Michael Fiddelke’s plan to return Target Corp. to its glory days is off to a running start with an unexpectedly strong first-quarter sales gain.
Fiddelke, a veteran of the retailer who became chief executive officer in February, has been emphasizing style and design in an effort to not just keep the registers clicking, but to leave shoppers with a sense of “delight.” More from WWD While that drive started to take shape last year, when he was still chief operating officer, it took off during the quarter ended May 2 — a tough period for consumers, when the war in Iran pushed gas prices higher and stoked uncertainty
First-quarter sales increased 6.7 percent to $23.4 billion, well ahead of the 3.4 percent increase analysts had figured on, according to Yahoo Finance. All six of the company’s core merchandising categories grew and comparable sales rose 5.6 percent. Net income fell 24.6 percent to $781 million.
But earnings per diluted share came in at $1.71 — 25 cents above the $1.46 analysts forecast. “We’re on the right path because guests are responding in areas where we are leaning in and driving change,” Fiddelke told reporters during a conference call. “These are areas where we bring style, design and value to not only the products we sell, but how we sell them, creating a distinctly Target experience. “We’re not going to get everything right,” he said. “We’ll try some stuff that does and [some stuff that] doesn’t work over the course of the year, but to see guests are responding to the newness and merchandising, to see the guests responding to the progress that we’re making in the store experience, those are good things to see.” The CEO pointed to partnerships with Roller Rabbit, Parke and Pokémon as instances where Target successfully connected, as evidenced by the people queuing up outside stores to get at the collections. And shoppers get into the stores, they find the environment is changing. “We’re investing hundreds of millions of dollars in store payroll…