Target explains how it will spiff up its struggling grocery business

MINNEAPOLIS — When you head to a Target store to buy groceries these days, here’s what the chain hopes you’ll see: More organic and gluten-free foods. A wider selection in snack products such as yogurt. Fresher-looking fruit.

What you shouldn’t expect to see any time soon? A butcher, a deli counter or a sushi chef.

Brian Cornell, the retailer’s chief executive, has a vision for Target’s grocery department, an area of the store in which sales lately have been disappointing.

Cornell made clear that Target won’t be looking to solve its grocery problems by taking a page from the Whole Foods playbook and investing in flourishes such as sushi counters and rotisserie ovens that send shoppers home with prepared meals. Instead, Target will be sticking with a convenience-oriented, self-service format, centering its efforts to engage more customers on offering better product in a more appealing presentation.

“We’ve got to get our guests, while they’re shopping our stores, to walk down that aisle that, perhaps two or three years ago, they stopped shopping, because we didn’t have the selection and the assortment they were looking for,” Cornell said. “Or they bought tomatoes or berries in our store and were disappointed.”

One way Target has been aiming to combat this is by conducting individual assessments of produce items such as avocados and tomatoes to figure out how the supply chain can be sped up to get those goods in stores faster.

Target is also working to spruce up the grocery department by bringing more expertise to it. For example, hundreds of its stores now have a dedicated team of employees that only staff the grocery aisles. Just two years ago, those same employees might have divided their time between apparel and other departments. And in seven major markets, they’ve added a grocery director who focuses on spotting food trends and making sure stores are always in-stock on key items.

The retailer’s efforts are not just about product: Target is also experimenting with new presentation of its grocery products to help drum up sales. This is a tactic that has worked in other departments: For example, it has added mannequins to its apparel departments and Pottery Barn-like room displays to its home section, and it believes those tactics are driving sales.

Target has been testing some of the grocery presentation efforts in several of its Los Angeles area stores, including different lighting and an enhanced display of craft beer and wine. Executives are pleased enough with the response from customers that they revealed on Wednesday they’ll begin rolling out the changes to stores in the Dallas area this fall.

Target’s turnaround efforts have recently hit a speed bump, with the retailer reporting disappointing second-quarter earnings in August and lowering its forecast for the full year. Cornell suggested that there’s plenty of opportunity for Target to perform more strongly in the current retailing environment.

“You can’t blame the consumer,” Cornell said. “They’re still spending, there’s still a huge pool of dollars out there.”