Brian Cornell from Target: Hispanic May Be Shopping Less

The CEO of Target, Brian Cornell, said at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference held in Aspen, Colorado last week that the drop in purchases registered among Hispanic in the U.S. is due to the acquisition of the Whole Foods supermarket chain by Amazon, and on how the online sales company is approaching innovation. According to the executive, shopping among Hispanic has dropped 11%. The drop was in shopping visits among Spanish-dominant households in November and December.“They are staying at home. They are going out less often, particularly along border towns in the United States. You’re seeing a change in behavior” highlighted Cornell, referring to Hispanic consumers.In recent years, Target’s key demographic is more likely to be a millennial living in an urban area and increasingly Hispanic. This led the company to spend more on ads in Spanish and featuring a Latina girl as the main character. Target’s stock, like many other retailers, dropped when Amazon bought Whole Foods last month. According to Cornell, this move validated that in today’s environment, stores still matter. “And even for Amazon, I think there’s a recognition that a physical store and proximity is important to the consumer” he said. Target has been more conservative when it comes to acquisitions, although it invested US$75 million in online bed-in-a-box company Casper, where Target products has begun to sell in its stores and online.