Target’s foot traffic fell for the third consecutive month since it rolled back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, but it ended an 11-week slump with two consecutive weeks of modest gains.
Foot traffic was down 3.3% YoY in April, following dips of 6.5% in March and 9% in February, according to data from Placer.ai.
The retailer’s weekly slump began in the first full week after its January 24 announcement that it was eliminating its DEI program, but it finally inched into positive territory the week leading up to Easter that began April 14, with a gain of 0.4% YoY, following with an even wispier gain of 0.1% for the week that began April 21.
Target, which in recent years championed terms like racial justice and social justice and was a full-throated advocate for DEI, surprised many when—just four days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration and one day after he demanded that both governmental agencies and companies dismantle DEI—the company did exactly that.
In retrospect, though, Target’s capitulation was no surprise at all. According to recent filings with the Federal Election Commission, a full two weeks before it caved on DEI, Target made its first-ever donation to an inauguration, in the form of a $1 million check to Trump’s inaugural committee on January 10.
Target did not respond to Retail Brew’s request for comment.
Costco, which unlike Target resisted demands to spike its DEI program, has seen YoY foot-traffic gains for every month this year, including April, when it gained 3.4%, according to Placer.ai.
Costco’s streak of foot-traffic gains finally ended after 16 weeks, however, when it fell 2.5% on the week leading up to Easter, before roaring back with an 8.6% gain on the following week, which began April 21.
Drop ’till you shop: It’s hard to know what helped Target break its 11-week slump, but the week it finally posted foot-traffic gains was the first full week after it dropped its widely covered collab with Kate Spade New York on April 12. Another collab, with Parachute Home, dropped toward the end of the second week when Target saw slight foot-traffic gains, on April 27.
Correlation—yes, this has become our admittedly uncatchy catchphrase—is not causation, so there’s no hard proof that Target’s DEI switcheroo has been the primary culprit for its foot-traffic losses over the last three months. But the top comments on the brand’s social media channels are dominated by criticism from users who say they were once frequent Target shoppers who stopped after its DEI reversal.
Among those who haven’t forgotten about Target’s DEI rollback are the more than 150,000 who signed on to the 40-plus day church-led Lenten boycott. The protest was scheduled to end on Easter, but organizers decided to continue the boycott because Target did not restore DEI.
This report was originally published by Retail Brew.
