Hasta La Creative!

A big part of the ex-PepsiCo executive’s turnaround plan is to move Target away from being all things to all people while it builds up its omnichannel offerings, and instead focus on four core areas where the brand can stand out: style, including home, apparel and other products; baby, encompassing clothes and gear; kids’ clothes and toys; and wellness, a category that the chain is still defining, but covers things like organic food, health products and green cleaning supplies. During the second quarter of 2015, same-store sales for those four signature categories grew more than 7%, or three times its overall same-store sales growth of 2.4%, Mr. Cornell said on a conference call.

“For a long time Target was, as a general retailer, pushing a lot of things forward,” said Joshua Thomas, spokesman for Target. “Now we’ve taken a look and said, ‘That’s not sustainable and that’s not really helping us move the needle, so let’s think about what are those categories, those products that are most important to our guest and that, frankly, we can do better than anyone else.'”

To do so, Target is freeing itself up to focus on lucrative areas with deals like its recent pact to turn over operations of its pharmacy counters and clinics to CVS Health. Mr. Cornell is also mixing up the leadership team that selects every item Target sells. The brand’s longtime chief merchandising and supply chain officer stepped down last month and was recently followed by a merchandising executive who led a number of categories including grocery and health care. And the retailer is relying on a combination of national brands, exclusives like athletic brand C9 by Champion and Target’s own brand portfolio to differentiate itself, while it invests more in e-commerce.

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