Target would really, really like to increase its grocery sales, but the habits of its own customers are in the way. Target shoppers simply aren’t in the store often enough to make it their grocery provider. Maybe some new changes will help change that, as Target tries the wacky idea of assigning some employees to the grocery department to keep it stocked and functional.

Yes, the idea of having some employees who work only in the grocery department and not elsewhere in the store might seem intuitive, but it apparently wasn’t for Target. Now the chain is trying to make up for it by quickly rolling the change out in its stores across the country.

Assignments to the grocery team may have already happened at a store near you: the chain has assigned grocery squads at 450 of its stores so far, and plans to reach 150 more stores by the end of October.

This is one way to invest in groceries without making big capital expenditures in the department, which is something that the company has hesitated to do after past food-selling failures.

Yet if Target wants to stay competitive with Walmart, it has to find a way to keep customers coming back every week or two, especially after driving away loyal pharmacy customers by selling its pharmacies to CVS.

Target Revamps Staffing for Grocery Business [Wall Street Journal]

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