Jason Goldberger, Target's chief digital officer, leaves company

Jason Goldberger, Target Corp.'s recently promoted chief digital officer, has left the company, "effective immediately."

The leadership shake-up comes as Chief Executive Brian Cornell seeks to ramp up the pricing and promotions side of the business, which fell under Goldberger, according to a source familiar with the matter. Goldberger also led digital strategy and Target.com.

His responsibilities will be split between other executives, Cornell said in a statement.

Last month, Target reported its first quarterly drop in comparable sales in two years and a surprising 2.2 percent decline in store traffic. The company also lowered its forecast for the rest of the year, saying it now expects sales to be flat to down 2 percent in the two remaining quarters.

In addition to issues with its grocery, electronics and pharmacy businesses, executives also said the company had not put enough focus on highlighting low prices and promotions.

As part of the leadership transition, the pricing and promotions work will be taken over by Mark Tritton, Target's chief merchandising officer who joined the company in June from Nordstrom.

Mike McNamara, Target's chief information officer, will take on the digital side of Goldberger's role. McNamara's new title is chief information and digital officer.

"Taking this body of work in a new direction will help advance our efforts in these key areas during a pivotal time for Target," Cornell said in the statement. "I have complete confidence that Mike and Mark's leadership will have an immediate and positive impact on the team and the business."

Cornell told analysts last month that the company needed to rebalance its "Expect More, Pay Less" brand positioning that had begun to skew too far toward the "Expect More" side. So he said in the coming months, the company would focus on highlighting the "Pay Less" side of the equation in its marketing and store displays to help drive traffic back to the store.

"We have got to deliver great value through household essentials, those everyday products that drive that Target run, so that balance or rebalance is critically important to the actions we are taking in the back half of the year," he said.

Goldberger, who previously worked at Amazon, Hayneedle and Gilt Groupe, joined Target in February 2013 as a senior vice president of Target.com. He was later promoted to Target.com president and in May was elevated to the C-Suite in the newly created role of chief digital officer.

Under his leadership, Target's online sales have grown at a rate much higher than the industry average as the company hustled to catch up with other retailers. Still, online sales only make up about 3 to 4 percent of Target's overall revenue. Earlier this year, the company also unveiled a makeover for Target.com, which now looks the same via mobile or the desktop.

Goldberger is the second senior executive to exit Target in recent weeks. Jeff Jones, Target's chief marketing officer, left last month to become president of Uber.

Kavita Kumar • 612-673-4113