Target has become the focus of consumer anger at the corporate retreat from diversity policies in the US after stepping back from its vocal commitment to the initiative.
Last month, Target joined Walmart, McDonald’s, Ford and Lowe’s in rolling back some of their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the face of mounting pressure from critics.
Target announced the decision shortly after President Donald Trump signed several executive orders restricting such initiatives within the federal government and private sector.
A decline in foot traffic at Target stores has coincided with a campaign of consumer boycotts aimed at the retailer, even as other brands that made similar reversals have faced little outcry.
Across the nearly 2,000 Target stores in the US, the number of people entering the shop dropped 4 per cent the week after the January 24 announcement compared with the same period last year, according to Placer.ai, which tracks location data from mobile devices.
Traffic dropped nearly 9 per cent the following week, which began on February 3, even as visits to rival Walmart fell less than 3 per cent.
While the reason for Target’s traffic fall is not certain, it coincides with activists urging shoppers to avoid the retailer.
While Placer.ai said weather and other variables could also have contributed to the decline in store visits, its data revealed that foot traffic at Target rose about 5 per cent in the four weeks before the decision was announced.
“Target has made a big deal of the fact that it is inclusive,” said Akshay Rao, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota who has studied Target’s brand. “This was a surprise to customers and not in a good way.”
Rosie Myers, a 39-year-old Los Angeles property manager, said that the store’s DEI reversal prompted her to scale back her Target purchases markedly.
Myers used to visit Target “three to four times a week”, but now prioritises Black-owned brands and retailers that have defended their diversity initiatives.
“I don’t want to shop in a place that wouldn’t hire me or wouldn’t celebrate me,” said Myers, who also runs an Instagram fan account for the brand called @blackgirlsintarget.
The anger of shoppers such as Myers could add another challenge for Target, said Zak Stambor, a retail and ecommerce analyst at EMARKETER.
The retailer had a better than expected holiday season but it could suffer if inflation continues to rise because it relies on discretionary spending and its own private-label brands, Stambor said.
“The challenge now is getting shoppers through the door, or on to its website or app to try those products,” he added.
In the weeks since Target announced it would end its DEI initiatives, racial justice activists and even members of the retailer’s founding family have criticised the decision.
In a letter to the Financial Times, Anne S and Lucy B Dayton said they were “shocked and dismayed” by the company’s reversal.
Their father, Bruce Dayton, and his four brothers launched Target in 1962 as a discount subsidiary of their Minneapolis department store. They adopted the city’s progressive values, promoting collections for Latino Heritage and Black History Months.
In 2016, it welcomed transgender customers to use whichever bathrooms aligned with their gender identity amid the uproar over North Carolina’s 2016 bathroom law.
“By cowering, Target and others are undermining the very principles that have made their companies a success,” the sisters wrote in the letter.
Activists called on Black Americans and their allies to boycott Target, especially during Black History Month celebrations in February. A petition led by Jamal Bryant, an Atlanta pastor, garnered more than 50,000 signatures. Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist, told shoppers to “buy-cott” Costco, which has maintained its DEI initiatives.
At the time of the announcement, Target said it was “implementing changes with the goal of driving growth and staying in step with the evolving external landscape”.
Corporate America’s efforts to diversify their workforces and suppliers have come under pressure in recent years from conservatives who allege that the programmes undermine meritocracy and unfairly discriminate against white people and men.
Activist Robby Starbuck has led social media pressure campaigns and taken credit for reversals by John Deere, Toyota and others.
Target had previously positioned itself as inclusive, recruiting disabled people and those from racial minorities to staff its stores and feature in marketing materials, Rao said.
The retailer said that it “stands with Black families, communities and team members” and donated millions to social justice initiatives after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police in Minneapolis sparked a racial reckoning in 2020. It also committed to increasing the number of products it stocked from Black-owned brands.
But Target, which did not respond to requests for comment, has pulled back from social causes after repeatedly becoming embroiled in culture wars. It limited sales of its Pride Month merchandise to select stores last year after some locations were vandalised over objections to LGBT-themed products.
It still emphasises to customers that it maintains its “commitment to inclusion”, but it is “a tough dance”, according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking.
“When I read the actual language from Target, I don’t think they’re going that far,” the person said. “It feels like kind of a standard de-risking . . . their commitment to diversity and having an inclusive workplace feel still pretty strong, whereas some other companies have been a little bit more harsh in how they’ve walked away from DEI.”
But activists accuse Target of betraying the Black customers it once courted.
“For some reason, Target didn’t understand that its decision is not only offensive, but it’s bad for business,” said civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong.
Armstrong organised a protest outside the retailer’s Minneapolis headquarters last month, just miles from where Floyd was murdered. “Many of us were regular Target shoppers before they made their announcement.”
At the protest, demonstrators cut up their Target credit cards and chanted “Black shoppers matter”.
