Shopper loyalty will be put to the test with Target boycott

NINA MOINI: Well, we're a few days into a 40-day boycott of Target. It calls for supporters to give up shopping at the Minneapolis-based company during Lent. The boycott comes after Target announced that it would phase out a handful of diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI initiatives. They followed several other corporations who made similar moves.

So we wanted to know what impact a boycott like this could have on a company like Target. Joining me now to help us break this down is Aaron Sackett. He's a marketing professor at the University of St. Thomas with an expertise in consumer behavior. Thanks for being with us, professor.

AARON SACKETT: My pleasure. Nina.

NINA MOINI: I'm curious to know what your initial reaction was when you heard about this boycott against Target in particular?

AARON SACKETT: Sure. It's not particularly surprising, primarily because Target is a brand that really has emphasized customer loyalty, and that's been a big part of their business plan for many, many years. And because of that loyalty that they try to foster when they change their direction in terms of their values, their priorities and hot button emotional issues, those loyal customers, particularly those who identify with the values that are being changed, they're going to react.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, so when customers or consumers do react, we've heard a lot over the years about maybe a day of a boycott or I'm going to shop local more. What makes a boycott effective in your opinion?

AARON SACKETT: Part of the goal of the boycott is to just draw attention to it in the broader public space, to make sure that it hits the news, and to inspire other people who might be feeling in a similar way to also take action and vote with their wallets. But the bigger question is whether that's going to have long-term effects for a business like Target. And we've seen in the past that sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.

NINA MOINI: What would you think Target would be concerned about right now? Like, what do you think is going on behind the scenes there?

AARON SACKETT: My guess is that Target is hoping that this is something that's just going to blow over. That once these boycotts are over and once people get acclimated to the new policies, that they will return to their old habits. That they will sort of forget about or rationalize the change in values and continue to shop like they had before.

NINA MOINI: What do you think it would take for Target to feel that this had made an impact? What are they looking at? Is it talking to consumers about how they feel about Target? Is it really just looking at their bottom line, and then it could drop once in one quarterly earnings, but then it could go right back up. So what would it take for a company of this size to think, wow, oh, this really did impact us?

AARON SACKETT: I think it is going to be looking at the quarterly earnings beyond the closest quarterly earnings report. This is something that's going to, if it's going to affect Target, it's going to affect them in the long-term. And I think what they're probably looking at right now is whether the change in behavior is going to be more transactional in nature or more psychological.

That is transactional in terms of people are changing their habits for the short-term. But when that initial time has passed, that the convenience or the product appeal of the company gets them to return to their old habits, that they'll go back that direction. The other possibility is that this is a psychological shift.

And we've seen in other instances, when consumers feel as though they have been sort of psychologically harmed, much like one would be with a relationship partner, that those behavior changes can be long lasting, if not permanent.

NINA MOINI: And then two, there's other companies that are really following suit in cutting back or rolling back or ending DEI measures-- McDonald's, Walmart. Those aren't little names either. And I wondered why you think Target, specifically, is being singled out in this way?

AARON SACKETT: Well, like I said, Target has really built its brand around loyalty as opposed to convenience or habit. Certainly, Target is a convenient place for people to do their sort of one-stop shopping. And people form habits and shop at Target for that reason. But there's also, as I mentioned earlier, a psychological component to it.

We know in consumer research that there's really three big ingredients to loyalty. The first one is obvious, the business has to meet a consumer's needs for what they're seeking in terms of the products and services that they offer. But the second two are very psychological and a little less intuitive.

One necessary component for true loyalty is that the business offers a brand image that consumers can identify with. So it shares my values, it shares my style preferences or other priorities. And then the third one is that consumers feel that they have a positive relationship with that brand.

OK, so there's trust, some good feelings and emotional connection with the brand. Target has been really good at honing that brand image in a way that customers can identify with and building a positive, emotional, psychological relationship with their brand. So when consumers feel as though the values have shifted, just like with any relationship partner, we treat businesses psychologically as entities often.

It's just part of human nature, right?

NINA MOINI: Yeah.

AARON SACKETT: So when a close friend or a romantic partner shifts their values dramatically, that's upsetting, right?

NINA MOINI: Yeah.

AARON SACKETT: On the other side of it, you never want a relationship partner to tell you you've changed. And I think that's what Target should be fearing right now, is that that's the kind of reaction that's spawning these boycotts. If that's the case, consumers are going to be motivated to find alternatives, to find long-term replacements for a company like Target.

NINA MOINI: Well, yeah, and I wonder too, if they are making such a shift. They've done stuff with Pride events in the past. They've partnered with many Black artists and entrepreneurs and clothing designers. Making this shift, as Target and many other companies are, is it possible that they feel they are responding to consumer behavior and what a lot of consumers might want them to do? And do you see that trend, sort of that pendulum swinging back since George Floyd's murder, May of 2020, when a lot of people started to talk about making these value statements.

Do you see a shift happening? And is it because they feel that many consumers might respond positively?

AARON SACKETT: I suspect that's a big part of it. I mean, it's no surprise that corporations do follow the social trends. And as we are seeing both socially and politically, certainly some backlash, some pushback, that pendulum swing, as you mentioned, against DEI initiatives, for example, that they are incentivized really, especially by shareholders to go with the way that the winds are blowing.

What's unique about Target is that to many of their customers, they were seen as not just a corporation that was following the trends, but a corporation that was a leader in some of these initiatives. So they actually started their DEI initiatives and some of their LGBTQ-plus positivity long before many other corporations did that.

NINA MOINI: Sure.

AARON SACKETT: Their DEI initiatives started before the George Floyd incident. And so I think for a lot of customers, this feels different than when a company like McDonald's does the same thing.

NINA MOINI: Right. Lots of layers there. Professor, really, really appreciate you joining us and helping us gain some understanding of what's going on.

AARON SACKETT: My pleasure.

NINA MOINI: That was Aaron Sackett, marketing professor at the University of St. Thomas.