Target plans to cut prices and update stores due to declining earnings

The retail giant Target is planning on making major changes to its business model after a rough holiday and lower than expected Q4 earnings.

It has been a tough start to 2017 for a number of major retail stores, including Target. After lower than expected earnings in Quarter 4, the retail giant is looking to make some major changes to a number of aspects of its business.

According to Lauren Zumbach from The Chicago Tribune, Target announced on Tuesday that it will be planning to cut prices and accept lower profit margins in an effort to increase in-store sales. Despite the consistently growing market for online sales, Target is hoping to bounce back and improve in-store sales after a rough holiday period and a sluggish start to 2017.

Companies like Amazon, Wal-Mart and Macy’s have embraced the emergence of online sales, as has Target. However, along with cutting prices, Target hopes that updating its stores and offering different brands will allow in-store sales to recover. The company plans on renovating 600 of its older stores over the next three years with the hopes that this will help boost sales in those stores.

Over the next two years, Target is also reportedly planning on rolling out around a dozen new brands in its stores. These are all obviously major changes for such a massive retail change, but the emergence of online shopping has created a “seismic shift” in the retail industry according to Target CEO Brian Cornell.

Only time will tell whether or not these new business strategies will help Target in the long run.