Target Corporation reported that its net retail sales for the five weeks ended April 5, 2008 increased 1.5% to $5.68 billion from $5.59 billion for the five weeks ended April 7, 2007. On this same basis, March comparable store sales decreased 4.4%, compared to a 12% increase for the same period last year.
“While we expected a low-single digit comparable store sales decline in March, our actual performance was modestly below our planned range,” said Bob Ulrich, chairman and chief executive officer of Target Corporation.
Year-to-date, Target said its total sales were up 3.4% to $10.05 billion, while comps were down 2.3%, compared with a rise of 9.2% for the same period in 2007.
Ulrich reminded investors that the timing of Easter this year compared with a year ago adversely affected March and will benefit April.
