Target unveiled a leadership shakeup Wednesday morning, signaling greater urgency around the company’s need to jumpstart sales.
To combat investor concerns about slow growth, Target has created an Enterprise Acceleration Office overseen by the company’s chief operating officer, Michael Fiddelke.
The announcement came as the Minneapolis-based retailer reported that its sales again slid in February, March and April, a worse-than-expected financial performance for the start of its fiscal year.
“We feel confident that we occupy such a unique place in retail and that we’ve got a strategy that’s built for long-term growth,” Fiddelke told reporters. “We need to move down that path faster, so the work I’ll be focused on is streamlining how we operate, fast-tracking critical work, and accelerating some key bets we’re excited about within technology.”
Target announced with Fiddelke’s new post the departure of Christina Hennington as chief strategy and growth officer. Two other executives, Chief Commercial Officer Rick Gomez and Chief Financial Officer Jim Lee, will take on her duties. Amy Tu, chief legal officer, also is departing.
The company faces the same stressed consumer environment as its competitors.
In a media call Tuesday, Brian Cornell said the company in some ways is operating “week by week, almost day by day” to deal with the uncertain economy and President Donald Trump’s changing tariff plans.
But Walmart, for example, continues to grow, with sales increasing more than 4% in the latest quarter, exposing a need for Target to more aggressively address its internal operations geared toward sales growth.