For brands seeking to win back customer loyalty, the process can be long and slow.
Starbucks has been pursuing a turnaround since before CEO Brian Niccol joined in 2024, and Target has been working on improving its store experience for several years. Kohl’s has been working on its core experience since early 2025.
The companies are recording better financial results alongside CX improvements, and their executives share a similar attitude toward the strategies: The experience has to be great not just most of the time, but every time.
All three businesses have different approaches to driving greater consistency. Starbucks emphasizes the importance of the employee-customer connection, Kohl’s wants to ensure customers always find what they came for, and Target aims for its store experience to delight shoppers every time.
Here is a look at the strategies each company is pursuing.
Starbucks seeks stability through its employees
Starbucks is a customer-driven business, and its baristas are the ones presenting the Starbucks experience to its shoppers, CEO Brian Niccol said at the annual Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference last month.
The company’s investments in wages and benefits create more stability in its cafes, which contributes to a more consistent experience for customers, according to Niccol. Starbucks is also providing quarterly bonuses for hourly employees who perform well.
“If we provide great customer experiences and set our partners up so that they can consistently deliver those experiences for our customers, I'm really confident we'll win,” Niccol said at the conference.
Reliability is core to the coffee chain’s Green Apron Service plan, which it rolled out last summer. The strategy includes instructions for five key experience moments, including directing staff to warmly greet customers and make connections during the drink handoff.
Improvements to scheduling, technology and leadership are making Green Apron Service “work more reliably every day,” Niccol said on an earnings call in April. “As a result, in the quarter, customer experience scores continue to rise.”
Among customers who see Starbucks as a splurge, the company needs to ensure they feel that splurge was worthwhile, according to Niccol. A small touch of luxury can go a long way with shoppers.
Starbucks’ overall emphasis on consistent CX was reflected in positive earnings during the second quarter of 2026.
Kohl’s adjusts its inventory for a better experience
Kohl’s is emphasizing consistency across its digital and in-store experiences as the retailer works to win back customers who have strayed from the brand.
The retailer is working on better product curation so that every customer can find the exact item they’re looking for when they visit a store, according to CEO Michael Bender. Inventory management is core to a reliable and consistent experience.
“Trip assurance needs to be a key differentiator for us going forward,” Bender said during an earnings call last month. “Simply put, the customer needs to be able to come to Kohl's, find what they're looking for and the size and color they want and get it at an affordable price.
Kohl’s has become overly saturated in certain products and categories, Bender said. The company has responded by reducing redundancy and cutting choice counts both online and in-store.
“The edits are aimed to drive a more consistent shopping experience with improved product clarity, purpose and relevance,” Bender said.
Kohl’s is making its promotions more consistent as well. Last year, the retailer began to increase the number of brands eligible for coupon usage, which caused “an immediate and consistent increase in our penetration of sales included in coupon usage,” Bender said.
The retailer’s performance has improved since it started improving inventory consistency, leading to the best comparable sales performance in more than four years in the first quarter of 2026. However, sales were still down year over year.
The decline in sales was due to decline in transactions, according to CFO Jill Timm. Kohl’s trip assurance strategy is part of its effort to reverse this decline.
Target sees consistency as key to sustainable growth
Sustainable growth is “the only winning path in retail,” CEO Michael Fiddelke said on an earnings call last month. A more consistent store experience is one of the pillars of the retailer’s strategy.
“For Target, that means leading with merchandising authority, elevating the guest experience, accelerating technology and strengthening our team and communities,” Fiddelke said. “Delivering on our aspiration to be the most delightful shopping experience in retail means executing this strategy clearly and consistently.”
Product findability and in-stock availability are the top points of friction for Target shoppers, according to EVP and COO Lisa Roath. The retailer aims to strengthen the fundamentals of its stores while creating moments of inspiration for customers.
Roath, who stepped into the COO role in February after more than 20 years with Target, expects her diverse vantage point from serving in positions across operations, stores and marketing to help her drive greater consistency at the retailer.
“That breadth has given me a deep understanding of how strategy becomes real for our guests from the products we choose to how they flow through our network to how our teams bring our product and an elevated experience to life every day,” Roath said on the earnings call last month. “That perspective matters because strategy only creates value when it shows up consistently for our guests.”
Target’s push for consistency includes improving basics like bathrooms at thousands of stores as well as additional guest experience training for more than 300,000 associates and managers with the goal of connecting daily behaviors to clear expectations, according to Roath.
“Early feedback has been strong, with teams saying they appreciate the clarity on priorities,” Roath said. “Just as importantly, we're seeing early improvements in guest experience and satisfaction metrics in stores where we've increased support.”
