Product backlash and boycotts rarely have long term effects according to Earnest credit card data–but they can cause short term sales challenges. Following recent controversy related to Pride merchandise, Earnest Analytics transaction data indicates spending at Target fell high-single digits.
From late-March 2023 to mid-May 2023, Walmart outperformed Target consistently, but at a stable differential. However, trends began diverging at the two big box retailers beginning the four weeks ending May 27th when Target spending growth decelerated to -2.2% YoY. Walmart spending growth accelerated to +6.6% YoY during the same period. Since then, the gap widened as spending at Target decelerated to -8.3% YoY in the four weeks ending June 24th. Meanwhile, Walmart spending continued to grow +7.0% YoY.
