Inflation-strapped Americans are voting with their feet — and increasingly, they’re walking right past Target. After years of alienating core customers and allowing stores to slide into disorder, the Minneapolis-based retailer is paying the price.

On Wednesday, Target announced yet another disappointing quarter, marking its third straight year of declining profit across its 1,980 stores. The retailer’s slump stems from what analysts describe as a four-part crisis: neglected stores, low employee morale, shaken investor confidence, and a looming leadership change.

And the troubles aren’t stopping anytime soon. Executives admitted the sales downturn is expected to stretch straight through the crucial holiday shopping season, hardly a vote of confidence for a brand once considered a must-visit for stylish affordability.

To stem the erosion, Target plans to pour another $1 billion into store remodels and new locations next year — pushing its ongoing makeover budget to roughly $5 billion. It’s a massive sum, but analysts argue it should have come years earlier.

“Stores are not optimized for the consumer,” said Neil Saunders of GlobalData, bluntly summarizing Target’s chronic in-store issues. He added that shoppers routinely encounter “too many out of stocks, too much mess, not enough assistance at registers, so forth.”

Investors appear to agree. Target’s stock has been hammered, dropping 43% over the past year, with another dip recorded before Wednesday’s market open. Wall Street’s patience is thinning, and the responsibility now shifts to incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke, a 20-year Target veteran who will replace Brian Cornell on February 1.

Fiddelke steps into the role amid expectations that he will restore Target’s identity as a destination for affordable, attractive goods — a retail lane that Walmart has dominated with precision and discipline. As Saunders noted, “We may see stabilization next year, but it will take some time beyond that to grow sales.” His prescription was equally blunt: Target needs “a complete overhaul of operations and culture to get back on track.”

In the meantime, the company has been aggressively cutting costs. In October, Target said it would eliminate about 1,800 corporate positions, approximately 8% of its white-collar workforce, in an attempt to streamline decision-making and re-ignite growth.

To lure customers back during the holidays, Target is rolling out more than 20,000 new items — double last year’s slate — and trimming prices on thousands of everyday essentials, from groceries to household staples.

Fiddelke insists the company is acting with urgency. “We have high but achievable aspirations for Target’s future, and we’re acting urgently to make the changes and investments,” he told reporters this week.

The retailer also announced a partnership with OpenAI that will allow users to browse Target products through ChatGPT before being routed to Target’s app to finalize their purchase — a digital experiment the company hopes will boost visibility.

Despite the turbulence, Target remains profitable, posting $689 million in earnings over the past three months. Still, those numbers pale in comparison to its largest competitor. Walmart, which will release its quarterly results Thursday, is expected to report strong profits and robust sales growth — a stark contrast to Target’s struggles.

For conservatives who have watched Target drift into political distractions, the company’s ongoing slump reads like the inevitable cost of losing sight of its customer base. The question now is whether a leadership transition, billions in store revamps, and a slate of holiday discounts can reverse a decline that’s increasingly looking self-inflicted.