Target’s Foot Traffic Plummets 5.7% as DEI Boycott Continues

The checkout lanes at TargetTGT

are getting lonelier by the week as more customers opt out of in-store shopping. The retailer has logged its eighth consecutive week of declining foot traffic, with visits dropping 5.7% year-over-year for the week of Mar. 17. This persistent slump began shortly after the big-box retailer announced changes to its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in late January, triggering a consumer backlash that shows no signs of abating.

• The retailer has weathered an average weekly traffic decline of 6.2% throughout the boycott period, with the stock dropping 33% since the start of the year.
• Pastor Jamal Bryant’s “TargetFast” initiative, which called for a 40-day Target spending boycott during Lent, has gathered over 150K participants — surpassing its original 100K person goal.

Double trouble ahead: As if the boycott wasn’t challenging enough, Target now faces additional problems from recently announced tariffs that hit a particularly sensitive nerve on Wall Street. Meanwhile, competitors who’ve maintained their DEI commitments are thriving off the company’s misfortune, with CostcoCOST

experiencing 13 straight weeks of growing foot traffic, including a 5.2% increase during the same week Target saw its decline. With higher import costs potentially forcing price increases at a time when customer loyalty is already wavering elsewhere, even the retail giant’s upcoming Easter promotions and recently concluded “Circle Week” sales event may struggle to bring back the customers they lost.