Target Reduces 2025 Forecast and Blames Boycotts and Budget Shoppers for Sales Decline

Target is warning that the remainder of 2025 isn’t looking much better after having a difficult start to the year.

The business said on Wednesday that its revenues for the first three months of the year were lower than anticipated. Target claims that a combination of growing expenses, continuous boycotts, and general economic instability is causing customers to spend less.

Target’s sales during the quarter came to $23.85 billion, a 2.8% decrease from the same period the previous year. That fell short of the $24.23 billion that Wall Street had anticipated. Although the business nonetheless turned a profit of almost $1.04 billion, this is insufficient to allay investor concerns. Previously forecasting a modest uptick in sales in March, Target now anticipates a decline in sales for the entire year.

Brian Cornell, the CEO of Target, stated that the firm is not satisfied with the outcomes and is making rapid efforts to turn things around. Offering new low-priced products, such as 10,000 items with prices starting at $1 and the majority under $20, is one way to try to increase the number of customers in-store or online.

The fact that people are just becoming more frugal with their money is one major problem. Customers are delaying purchases of items they do not absolutely need, including apparel, household products, and other non-essentials, due to inflation, rising interest rates, and worries about additional import duties.

Target acknowledged that the negative reaction to the Pride Month scandal from the previous year had an impact. The corporation backed off after being criticized for selling LGBTQ+ goods, which led to additional criticism from those who believed Target catered to pressure. All of that controversy damaged their brand’s reputation and probably contributed to fewer customers buying from them.

Online sales actually increased by 4.7%, but in-store sales decreased by 5.7%. Nevertheless, the typical client paid 1.4% less per trip, and the total number of sales decreased 2.4%.

Behind the scenes, Target is also changing. Christina Hennington, the Chief Strategy and Growth Officer, is leaving her position as a top executive. The company’s COO will head a new unit that will concentrate on making decisions more quickly in order to boost sales once more.

Following the announcement, Target’s stock dropped almost 3.5 percent. The company is obviously attempting to figure out how to regain the vigor and attraction it once had with consumers, as seen by the fact that shares have already dropped more than 37% in the last year.