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August 21, 2025
Are Incoming Target CEO’s Three ‘Priorities’ a Good Start?
On his first analyst call since being selected as Target’s next CEO beginning in February 2026, Michael Fiddelke highlighted three “priorities” to improve the chain’s recent subpar performance: reestablishing its merchandising authority, elevating the guest experience with a focus on consistency, and fully leveraging technology to move faster.
Reestablishing Merchandising Authority
Fiddelke, currently Target’s COO, said “industry-leading style and design has long been one of the most critical attributes that makes Target, Target, and we need to reclaim that merchandising authority.”
He noted that Target recently found success realigning assortments in hardline categories “by leaning into style and culture in much the same way we’re known for in our apparel assortment.”
The chain must “push much harder in bringing this approach to our home category,” as well as better optimize newness and differentiation within food and beverage categories — and further leverage its $31 billion owned brand portfolio, one that’s largely focused on apparel.
Fiddelke said, “We need to go beyond the occasional design partnership or new product launch and ensure we’re bringing this authority across each category in our business throughout the year.”
Elevating The Guest Experience
Fiddelke said Target also needs to deliver an “elevated and joyful shopping experience,” both in stores and online.
“We can never take for granted the love our guests show us when they affectionately refer to their local store as ‘My Target’” said Fiddelke, “That’s loyalty we need to consistently go out and earn from well stocked shelves and clean stores to a friendly and helpful team and an online experience that brings inspiration and discovery. We want to delight our guests who shop with us every time they shop. And as I’ve made clear, we have to do better here, especially in the consistency of our experience.”
He noted that on-shelf availability metrics in the second quarter were “the best we’ve seen in years” with “far greater consistency” in intra-day inventory levels. Fiddelke said, “We will continue to build on this momentum.”
Fully Leverage Technology
Finally, Fiddelke said that while technology “is at the core of all our operations today, it needs to play an even stronger role going forward” to drive quicker changes.
Fiddelke in May was put in charge of Target’s Enterprise Acceleration Office to speed up progress, and the initiative has already identified several problem areas. He said, “We’ve identified the biggest challenges that slow us down, legacy technology that doesn’t meet today’s needs, manual work that can be automated, unclear accountabilities, slow decision-making, siloed goals, and a lack of access to quality data.”
Target is redesigning large cross-functional processes, such as how merchandising and inventory plans are built, to clarify roles and ensure data is readily available for decision making. The chain is also “improving and embedding more technology and data within our team” to improve processes, such as developing forecasts with greater accuracy and speed, while better determining which tech investments are “most mission-critical” to best deploy resources.
“Despite the solid foundation that’s been established, our performance over the last few years has not been acceptable,” said Fiddelke. “While we’re proud of the many ways that Target is unique in American retail, we have real work in front of us. And to be blunt, we need to move faster, much faster, and we are.”
Discussion Questions
Which of Michael Fiddelke’s three ‘priorities’ will be most critical in getting Target back on track?
Should any other areas receive a near-term focus?
Poll
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Bob Phibbs
President/CEO, The Retail Doctor
Frank Margolis
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Carol Spieckerman
President, Spieckerman Retail
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The big problem with Target is that its failures in execution have weakened the entire value proposition. Merchandise isn’t as compelling as it once was, many stores are in disarray, and friction in the shopping journey has driven customers away. So, yes, these three priorities largely hit the nail on the head.
However, while it is good that Michael Fiddelke has articulated them, the real test lies in resolving them. That is easier said than done, as many remedies require investment – something that will be difficult to manage given sliding profitability. Nevertheless, the circle needs to be squared if Target is to get back on track.
I don’t see any logic in ranking these priorities…they all have to be done (and there’s nothing mutually exclusive about them, other than the obvious that he can’t devote 100% of his time to each).
The test, of course, is what they do about it: saying “we need to be a style leader”, or “our stores should be inviting”, is swell, but actually doing that is – judging by recent experience – a different thing altogether.
None of those. First is associates. He was the OPS guy for decades. How this wasn’t #1 is a cause for concern. The crews are dispirited and damaged. Everything is about them, then the merch, then the customers. Everything else is chump change.
Frankly cant believe he was the choice. This was not the job for an insider. Period
Will we see “Same ol’, same ol’”?
The question is not whether these are the 3 most important goals – they likely are – but whether Target has the conviction to see them through. All of these are multi-year initiatives that will collectively cost hundreds of millions of dollars in CapEx and OpEx. As a former CFO and COO, we’ll see which side of his mind wins out – the one focused on driving the best financial performance or running the best stores. Tune back in a year from now to see…
Talk about missing the point.
Target’s fortunes cratered when they abandoned DEI. DEI is NOT a sop to the undeserving, but a conscious policy of looking for truly great candidates, beyond just white men. The overwhelming majority of Target shoppers are women, and they’re very unhappy about this (not to mention numerous minority shoppers.) This company has really lost its way.
I’m sure if it was brought to a shareholder vote, the response would be identical to what Costco experienced. That kind of confidence gives management the backbone to resist engineered social-media bullying & speak clearly again to its internal and external customers.
I myself stopped shopping Target when DEI DIEd. I am emphatic about this, there are only two ways I will shop at Target again. 1, They reinstate, word-for-word, the DEI language they removed, and issue a GROVELLING apology to all their disrespected customers. or, 2. At their liquidation sales. Anything less is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Thrilled by his first two priorities, I’m concerned by the third as it follows the mythology which has been destructive within retail — that technology rules. My own hope is that it’s on the list solely because it has to be if he’s going to keep investors happy. Unfortunately, there are far too many CEO proclamations made these days saying what the CEO believes investors want to hear — whether it hurts the company or helps.
I was mildly encouraged by Fiddelke’s remarks, mostly due to what wasn’t included. His lack of defensiveness and acknowledgement that heavy work is ahead marked a departure from Brian Cornell’s usual tone. Store experience is critical to Target’s success, if only because Target remains a store-centric retailer (often to a fault). Target’s obsession with brand partnerships, brand exclusives, and private brands, combined with its ongoing preoccupation with newness, all lead to the store. Unfortunately, it’s a classic case of over-promising and under-delivering. When Target drops the ball on store experience (shop-off-the-floor apparel sections, out-of-stocks, clogged checkouts, etc.), the whole house starts to crumble. To differentiate, Target desperately needs to deliver on that “elevated” experience, yet it can’t go there until the fundamentals are fixed. In the meantime, Target’s most elevated and pristinely maintained presentation, the Ulta Beauty shops, are heading out the door(s). Technology is part of the solution. Target could check many boxes by implementing mobile checkout, for example. Elevated? Check. Differentiated? Check. Brand-friendly? Check. Central checkout relief? Check. I’ll say it again, Target needs a vision. Sometimes corporate veterans hold visions for years, waiting for a chance to come out of the shadows and bring them to life. I hope this is true for Fiddelke.
If your core customers are not ever coming back into your store, it doesn’t matter if you hire string quartets to serenade and all the merchandise is proffered on silver platters. Target cynically disrespected both their customers and their workforce.
Fiddelke’s priorities are directionally correct but miss the forest for the trees. Merchandising sophistication will not solve years of employee neglect, which must be addressed if there’s any hope of improving the guest experience (it doesn’t materialize out of thin air or with an AI wand). Fiddelke’s and the board’s blind spot is organizational culture. Target needs to invest in people —training, empowerment —and rediscover its soul. None of the stated priorities will necessarily differentiate Target. Fiddelke needs to shed his former COO/CFO hat and work to reignite the passion that made Target special.
“We need to go beyond the occasional design partnership……”. Reestablishing the merchandising authority will raise both the guest experience AND the employee experience. Customers need to re-engage with some new version of the ‘Tarjay’ aura. That merchandising authority, along with great store operations, is what delivered market share to Target. That growth and profitability is what made Target employees rightfully proud. It’s tough to be cheerful and proud when you are losing market share. The stores are owed better conceived assortments. Planned better and executed better. Great storytelling with timely execution (no empty shelves). Give the stores the ammunition they deserve. The customer and store morale will respond accordingly.
It is way too early to access if Michael Fiddelke is off to the right start or not. Let’s give this some reasonable time before we form judgment.
Talk is cheap. Target suffers from an operational, organizational, and cultural problem. The challenge is significant, and it goes way beyond the stores.
“Better use of technology” in Target’s case means get incentives in line and make sure the technology is actually being used. The forecasting is awful
I was encouraged to hear all three of these top areas of focus for Target’s new CEO, as all three are critical to the revitalization of their brand. The merchandise offer is not as compelling or as differentiated as it once once, and certainly needs some focus. In store execution has really been poor in the past year. The leverage of technology, as shown by Walmart’s positive results, is also key to serving a customer as retail moves forward. I believe that Mr. Fiddelke is focus on the right things; they just need to execute their plan with speed.
All three of these priorities overlap as CX investments. They’re also table stakes as Walmart and Amazon pull away in agile leadership.
The three priorities appear to be the right ones to stabilize sales and shore up customer growth, especially for the board of directors to hear and Wall Street to know. But this is quite a heavy lift which will require thousands of team members to feel energized. To pull it off, a unifying rally call and story needs to be told, compelling the team to buy in and want to execute on it. Customers also need to hear a resonating message, along with seeing some in-store wins that the right items and merchandising is up to past expectations. Fiddelke will want to elevate all these things asap if he intends to create momentum.
If a retailer (any retailer) doesn’t have the merchandise, it doesn’t matter how great their service and technology are. However, when Target becomes known for having the merchandise customers want to buy, then service will trump all. Yes, inventory management and other technologies used to streamline, automate (when possible), and create a more efficient business model could help save money, but without customers coming back, that really won’t matter.