(Todd A. Smith)
One of the truisms of business is to know they audience, fanbase or consumer base.
Target has endured some difficult times since eliminating its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at the behest of President Donald Trump.
But the problem is that billionaires like President Trump are probably not Target’s target audience, and the lower to middle class African-American demographic that they upset with their DEI decision probably is their consumer base.
And once African-Americans have written off a company, they often take their trillions of dollars with them and give it to that company’s competitors, especially if some of those competitors are African-American owned companies.
On Oct. 24, Haniyah Philogene of The Grio reported, “Target is still feeling the impact of the ongoing (yes, we’re still going) boycotts…The retailer announced that it’s preparing for its first major round of layoffs in a decade as the company tries to recover from four years of stagnant sales.”
A Target spokesperson told ABC News, “We’ve announced changes to our corporate structure…in an effort to accelerate our strategy and return to growth. It’s important to understand that we did not take these actions to save cost; adjusting our global HQ structure is the first step in rewiring our organization to be agile and make faster decisions.”
With all due respect to the spokesperson, but Target is in this current predicament because they allowed Trump to rewire their morals and principles, which led to a fast decision.
And when people, organizations and companies make decisions too quickly, they often make the wrong decision.
Instead of caring about their loyal customers, many of which come from minority and underrepresented groups. Target chose to care more about Trump and his bigotry.
Yes, getting on the wrong side of the president might have made life difficult for four years.
But upsetting your loyal customer base to impress a bigot, might make life difficult for Target for the foreseeable future.
Trump has made DEI illegal or at least frowned upon.
While it is important to follow the law, one must not lose their morals and principles in the process because what is legal, and illegal does not always equate to what is right and what is wrong.
Diversity can never be wrong.
Inclusion can never be wrong.
Unity can never be wrong.
Acceptance can never be wrong.
And tolerance can never be wrong.
However, Target chose intolerance to please and intolerant and extremely ignorant and hateful senile old man.
When the old man folds up his tent and goes to his eternal home or simply leaves the Oval Office, many in the African-American community will still remember Target turning their back on diversity.
Therefore, they should not expect to get their diverse customers back any time soon.
Target thinks that they can change the attitudes of their former customers by having employees smile more at customers.
But that will not change the attitudes and opinions of many African-American shoppers because many are tired of performance without the respect.
Performative politics and public relations stunts will not work on the African-American customer base.
We know performance without purpose does not lead to change.
And we know, although we spend a lot more money than other demographics, we often deal with more side-eyes and eye rolls from employees and entrepreneurs.
In a January 2025 article, Jabari Young of Forbes reported, “As several brands reconsider their DEI commitments, a new report published…highlights the significant buying power of Black Americans, who are on pace to spend more than $2 trillion by 2026….
“In 2018, Black Americans surpassed $1 trillion in buying power, according to Nielsen. That’s a jump from $984 billion in 2010. The company uses internal data and insights from the University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth 2022, The Multicultural Economy, for its figures.”
Despite Trump’s axe to DEI programs, many experts believe that companies should still attempt to engage with African-American consumers because of their large spending power.
Charlene Polite Corley, VP of Diverse Insights and Partnerships at Nielsen told Forbes, “It’s not necessarily business as usual. But there are opportunities to still do business. It’s worth continuing to deepen our understanding of how to connect with Black folks in this country.”
Target should see if Corley is available to join their team because she would probably tell them that smiles, and other performative measures will not get many African-Americans back into their stores.
Many companies might not understand how much money African-Americans spend because if they did, store clerks and salespeople would worship the ground they walk on.
Instead, many companies are worshipping a man who would not care if they went out of business, if he could exercise power over them.
While Trump demands respect, many African-Americans are tired of begging for respect and equal treatment.
If the African-American community feels mistreated, we will take our business elsewhere, where we will be treated fairly and with respect.
The fact that Target does not know the feelings of many in the African-American community is proof that they need more diversity in the boardroom.
They need more diversity in store managerial positions.
And they need to take the opinions of their store employees and shoppers seriously.
If they do not heed the advice from the little people who put money in their pockets and keep their stores running, they continue to see their stores lose customers and coins little by little.
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