Dive Brief:
- Target’s incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke is making experience one of his three key priorities. Fiddelke, who is currently EVP and COO at Target, will step into the role on Feb. 1.
- On a Q2 2025 earnings call, Fiddelke highlighted the need for a friendly and clean store environment, a digital experience that emphasizes discovery and inspiration, and more reliable in-stock rates across the retailer’s product assortment.
- “We want to delight our guests who shop with us every time they shop,” Fiddelke said during the call. “And as I've made clear, we have to do better here, especially in the consistency of our experience.”
Dive Insight:
While Fiddelke believes Target has made progress on improving its operations, he sees plenty of work ahead as the retailer pursues a turnaround under his leadership.
Fiddelke has emphasized the importance of consistency for some time. Target rolled out express self-checkout lanes in March 2024, and Fiddelke said leadership worked with store managers to maintain consistently adequate staffing at full-service lanes during the process.
Fiddelke emphasized consistent store experiences and faster delivery, as major goals during Target’s Q4 2024 earnings call as well. The retailer has since continued pushing for digital growth while maintaining in-store experiences.
Target has been running a test in Chicago this year where certain stores with large backrooms handled more online order fulfillment, while other locations shut down their order packing stations in favor of focusing on in-store pickup orders and the overall store experience.
“We've been pleased with what we've seen in that test, both on the digital fulfillment side and especially on the store experience side,” Fiddelke said on the earnings call Wednesday. “And so you'll see us take those learnings and apply them to somewhere between 30 and 40 more markets before the year is out.”
Target’s current CX and sales problems stem from back of house issues, according to Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail. Issues like out of stocks and long lines at the register are caused by poor operations, and getting those under control will be essential to Fiddelke’s success.
“Target needs to get its stores and the experience in them firmly back on track,” Saunders told CX Dive in an email. “Shoppers used to love visiting Target. That magic has now faded. The battle is for Target to get it back and to do so on a consistent basis.”
While some metrics are improving at Target — traffic and sales improved quarter over quarter in the second quarter of 2025 — the company needs to “move faster, much faster,” said Fiddelke.
Net sales fell 0.9% year over year to $25.2 billion in the quarter, according to a company earnings report. Comparable sales decreased 1.9% year over year, with comparable store sales down 3.2% and comparable digital sales growth of 4.3%.
Target has invested $1.9 in capital expenditures this year, and the company expects that to reach about $4 billion by the end of 2025. Efforts include new store openings, remodels and investment in supply chain and technology “all in support of our goal to deliver a fast, reliable and differentiated shopping experience for our guests,” EVP and CFO Jim Lee said.
The company also launched the Enterprise Acceleration Office last quarter to speed up its transformation at the corporate level. Fiddelke will continue leading the team in his new role.
“Everything we do should be in service of our guests, and we're evaluating how to best ensure our resources and talent better align with our strategy to drive speed, quality and consistency in support of the tens of millions of guests that shop us each week,” Fiddelke said.
