During a quarterly earnings call on March 4, Target reported that quarterly net sales declined 3.1%, while in February, when only the first three days were included in the quarter, CEO Brian Cornell stated that there was a “sales decline,” without being specific.

Then Target executives all but led a singalong of “Peter Cottontail” on the call, mentioning Easter five times, specifically the windfall the company expected leading up to the holiday.

“We had record sales [for] Valentine’s Day,” Rick Gomez, Target’s chief commercial officer, said during the call. “That bodes really well for Easter. So we are encouraged by that and looking forward to Easter.”

What may not bode so well, however, is that the week of March 3 (which included Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent) marked the beginning of a national Lenten boycott of Target, which goes through Easter. Spearheaded by Black clergy, the protest highlights that Target, after years of championing racial justice and social justice, rolled back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program in January. The protest had a goal of signing up 100,000 consumers to participate; more than 150,000 had signed up when this story was published.

Keep reading here.—AAN

As the backlash against Target over dismantling its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program continues to roil, foot traffic fell at its stores for the seventh consecutive week, according to data from Placer.ai.

For the week beginning March 10, foot traffic fell 7.1% YoY for Target. Correlation—let’s say it again—is not causation, but let’s not ignore the timing, either: This traffic slump began for Target on the week that began January 27, just three days after its January 24 announcement that it was rolling back its DEI program.

Keep reading here.—AAN

March Madness continues this week, and Kroger is getting in the spirit with its “Elite Ate” Snack Bracket, pitting customers’ favorite game time snacks against each other. Snack deals aside, the basketball tournament could be a boon to retail sales, as two Shopify sellers told Retail Brew earlier this month.

Here’s what else is going on in retail this week:

In data: The latest survey of consumer expectations from the University of Michigan is coming out this Friday. Sentiment dropped for the second consecutive month in February, falling 10% from the month before. Consumers were feeling less confident about both their personal finances and the short-run outlook for the economy, though the results were divided along partisan lines, with sentiment falling for Democrats and Independents but holding steady for Republicans.

Keep reading here.—AV