Target Stores Losing Money Amid Boycott; CEO Refuses to Change Bathroom Policy

Source: Christian Post | May 19, 2016 | Stoyan Zaimov

Target’s shares are plunging in an “increasingly volatile consumer environment,” though the retail giant is denying that the conservative boycott against its transgender bathroom policies is playing a big part.

“Shares of the company were off 7.6 percent at $68 as of 4 p.m. trading on Wednesday. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 1.2 percent in the quarter ended April 30, short of Target’s 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent annual target,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, noting that this is the first such decline in two years, since Brian Cornell took over as CEO.

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Target’s CEO admitted that a few stores nationwide have indeed faced protests over the bathroom policy, which allows employees and customers who are men according to their birth sex to use women’s bathrooms, in a bid to be more inclusive.

He said that while some of those stores did take a hit in sales, as a whole he claimed that the boycott has not affected the retail giant.

“To date we have not seen a material or measurable impact on our business. Just a handful of stores across the country have seen some activity and have been impacted,” he said.

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A number of other reports have also pointed out that Target is struggling, with Business Insider stating last week that data supplied by YouGov BrandIndex, measuring consumer perceptions of major brands, has shown that consumers considering shopping from Target have dropped to 36 percent, a 6 percentage point difference from before the boycott began.

“Consumer perception of the brand has also dropped sharply. It’s at its lowest point in two years,” the report noted.

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  • Consistent #6358

    EVERYDAY #6371

    Target should have learned from Penney’s embrace of gays a few years back. I don’t think Penney’s has recovered from that debacle.

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