CEO of Target to meet Al Sharpton after Dei-Rollback

Target CEO Brian Cornell will meet the Reverend Al Sharpton this week in New York while the retailer faces calls for a boycott and a slowdown in pedestrian traffic that started after her redirected The main diversity, equity and inclusion programs said the leader of civil rights on Wednesday.

Reunion, which Target asked, comes after certain civil rights defense groups urged consumers not to shop at Target in response to the retailer's decision to reduce. Although Sharpton has not yet called for a Target boycott, he supported others' efforts to stop shopping in retailer stores.

“You cannot have an election and suddenly change your old positions,” said Sharpton. “If an election determines your commitment to equity, then very well, you have the right to withdraw from us, but we have the right to withdraw from you.”

The head of civil rights said he would consider calling a target boycott if the company does not confirm his commitment to the black community and undertakes to Work with and invest in companies belonging to blacks.

“I said:” If (Cornell) wants to have a frank meeting, we will come together “, said Sharpton about the objective of telephone call reached at his office. “I want to hear what he has to say first.”

A Target spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that the company had contacted Sharpton for a meeting and that Cornell would speak to him in New York this week. The company refused other comments.

In January, Target declared that he would end his three -year dei goals, more relationships of companies shared with external groups focused on diversity such as the index of human rights business actions and put an end to specific efforts to obtain more products from companies belonging to black and minority on its shelves.

Only a few days after the announcementThe pedestrian traffic of Target stores has started to slow down. Since the week of January 27, Target pedestrian traffic has decreased for 10 consecutive weeks compared to the period of the previous year, according to. Ai, an analysis company that uses anonymized data from mobile devices to estimate global visits to locations. Target traffic had been increasing every week of one year before the week of January 27.

Metric, which is visiting in brick and mortar locations, does not capture sales in stores or online, but can indicate which retailers draw more strict affairs. While Target has struggled to increase sales for months Buyers look at their expensesThe declining visits section came while certain civil rights defense groups and social media users criticized the DEI decision and urged buyers to spend their money elsewhere.

Target refused to comment on the figures, saying that he does not discuss third -party data.

During the agreement earlier this month for its organization of civil rights, the National Action Network, Sharpton said that the group would call a boycott of Pepsico If the company has not agreed to meet the organization within 21 days. In February, the food company and drink behind brands like Doritos and Mountain Dew announced that it would end its objectives of representation of the Dei labor and would transition from its role as DEI officer in another position, among other changes.

This week, Pepsi leaders met Sharpton and his team. He did not confirm if Pepsi was committed, but said he was encouraging that the CEO of Pepsi, Ramon Laguarta, was assisted. He added that the two will continue their discussions.

Sharpton meetings with companies such as Pepsico and Target – and its opening to boycotts – mark one of the first significant efforts to repel war activists as Robby Starbuck led to Dei. Starbuck, a director who has become a activist, urged companies to partly deposit the policies of I by sharing what he considers inexpensive information on their initiatives with his social media subscribers. He managed to put pressure on a wide range of business giants to rethink their programs.

With his decision to retreat Dei's efforts, the target of the cheap chic retailer joined Walmart,, McDonald's,, Tractor supply And a multitude of others who have put at least certain dei initiatives as they grew up concerning the fact that programs could alienate certain customers Or landing them in the reticle of President Donald Trump, who has promised to end all Dei programs through the federal government.

Target's decision contrasts with CostcoWho rocked the pressure of conservative activists to maintain their Dei programs. Shareholders of the big club based on members rejected a proposal in depth At the end of January, this asked for a report on the risks of DEI initiatives.

Nan called for what are called “purchases” to Costco and brought people to Tennessee, New York and New Jersey stores. He gave them gift cards with which shopping at the Warehouse Club.

During the month of March, Target store traffic decreased by 6.5%, while metrics increased by 7.5% from one year to Costco, according to data.

Target's challenges are deeper than Dei's backlash, and resistance to its change of policy has only added its problems. The annual turnover of the Discounter has been roughly stable for four consecutive years because it has trouble generating coherent sales gains.

The margins have been under pressure because consumers buy more grocery stores and necessities and fewer more profitable categories such as home items and clothing. And the company has pinned its problems on a list of laundry problems in recent years, in particular have the wrong inventory; lose money Flight, damaged goods and other types of inventory losses; Realization of the collection for the month of pride And More expensive costs hasty expeditions.

During his meeting with Cornell, Sharpton said he would ask Target to continue the commitments he made after the police killed George Floyd in the company's hometown.

“You have made commitments based on the George Floyd movement … what changed?” said Sharpton. “Do you try to say … everything is fine now, because the elections have changed? It's insulting for us.”

Following Floyd's murder, Cornell said the event had moved him.

“It could have been one of my target members of the team,” said Cornell in 2021 During an event organized by the Chicago Economic Club, telling his thoughts by watching Floyd's video taking his last breathing.

At the time, he said that it had motivated him to intensify Target's efforts to fight against racial inequalities.

“We must be the models that stimulate change and our voice is important,” he said during the event. “We must make sure that we represent the principles of our business, our values, our business objective on the questions that are important for our teams.”