Target Corporation CEO: 'We Are Going To Invest In Bringing That Newness To Our Guests'

Target Corporation TGT came out with better than expected first-quarter numbers on Thursday. EPS for the quarter came at $1.10, above expectations of $1.03.

Target CFO John Mulligan was on CNBC recently to explain what drove the company’s strong performance in the quarter.

Bringing Newness

“We have said our focus is on those signature categories, that’s what we are going to invest in product, we are going to invest in presentation, marketing and bringing that newness to our guests,” Mulligan said. “And we really saw guest respond to the offering this quarter. We saw strength in the stores, we saw strength online, where home and apparel generated two-thirds of the growth.”

Categories

He continued, “So we feel really good about categories like beauty that we have been doing and seen success in for a couple of years. Like apparel where we put mannequins in our store and [sold] new products, did really well in swim and with the Merona brand."

Food

“When it comes to food, we have been putting up a front, we are in a little bit different place for food. We are taking 2015 and our approach here is to test to learn and iterate throughout 2015 until we can refine the assortment, refine the presentation and really hone in what our guest want."

“And what you will see is next year we will come back when we have a better idea about what our guests are expecting from us. We will come back and provide a little bit more direction and begin to implement changes in food that we think will accelerate growth there,” Mulligan concluded.