Are Incoming Target CEO’s Three ‘Priorities’ a Good Start?

On his first analyst call since being selected as Target’s next CEO beginning in February 2026, Michael Fiddelke highlighted three “priorities” to improve the chain’s recent subpar performance: reestablishing its merchandising authority, elevating the guest experience with a focus on consistency, and fully leveraging technology to move faster.

Reestablishing Merchandising Authority

Fiddelke, currently Target’s COO, said “industry-leading style and design has long been one of the most critical attributes that makes Target, Target, and we need to reclaim that merchandising authority.”

He noted that Target recently found success realigning assortments in hardline categories “by leaning into style and culture in much the same way we’re known for in our apparel assortment.”

The chain must “push much harder in bringing this approach to our home category,” as well as better optimize newness and differentiation within food and beverage categories — and further leverage its $31 billion owned brand portfolio, one that’s largely focused on apparel.

Fiddelke said, “We need to go beyond the occasional design partnership or new product launch and ensure we’re bringing this authority across each category in our business throughout the year.”

Elevating The Guest Experience

Fiddelke said Target also needs to deliver an “elevated and joyful shopping experience,” both in stores and online.

“We can never take for granted the love our guests show us when they affectionately refer to their local store as ‘My Target’” said Fiddelke, “That’s loyalty we need to consistently go out and earn from well stocked shelves and clean stores to a friendly and helpful team and an online experience that brings inspiration and discovery. We want to delight our guests who shop with us every time they shop. And as I’ve made clear, we have to do better here, especially in the consistency of our experience.”

He noted that on-shelf availability metrics in the second quarter were “the best we’ve seen in years” with “far greater consistency” in intra-day inventory levels. Fiddelke said, “We will continue to build on this momentum.”

Fully Leverage Technology

Finally, Fiddelke said that while technology “is at the core of all our operations today, it needs to play an even stronger role going forward” to drive quicker changes.

Fiddelke in May was put in charge of Target’s Enterprise Acceleration Office to speed up progress, and the initiative has already identified several problem areas. He said, “We’ve identified the biggest challenges that slow us down, legacy technology that doesn’t meet today’s needs, manual work that can be automated, unclear accountabilities, slow decision-making, siloed goals, and a lack of access to quality data.”

Target is redesigning large cross-functional processes, such as how merchandising and inventory plans are built, to clarify roles and ensure data is readily available for decision making. The chain is also “improving and embedding more technology and data within our team” to improve processes, such as developing forecasts with greater accuracy and speed, while better determining which tech investments are “most mission-critical” to best deploy resources.

“Despite the solid foundation that’s been established, our performance over the last few years has not been acceptable,” said Fiddelke. “While we’re proud of the many ways that Target is unique in American retail, we have real work in front of us. And to be blunt, we need to move faster, much faster, and we are.”