I think we've got to start with the
seauite change. What is behind the
change and what's at the top of the
to-do list for the new CEO?
>> Uh good morning and thanks for having
me. Um when we look at the CEO change
really um I think that there was uh
investor appetite for sure in having a
CEO change you know Brian Cornell's been
at the helm for 11 years. Um when he
first came in it was a visionary target
took a whole new growth uh path under
his under his leadership and
stewardship. Um, but I think this the
the change announced this morning with
Michael Fidela coming in uh from CEO COO
up to the CEO role sort of implies that
there's likely to be a continuation of
the existing strategy and that that may
be what's part of contributing to the
slide in the stock this morning. Um, I
think there may have been expectations
that um you need someone with um an
external vision or with a a different
vision um to really kind of write the
ship. the target is
>> there's something Lisa talked about Jen
as the numbers were dropping and we saw
the decision cross as well that maybe
that was the disappointment Jen what
have they been struggling to do and is
this down to the changes we've seen the
competitive effort that's come from
elsewhere from the likes of Walmart
>> well I think a lot of this started with
um with coming out of the pandemic and
with the consumer shift to more
essentials in a in a in a period of very
high inflation especially for food where
people were making decisions about how
they were spending their money. Target
is overindexed in discretionary spending
categories. So, they're famous for their
fashion, for their home decor, you know,
for baby and things like that. And as
people move towards more essentials, um
that really left a gap um for for Target
where they had to try to figure out what
they were going to do. The company's
done a very good job in terms of
continuing to keep their private label
selection fresh and and and and that
sort of thing, but the consumer just
hasn't followed track. And when you
layer in on top of that some of the
corporate decisions that have not
resonated with their core base like with
um DEI initiatives and things like that,
it's just been a rough time for Target
lately.