Target sales grow over festive season, enacts exec changes

US department store giant Target has reported strong performance in holiday sales for the November and December period, with total sales rising 2.8 percent over the year prior.

This, in turn, reflected a comparable sales increase of 2 percent, as well as “record-high” sales during both the Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotional periods. Digital sales were particularly strong, increasing nearly 9 percent.

The company said the uptick was driven by an almost 3 percent increase in traffic across stores and digital channels, making December the company’s eighth consecutive month of YoY traffic growth.

In light of the performance, Target has amended its financial forecast, and is now expecting growth of around 1.5 percent in its fourth quarter comparable sales, as well as GAAP and adjusted earnings per share of 1.85 to 2.45 dollars. Full year GAAP and adjusted EPS is now anticipated to be in the range of 8.30 to 8.90 dollars.

Target moves around tech and store leadership

The report falls alongside the announcement of leadership shifts among Target’s executive team, as current members prepare to retire.

Executive vice president and chief stores officer, Mark Schindele, is to retire after 25 years with the company. He will be succeeded by Adrienne Costanzo, who will take on the chief stores officer role from February 2, with Schindele to remain on until March 29 as a strategic advisor to support the transition.

Also from February 2, Prat Vemana is to become chief information officer and product officer, taking over the position from Brett Craig, who is set to retire after serving for 15 years at Target. Vermana currently serves as executive vice president, chief digital and product officer.

The shift reflects Target’s mission to “usher in new leadership to further strengthen the role technology plays” in its strategy. Vemana will continue to lead the company’s user experience strategy and enterprise product function to “speed development of technology solutions”.

Lastly, senior vice president of Target’s in-house media agency, Roundel, and of the company’s social commerce, Sarah Travis, will be promoted to executive vice president, chief digital and revenue officer, thus joining the retailer’s leadership team.

Travis was credited with putting Roundel in a position to deliver nearly two billion dollars in value for Target in 2024. In her new role, she has been tasked with growing the power of Target’s e-commerce business with other revenue drivers.