Why Target lost its aim

AT ONE of Target’s shops in downtown Chicago, one recent weekend, customers congregated in the electronics department and the area that sells towels and bedding. Upstairs, the women’s clothes department was almost deserted. A quick examination of its stock revealed why: dowdy dresses, garish sweaters and jackets that any reasonably fashion-conscious woman under 60 would surely spurn.

For many shoppers, Target no longer hits the spot. In its annual results this week it admitted that the cost of retreating from a disastrous foray into Canada, and of closing underperforming shops in America, would be a whopping $5.1 billion.