Sales have dropped at Target for the fourth consecutive quarter, the retailer reported on Wednesday, with the most recent quarter seeing a 3.7% decline from one year ago.
Target pointed to sales falling in discretionary categories, with the company blaming current high inflation rates as a reason that customers are pulling back on buying items they don’t need. Economists see Target and it’s core middle-class customer base as a bellwether for not only consumer spending habits but the retail sectors as a whole.
More than half of Target’s stock consists of discretionary items. While it has begun to add more food and essentials to the stores, it falls behind its competitor Walmart, which gets around half of its sales from groceries and saw a 3.8% earning increase last quarter.
In an attempt to draw back cost-conscious customers, Target announced recently that it was cutting prices on more than 1,500 items, from laundry detergent to butter. It also just debuted a new house brand, Dealworthy, that has more than 400 items and is designed to compete with dollar stores and Walmart.
