Target's problems aren't what you think they are Daniel Kline Mon, July 13, 2026 at 1:10 PM PDT 6 min read TGT When Target CEO Michael Fiddelke took over the struggling company in February, he faced a daunting task. Not only did he have to reverse a sales slide, but the new boss also had to change how consumers saw the brand. Conservative shoppers viewed the brand as "woke" because of its DEI policies, bathroom rules, and Pride merchandise. Liberal shoppers watched Target abandon some of those things, leaving the company to anger customers on both ends of the political spectrum. That wasn't the chain's biggest problem, according to GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders. He believes Target's lackluster sales had more to do with failing on execution than being caught up in cultural issues like DEI. "As important as that matter is, and as much as it does have some impact, it has never been the main issue," Saunders wrote, according to the Associated Press . Sujeet Naik, an analyst at Coresight, did an interview with TheStreet looking at the changes Target has made and where the company stands now. Target needed to make changes TheStreet: Was Target really struggling as badly as it was portrayed? Sujeet Naik: I would say no. Headlines were exaggerated, but Target is not facing any existential crisis. It just lost momentum over the past few years while Walmart and Amazon kept widening their advantages. Sales slowed, traffic weakened, shoppers questioned its value proposition, and the company became caught up in political debates that distracted from the business. At the same time, execution slipped as many customers increasingly complained about out-of-stocks, messy stores and inconsistent shopping experiences. The encouraging part is that consumers haven't abandoned Target. In our Back-to-School survey, it remains the second most popular destination after Walmart, narrowly ahead of Amazon. That tells me the brand still has meaningful equity. The challenge isn't getting consumers to know Target, but it is giving them a compelling reason to choose it more often. TheStreet: Will the chain be able to reset as a non-political brand, and is that even the right choice? Naik: I am not convinced this is fundamentally a political story anymore. Politics certainly damaged Target because it upset consumers on multiple sides, but I don't think shoppers wake up asking whether Target is political. They ask whether it offers good prices, whether the shelves are stocked, and whether shopping there feels easy. The bigger issue is that Target lost clarity around what made it different. Walmart owns value. Amazon owns convenience. For years, Target owned affordable style and discovery, better known as the "Tarzhay" experience. That positioning became blurred. The retailer now needs to rebuild a clear retail identity rather than simply trying to become less political. Story Continues TheStreet: What does the back-to-school season mean for the chain? Naik: Back-to-school is one of the most important moments of the year for Target because it combines almost everything the company does well:...
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