know, I thought, yes.
Speaker B:You know, I thought it was, it was, it was not rant level like I've done on previous shows.
Speaker A:But no, I think it was better than this Wall Street Journal article.
Speaker A:I will say that.
Speaker A:I mean, talk about waste of an article.
Speaker A:Like, you could pull.
Speaker A:I don't care what Mary and Florida things.
Speaker A:Jim on his way home from the gym in the morning.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:I actually, that's actually part of, part of the problem here that I have with the reporting that's happening.
Speaker A:And I especially call out Wall Street Journal for this.
Speaker A:Like, get in and start talking to some executives at Target, find out what's really going on.
Speaker A:I find it hard to believe that you can't find anybody at Target as a source to really dive into what's going on inside.
Speaker A:And I think that, you know, the, or to just display facts like what you just did in, in your, in your points that you're making here in your answer to the A and M question.
Speaker A:I mean, I think the number one thing here, we've been asked by reporters, by friends in the last week multiple times, like, what does Target need?
Speaker A:What's the strategy here?
Speaker A:And you called it out.
Speaker A:And that's growth.
Speaker A:And it pains me because, Chris, these are our friends, our neighbors, our former colleagues.
Speaker A:Like, there is no reason the Target couldn't be on top here and couldn't be better.
Speaker A:You, you have a unique value proposition.
Speaker A:Target, you had it.
Speaker A:Get it back and start making investments in the places that make sense so that you can grow and can be competitive or it will be the end for Target.
Speaker A:I hate to say it, but it's like, there, some people need to start taking action inside Target.
Speaker A:I'm sure some people are trying.
Speaker A:There are good, smart people there.
Speaker A:But, Cornell, you got to step down.
Speaker A:I was actually a little surprised, Chris, that we didn't hear him say that he might be stepping down.
Speaker A:In this call last Wednesday, I was, I was, I had, I had a feeling that, you know, I still have a feeling that this is going to come earlier than the one to two years that they, they're, they were projecting like, oh, no, we're going to change our retirement age so that he can stay on for longer if he wants to.
Speaker A:His time is done.
Speaker A:He's benefited off the pandemic.
Speaker A:And now some serious decisions have to be made for the sake of all of our friends still at Target.
Speaker A:And the target consumer because things are not going in the right direction and they definitely need to turn around.
Speaker A:So I, but then, but then that.
Speaker B:Raises the next question is like, what do you do next?
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:Because his whole, his whole C suite is long time target executives with very little outside experience.
Speaker B:And so then, you know, it begs the question of like, are they fit to compete in this digital world where Walmart is 100% using digital to their fullest extent possible, as is Amazon too, let's not forget them, as are other competitors that are getting the punchline to that joke.
Speaker B:So that's the big question here, is where do you go?
Speaker B:Is it going to be more of the same by just picking one of the people on the bench as his successor?
Speaker B:Or does the board get, you know, do they, they, they get smart, honestly, in my opinion, and look outside the company here for his successor?
Speaker B:I don't know, but you get the last word.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, I think you can't, you can't disqualify people because of their tenure.
Speaker A:I mean, Walmart has people like, you know, John Furner, who've been there, Doug McMillan who've been there their entire careers as well.
Speaker A:I think it's just, it's what you said, it gets back to who's the leader and what is their focus.
Speaker A:And the focus has to be on smart strategic growth strategies right now, end of, end of story.
