Holiday toilet seat covers: A sign Target has lost its mojo?

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of guest commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

Has Target lost its mojo? Is it at risk of becoming the next Sears or Kmart? Ten years ago, I would have said, “No way.” But now I am not so sure. There is a non-zero chance that the famed “Tarzhay” could go the way of the Roebuck.

Case in point: I was shopping at Target over Black Friday weekend and happened upon the product display in the above photograph.

Put simply, it is a display of holiday-themed toilet seat covers and what those in the bath industry affectionately call “pee catchers,” i.e., those unsanitary rugs that fit around the base of a toilet.

As a former Target executive, and as a merchant who was responsible for buying and determining the merchandising placement for this exact category from 2005 to 2007, I can tell you that I would not have been caught dead putting these products in store, let alone on an end-cap display for all passersby to see.

I say that for two reasons.

First, at worst, I likely would have lost my job or, at best, been ridiculed mercilessly by my fellow merchants. Second, and far more importantly, the products are also not in keeping with Target’s point of design differentiation.

Yes, they are kitschy, but kitsch is easy. Kitsch is lazy. Sure, kitsch may sell, but that same kitsch is also widely available, and there are also so many more high-design options in the bathroom category that would likely sell much better — hand towels, tip towels, lotion pumps, accent rugs and shower curtains, just to name a few. And none of which require people to stand atop remnant urine.

In fact, a plethora of similar holiday toilet seat covers and pee catchers can be found at many of Target’s competitors such as Kohl’s, J.C. Penney, and Walmart — none of whom have the design cachet of Target. All told, Walmart has eight web pages devoted to the category. And that is where they belong — online and not in stores.

Of course, it is also important to note that this bad merchandising is not happening within a vacuum. Target is coming off a pretty poor showing in its last financial quarter. Sales were tepid and Target’s stock took a beating, dropping more than 20% after Target announced its results. And that was on top of sales declines in four of the five quarters before that.

All of which leaves me asking — what does Target need to do to get its mojo back?

The competitive dynamics are more challenging than ever. Walmart has publicly stated it is growing share with households making over $100,000 per year; Amazon is a beast; Costco has been on a tear, and the likes of Dollar General are attacking Target’s home category turf via its new Popshelf concept. At the same time, T.J. Maxx and HomeGoods are not going anywhere, and the rise of digital discount dollar stores such as Shein and Temu have also got to be taking a chunk out of Target’s business, particularly in the area of affordable fashion.

Make no mistake: Target has an uphill battle in front of it, and its window to act in light of these competitive dynamics is closing fast. Differentiation will only get harder from here on out.

For example, when you stack up the benefits side by side, Walmart’s new membership program, Walmart+, kicks Target Circle’s butt every day of the week and twice on Sundays. The warehouse clubs, like Costco and Sam’s Club, are gaining ground with Gen Z. And Target has also stood flat-footed in the next realms of digital commerce, particularly in the areas of generative AI and video commerce.

Fortunately, there is still hope. Target can still get its mojo back.

First, the merchandising executives need to exert tighter control over what goes into the store. The home and apparel areas need to be first and foremost about differentiation because the online sphere levels the playing field for market-available items. The store experience should be about getting inspired by products one cannot find anywhere else.

Second, Target’s leadership team needs to get digital religion fast. Target needs to grow its online marketplace about a hundredfold (right now Target’s marketplace has only about 1,200 sellers, compared to Walmart’s 150,000). It needs to fortify Target Circle with some meaningfully differentiating benefits (it is almost criminal that Kroger snuck one by Target when it secured Disney+ for its Kroger Boost loyalty program). And it needs to lay out a concrete strategy to succeed in the world of TikTok and generative AI, lest Walmart, God forbid, acquires TikTok or just continues to flex its already much stronger muscles in these arenas.

But that is just my opinion.

It is not my job to decide what Target should do. Target has many high-priced executives whose job it is to do exactly that. However, they do need to wake up, stop resting on their laurels, and outline a concrete growth strategy.

Where’s the growth going to come from, Target? Outline it, talk about it, share it out for all to see in your next earnings call because, to this point, those outside looking in have no idea where growth is going to come from.

No one, least of all me, wants to see Target go the way of Sears or Kmart, but the godsend that the pandemic was for Target likely will not happen again anytime soon, and with subpar merchandising and a lack of honest-to-goodness bankable growth strategies in place, we could be heading down that path.

After all, nothing says differentiation like toilet seat covers and pee catchers.

Chris Walton, @OmniTalk, is the Minneapolis-based podcast host of Omni Talk Retail and a former vice president at Target. He regularly writes about and discusses anything and everything related to the future of retail.