CEO Michael Fiddelke merchandise plans
A Target store in Chicago, Feb. 10, 2026.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
MINNEAPOLIS — Target customers will soon see changes on the retailer’s shelves, as the company tries to woo back shoppers during a turnaround effort that has started to catch Wall Street’s eye.
Among those shifts, Target will add more fresh and trendy groceries, a dedicated display for higher-end makeup and a larger array of merchandise for sports fans.
At the big-box retailer’s Minneapolis headquarters on Tuesday, Target’s merchandising leaders previewed the company’s ambitious plans to overhaul key categories, including home and apparel, which have posted year-over-year sales declines. The company held an investor meeting to share its holiday-quarter results and its turnaround strategy for this year, which hinges in part on regaining its reputation for stylish and unique items.
CEO Michael Fiddelke, a Target veteran who stepped into the top role on Feb. 1, told investors on Tuesday that the company is making changes that “don’t happen overnight.” But, he added, they include many tweaks that customers “will see and feel right away.”
“If I were to step back and draw a heat map of the entire store highlighting where we’re making changes this year, you’d see more change to what we sell and how we sell it than you’ve seen in a decade,” he said.
The success of Target’s merchandise makeover will help determine whether the company meets its sales and earnings outlook for the current year and whether it can reverse four consecutive quarters of declining customer traffic. The company’s revenue fell slightly in fiscal 2025 and has been stagnant for four years.
Target said Tuesday that it expects net sales for the current fiscal year to rise about 2% compared with the previous year and anticipates that sales will grow in every quarter of the year.
Wall Street had a positive early read on Target’s turnaround progress: The company’s stock climbed more than 6% on Tuesday, and was trading higher on Wednesday.
Here’s a closer look at Target’s merchandising changes:
Putting a fresher spin on grocery
Target is expanding the fresh department and adding more prominent signage for its Good & Gather private brand as it tries to draw more customers to stores for grocery shopping. This rendering shows what the expanded fruit, vegetable and meat displays will look like.
Courtesy of Target
One of the top reasons for customers’ Target trips is a simple one — running in for a quick grocery item like a gallon of milk or box of pasta. The challenge is getting shoppers to buy more of their food there.
Food is the No. 1 traffic driver for Target, and over half of customers have food in their shopping basket, said John Conlin, senior vice president of merchandising, food and beverage. Target’s grocery category, which it labels food and beverage, drew higher sales than any of Target’s merchandising segments in the past fiscal year. It grew by about 1% year over year and totaled $24.14 billion — or roughly…
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