Target CEO says shoppers are pulling back, even on groceries

And in quality. Seems like a lot of food items are using cheaper ingredients.

Sure, I noticed that part. Inflation is always a scam, built into the monetary system, and while manufacturers/distributors are paying more for their materials and energy also, the rest is price gouging. It's 'working' because people have no choice but to you know, eat food.

I mean, what does a banana even cost, $10?

Barefoot running is it then.

Kidding aside, kids do need good shoes, but they'll also need new shoes every 6 months or more, so $500 is definitely out of the question for most parents.

It must be a signal product or something. Quite frankly I don't mind those, because it only steals money from dumb rich people. If I were to start a business that'd be my segment too. It's easier to find 10 customers willing to pay a $1000 for a bag of shit than it is to find 1000 customers willing to pay $10 for the same bag of shit.

It's "set foot" goddammit, not "step foot." I fucking hate that. Never do it again.

For people in the lower income bands that buy at Target it's Food inflation that counts, not the general inflation figure that's calculated using a basket of goods and services with many things which are beyond the purchasing power of such people.

The personal inflation for such people is almost certainly higher than their wage growth.

On average, and that isn't true for everybody everywhere (even within the US)

I thought you literally hunt meant you and your wife are out there with rifles taking down a deer. Or somebody else’s chicken

The people who spend a thousand on concert tickets or five hundred on shoes will be complaining about their credit card debt on Facebook next month.

It took me a while to get it through my head why people who I knew were making less than I do had significantly nicer stuff. The difference is that I own what I have. They don't.

I'm fortunate that after many years of struggle and single parenthood that I'm finally in a place with a comfortable income and free of debt except a small mortgage. Nonetheless, give or take a couple of cheap flights to go see friends a couple times a year, I still live like I'm struggling. That shit will burn into your mind if you suffer through it long enough.

Caveat: In spite of what I just wrote, I still have to work until I collapse and die at my desk. It's a pretty great future for me presently in my fifties. Only another thirty or forty years to go before I can afford to stop working entirely. Save your money when you're young if at all possible, kids.

It's funny how much people here hate hearing this. Any time you point out this fact, it's down voted.

I worked in China for a couple years on a banking app for lending money. The middle class in large cities over there was interested only in social status. They would happily borrow insane amounts for the newest phones and biggest cars, when they couldn't afford a dinner for their kids. I know that what we did was predatory and exploitative, and on a scale unimaginable on European markets. Our marketing predicted a collapse of the target social class in 5-7 years... That was 4 years ago.

I'm certain other (western) markets experience similar progression - and exploits.

Tbf, without good public transport, many places in the US iirc, require good quality cars.

Did you even read the article? The gap between inflation and wage increase is closing, but inflation is still higher.

And that's irrelevant because we have 25 years of decreasing wages to make up for.

Yes, Belgium in Europe. Come on over!

Target is not at all primarily a grocery store. They chiefly sell home goods and clothing, which they were known for long before they added the somewhat limited grocery section.

I mean, I think anyone making decisions at a multi billion dollar corporation that they themselves are pocketing millions of that money instead of letting it be reinvested in the business and workers, should be fully to blame for their companies tanking profits.

Are you sure they weren't just waiting to see if you needed help lifting the bookshelves into your car?

Yes, I have the same experience there. It's ridiculous. I rarely go there anymore because of that, and everything being expensive.

I've genuinely never had that experience at Target. I can scan everything in my cart without once putting it in the bagging area and the self-checkouts at Target don't give a shit.

I hate everything being locked up. I am sick of being treated like a criminal when I'm just going to the fucking store.

I'm on camera at the self checkout. There's staff breathing down my neck as I'm scanning shit. I get followed by Target staff especially when looking at clothes, as though they haven't put alarm things on literally every single item, even if it's 5.99. I get my receipt checked at walmart before I can leave. At Burlington they took my cart before I left the store because they said it would lock up if it got to the parking lot. Good thing I didn't buy anything heavy?

I hate amazon, but at least I don't have to deal with all that shit. And it's not like I can escape giving my money to giant, evil corporations anyway. It's not like I can afford to shop at small businesses. But that's exactly why they do it. They know they can't drive people away from shopping at these stores, because we have nowhere else to shop. "Capitalism fosters competition" my ass.

what kind of stuff has he been doing? i’m out of the loop on this. (i’m not asking for any secrets)

but let’s just say that there is a reason why Walmart has started to turn the corner post-pandemic, and Target is still struggling.

Because walmart is cheaper. I feel like it's not that deep.

Not necessarily. That's only what happens when junk food is cheap. Many companies increased prices of junk food, so people are buying less of it. That's what this whole article is about.

If someone only has enough money to buy some chicken and potatoes, they're going to learn to cook real fast. They're not going to buy junk food. If they have even less, they'll learn how to soak beans or lentils.

I saw some garbage fake "ice cream" the other day for $5 (the tiny 1.5 quart package). Nobody was buying it. Like three different people came in, looked directly at the ice cream, and left. No wonder units are going down.

Precisely. Inflation is near benchmark, but we're not there yet. Most pricing indicators are cooling off, so the Fed will likely stop raising rates soon.

Imo (and I said this at the time), the Fed should've started raising rates long before COVID happened. The economy was on a tear, but borrowing was way too high and things like housing were way too cheap. So we should've started raising rates back in 2016 or so, as well as cutting back Federal spending, but instead we passed tax cuts and spent more.

I just saw the grocery prices at a Target for the first time in years recently and was horrified at how bad they were. I'm sure it's regional, but it was nearly double my grocery store on some items and the selection was terrible.

Not according to lots of other people posting here.