I work for an outside company and I am in a smaller Target store five days a week.
They recently eliminated the display iPhones and got rid of the dedicated brown shirt cell phone associates. Everything is behind glass and most of it is old technology.
There is hardly ever a person working only in electronics. People are usually all over the store working, restocking things, straightening things up (Target customers are just as much of animals as Walmart ones are), etc. You have to press a button which sends out an automated call to everyone in the store with a walkie, and somebody has to respond.
The layout, product selection and look of their electronics section is completely outdated. Most of it is junk technology. They don't sell any real computers. They have a large section dedicated to paperback books and magazines. They sell a lot of cheap movies and music. The one thing going for them is that they get Target "exclusive" versions of some movies or music with extra content/tracks and/or special packaging.
To a lesser extent than Walmart, Target tries to be everything to everyone. Even in a small store they carry product lines that take up space, don't turn over and eventually get put on clearance which means lower margins. They also are too far ahead of retail seasons. People are still looking for summer merchandise in early August when everything has been back to school for weeks.
Target has a good logistics system, and everyone pretty much has an iPhone where they can scan shelf tags and look up inventory, but their out of stock situation leaves a lot to be desired.
They have also really focused on grocery in the past year. Grocery is a very low margin part of the store that is used to drive sales in other parts of the store. This is why Walmart developed the supercenter. Get people in the door with cheaper groceries than the competition, and then get them to buy made in China crap with crazy margins. Walmart also has the ability to dictate to suppliers exactly what they want and how much they will pay for it. Walmart doesn't lose money on sales unless they make a conscious decision to, like with price matching. They used to automatically price match local competitors and display signs at the shelf, but they no longer do that.
One thing Target does do well is it drives a lot of loyalty with their Target Red card debit and credit cards. 5% off every day when you use their card. No fees paid out to Visa or MC. All cards now have chip technology. Like Walmart, they feel they don't need to offer NFC because they have their own proprietary payment system that works for them and allows them to collect data on every customer. They also have an app called Cartwheel, which offers 5% to 50% off certain items for certain periods of time. That discount stacks on top of the Red card discount and any coupons you may have.
About six months ago, Target invested a TON of money completely resetting their grocery sections. New items, new packaging for their Archer Farms and Market Pantry private label items, new endcap and in-aisle displays, more natural/organic, etc. They even bring in more niche items like almond milk and chia drinks to their small stores.
If they want to boost their Apple sales, they are going to have to eliminate all the old technology they carry, offer better and more frequent discounts, and have a sales staff that is knowledgeable and passionate about the items they sell. Otherwise people are going to go to an Apple store, which is a reality for a lot more people now since Apple is constantly opening up new stores, or go to Best Buy where they have reinvented themselves by offering a store-within-a-store experience on top brands and categories.
The grocery industry is experiencing some tough times at the moment due to deflation in certain categories, which leads to lower prices, lower total sales, and lower profits. There has also been a lot of consolidation in the grocery market. Albertson's merging with Safeway, Ahold merging with Delhaize, suppliers merging, and so on. Since Target is running such a low margin on grocery, and not being the best at it since it is only a piece of their pie, they are going to feel the pain when the industry as a whole contracts.
Lastly, I really don't think the bathroom controversy has lead to a lot of loss in sales. I think it gave them a ton of bad publicity and showed how close-minded a lot of America still is. Trump supporters shop at Walmart, not Target. Walmart has been offering family restrooms for a long time now, something that Target failed to do.
