Behind the Scenes of Target's 'Expect More, Pay Less' Promise with Executive Vice President, Rick Gomez

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We often say our brand, it's the and and what I mean by that is it is on trend, it is high quality, it is delicious product and it's at a great price. And so that combination is what we stand for. We often say, you know, expect more, pay less is our brand promise. And it's really those two things coming together that make us differentiated in the marketplace. And that brand promise is relevant today, just as it was 10, 15, 20 years ago.

To thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape, brands must move in an ever increasing pace. I'm Matt Britton, Founder and CEO of susee. Join me and key industry leaders as we dive deep into the shifting consumer trends within their industry, why it matters now, and how you can keep up. Welcome to the Speed of Cult. Today we're just speaking with Rick Gomez, the Executive Vice President and Chief Food and Beverage Officer at Target. Over the years, Rick has played pivotal roles in shaping Target's marketing strategies, particularly in merchandise categories, and managing multi billion dollar consumer packaged goods brands across Target's food and beverage business. Rick was a winner of the 2022 retail touchpoints as a Retail Innovator award. I'm so excited for this podcast interview today. Rick, great to see you.

Great to see you. Good to be here.

Thanks so much. So let's just dive right in into your background because obviously you're in a pivotal role right now at one of the most prominent retailers in the world and that's just not a role that you get to overnight. If you can like wind back a little Bit to your earlier days, maybe in college. Did you know that you wanted to be in the world of marketing?

No, actually I had plans to become a lawyer, a corporate lawyer. I was.

Me too.

When you don't know what you become a lawyer. And I had studied government, political science. And I had applied to law school and was planning to go and got accepted and was thrilled, shared it with my parents and they said, we are so proud of you, but how are you going to pay for that? And that's when the light bulb went off that I need money. And so I deferred to law school for three years and took a job working in brand management at the Quaker Oats Company. And I took the job because it was a decent salary in Chicago, which was less expensive than New York. And that's the reason I took the job. And after three years I was the assistant brand manager on Captain Crunch and was having a blast coming up with what are the toys in the box and the games on the back of the cereal and coming up with TV commercials for Crunch Berries. And it was just had this realization that there's no way that being a lawyer could ever be this much fun. And that's for sure. Yeah, I've never looked back since. And continued on working in marketing for many years, became part of the PepsiCo family, did a brief stint working for MillerCore and then about 10 years ago I made the jump from CPG and to retail and joined Target.

And cutting your teeth, so to speak, at a cpg, whether it be Quaker Oats or your work with Captain Crunch. Huge fan of that brand, by the way, as well as being at PepsiCo, which is a common theme amongst our Speed of Culture guests as they work at companies like PepsiCo or Procter and Gamble is usually what I hear is that the learnings are invaluable in terms of brand building and the disciplines that you're able to ascertain. Can you talk a little bit about your experiences as those larger CPG companies and maybe how it formed the leader you are today?

Sure. I think three lessons for me. The first one is really around managing a brand and what does that mean and how you think about positioning your brand. And then you have all elements of the touch points of the guests, the product, the packaging, the pricing, all support that brand and that brand point of view. And then to be really vigilant about protecting that brand, growing the brand, stretching the brand, but being really true to what it stands for is something that was ingrained in me really back at Quaker Oats. Which is a smaller CPG but had big brands like Captain Crunch and Gatorade and Quaker Oatmeal. The second thing that I learned, which was the importance of being consumer centric, really listening to at Target, what we refer to as our guest, listening to our guests, what are their needs, what are their pain points and then thinking through how can we better deliver on those than the competition. And, and so being very focused on listening and learning from the guest and not assuming that because you buy that product or you shop there that you are the guest. So that was kind of this thing I learned. And then the third is just the benefit of working in a really big matrix organization like PepsiCo. You learn the power of influence management. You don't own anything, you work on everything. And you have to be able to collaborate, cross functionally, work horizontally, build relationships, collaborate effectively. And that's been invaluable to me. So it's really the power of a brand, the importance of listening to the guest and then the ability to work in a big matrix organization have been really important skills for me.

Absolutely. And they took those skills and your learnings and you joined target in 2013. So now over 10 years that you've been at Target, first of all, that in itself is I think commendable and to me I admire because many people don't stay at roles and companies for that long and obviously there's benefits in doing so. You get to understand the brand, the culture, the people and really ultimately have much more impact. I'd love to hear about your journey in terms of how the company Target has changed over the last 10 years from when you started the company to where it is today.

Sure. I mean, it's changed quite a bit. And I think if you talk to anybody who works in retail, regardless of where they work, they will tell you that there's been a lot of change over the last 10 years. A couple thoughts. One is I've been very fortunate to work at Target and to be here at 10 years and to have new challenges, new roles, expanded responsibilities. Started in marketing, but then got a chance to run our e commerce business. Then got a chance to oversee corporate strategy and then got a chance to move over to food and beverage, which is a $23 billion business and I'm running a piano. So I very, very grateful for what Target has allowed me to do and to learn and to explore. So it's been a really amazing 10 years. But I will tell you the company has changed a lot. And let me talk more specifically about food and Beverage and the food beverage business has been on a multi year journey to really transform the business. We made a commitment that we wanted to go from being a retailer that just sells food to being a retailer that truly celebrates food. And to celebrate food. We've made significant investments in the business. We've made investments in completely revamping our own brand portfolio. By own brands, I'm referring to our private label brands. We've completely revamped that. We launched Good and Gather. It's now over a $3 billion brand. We've made big investments in our team recognizing the importance of having grocery industry expertise at the table. We've really invested in team Then the third thing that we've done is we've really leaned into our industry leading same day fulfillment services, particularly Drive up, which has become almost a signature service for us where you can order your groceries online, come to Target and we can put them in your trunk in less than four minutes. So it is completely easy and free and has been an amazing service for our guests. And so we've come a long way. We're in a very different place now than we were just five, 10 years ago.

And given that, I guess broader macroeconomic changes and even changes in consumer needs and behaviors coming out of the pandemic into a landscape now where we do have rising inflation and rising food costs, how have you been able to I guess alter your strategy to make sure you're meeting the changing needs of consumers?

Yeah, I mean during the pandemic it was about safety, it was about cleanliness, it was about contact shopping. And so we saw a huge boom in our e commerce business and we saw a huge boom in our drive up services. I think coming out of the pandemic, what we consistently hear from our guests is the need for affordability. They're trying to manage their budget, they're trying to stretch their budget to go as far as they can dealing with inflation, dealing with the return of student loans, dealing with high interest rates. And so they're looking for value and that's something that we have always been committed to. It's part of the Target promise. Part of what makes Target Tarjay is that we offer on trend products at a great price. And so we have been very committed to that in food and beverage as well. And we deliver that in a couple different ways. One is with the products that we sell and I've mentioned this before, our private label, our own brand Good and Gather Favorite Day Market pantry are excellent quality products, but they're at a really good price. Point. The other way that we deliver affordability is through circle. We have CIRCLE is our loyalty program. It's free to join. We have over a hundred million members. And we're able to use that data to then be able to provide personalized savings for you based on what you purchase and what you might like. So we'll do personalized. And then of course, we offer everyday great prices on those things that really matter, like the eggs and the milk. And then we're doing things to deliver value that are seasonally relevant. Right now we're heading into Thanksgiving and so everyone's thinking about the meal and wanting to have it be a special time with family and friends, people they love, but they're on a budget. And so what we've done for Thanksgiving is we've curated a Thanksgiving meal for four under $25, and it's a turkey, 99 cents a pound. And it has cranberries and stuffing and vegetables and sides. And it's a way for you to have a delicious meal for $25. And then we have a whole bunch of good and gather sides that are all less than $5. So one of the things that we hear so much from our guest is times can be a little bit tough right now and they're trying to stretch their budget, but they still want to celebrate, they still want to have those family moments, and they still want to have what we refer to as affordable joy. And so that's kind of our mission and we're going to do that for Thanksgiving.

It's interesting because to me, as an outsider and a Target customer, it's like the brand has seemed to be quite elastic over the years because even pre pandemic, when we were in much better or more stable economic state, I feel like Target did lean into the target side of the brand in terms of fast fashion. And to me, it seemed like more of like a Walmart differentiator than just going into value. But I think it also does provide value. So in a time like now, you can lean further into that benefit. Is that true? Is that kind of what goes into your thinking in terms of what aspects of the brand equity pillar do we lean into based upon the current state of your consumer?

Yeah. And the way I would articulate it is we often say our brand, it's the. And, and what I mean by that is it is on trend, it is high quality, it is delicious product, and it's at a great price. And so that combination is what we stand for. We often say, you know, expect more, pay less, is Our brand promise. And it's really those two things coming together that make us differentiated in the marketplace. And that brand promise is relevant today just as it was 10, 15, 20 years ago.

Right. And one other thing you brought up was just the benefit of first party data. And in the world of food and beverage, many of the traditional food and beverage companies don't have that because they're selling through big box retailers like yourselves. They don't have first party data. And I would imagine that provides you with an incredible benefit at understanding the types of foods consumers are looking for, the way you should be positioning it. So how big is that data set? And I guess you talk about consumer centricity. Is that part of your process of rolling out new products? I saw recently you rolled out Good and gather baby and Good and gather toddler. I would imagine in a case like that, you're using the first party data to really frame your go to market strategy.

Absolutely. I mean, the short answer to how much data we have, it's a lot. And so for a hundred million members, we have a lot of their shopping behavior and their preferences and we're able to then be more relevant to them. So examples of what we do is when it's back to school time, we have information on teachers and we're able to give teachers an incentive to get school supplies. We just had Veterans Day. We were able to then send an incentive to veterans to celebrate them. So we're able to do really targeted personalized stuff which has been incredibly helpful. And what we're also able to do is partner with a lot of those CPG partners who sell their products at Target. We do that through Roundel. We have a media company and we'll partner with them to create marketing campaigns that leverage our first party data and are able to do really what everybody wants is to understand did my marketing spend, what did it deliver? And we're able to target the audience that they're looking to meet the audience and then we'll measure it and we're able to, with first party data, be able to show exactly the return on that investment. And that's something that marketers have been looking for years.

Absolutely. We'll be right back with the speed of Culture after a few words from our sponsors.

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Another shift that obviously we've been seeing a lot of lately is consumers finally believing gravitating towards purchasing groceries online and Instacart recently went public. And that was something especially pre pandemic that many consumers either shied away from or didn't really believe it. What trends are you seeing relative to this with your business?

I would say our digital business is continuing to deliver double digit growth coming out of the pandemic. I mean it was explosive during the pandemic for obvious reasons, but we've seen strong momentum continuing post pandemic. But I will tell you there's also our stores still play a really important role and I think it comes down to what is your trip type, what is your trip mission? And some of them are quick and they want it to be hassle free and they're going to look digitally to get what they need. And we can deliver to your home through our ship shopper or you can come pick it up through drive up and it's about ease and convenience. But then there's also another type of trip at Target which is about inspiration and it's about discovery. And we hear all the time guests have a free one hour. The kids are at a soccer practice and they've got a free hour. They'll go to Target and they'll walk up and down the aisles and they'll explore. They'll look for the what are the new brands? What are the new products? They often do it like this time of year to get in the holiday spirit. And we do a terrific job of not just having seasonally relevant items, but we decorate the store in a really seasonally relevant way. So when you come in, you get into the spirit of whether it's Christmas or Valentine's Day or Mother's Day or Easter or whatever it may be. So what I would tell you is right now what guests are asking for is it varies and sometimes they want digital, sometimes they want it in the store, sometimes it's a combination of both. And our commitment at Target is we will get product to our guests however they want it.

Yeah. And another big initiative I know that you've been behind it is just wellness within the food and beverage space, which I know is obviously top of mind for anybody that's in the industry. Can you talk a little bit about some of your efforts there?

Sure. I mean, I've been in the food and beverage industry for forever and wellness has always been a topic and it's always been a trend, and I think it continues to be. What we're seeing is our guests are very interested in health and wellness. What we're starting to see is it's starting to emerge and we're starting to see some new things in that space. So what we're seeing is certainly stuff like organic and freshness, all natural. That, of course, is still there. But we're seeing more growth in vegan dairy free keto. Another area we're seeing growth recently is non alcoholic beverages and non alcoholic beer wine mocktails. It used to be Dry January was something that people would do, but what we were seeing is dry January is extending beyond January. And in people are looking to take care of themselves. They're also defining health and wellness more broadly. And our guests are defining it like not just food and nutrition, but also self care. And so even businesses like our beauty business, which you might think of as a luxury or a nice to have, it's actually part of taking care of yourself and feeling good about yourself. And we're seeing really strong growth in our beauty business.

Yeah, that totally makes sense. It's interesting because I was looking at some data and you look at Gen Xers and the youngest Gen Xers 43, and the average age of a parent having a child in the US is 27, which means even the youngest Gen X or their kids are at a minimum of 16 years old. And if you're appealing to families, that means that we are basically two years away from families being solely millennials. And millennials, as you know, grew up with the Internet in the household. So we're kind of at the precipice of this complete new ship of parents being millennials. And I would imagine when you talk about all these things, Omnichannel, you talk about wellness, you talk about the ship, the E commerce and all these things. It's just going to become more and more prevalent in the years to come. And bolden whatever strategies you're tinkering now to be the core strategy.

Absolutely. I mean, technology is not going away. And I think what we're seeing is our guest consumers more broadly. Their expectations just keep getting higher and higher and higher. Expectations for what is convenience and how is that defined? Expectations for what inspiration looks. I'll give you an example of something that we just launched. We have drive up and we've expanded drive up during the pandemic to include fresh frozen adult beverages, really the full assortment. But what we just launched nationally in October is you can now get a Starbucks. So when you come in and you say, I'm here to pick up my groceries or whatever you're buying in Target, we prompt and say, would you like a Starbucks with that? And the feedback is through the roof. And that would have been unthinkable just a couple of years ago that we would manage to get a hot drink out to your car. We do it in less than four minutes. And the store team member have figured out how to do it and the feedback has been outstanding. We look at NPS scores as an example and it's quickly become one of our highest scoring experiences at Target. And I think it's just an example of how expectations are getting higher and higher and higher with technology.

Yeah. And you're tapping into obviously core consumer behavior that your customers share and they would do it on their own and you're just making it easier for them and you're connecting it to your brand and making it part of the brand experience.

Totally. And the thing that I love about it is we've been rolling this out across the country. Country. And so we have a lot of data. The number two item that's being purchased is a cake pop. And I think that just speaks to, it's the parent in the front seat. And they're getting a cake pop for their kiddo in the back seat to make them just as happy as they are. And that becomes part of the whole Target experience for the whole family.

I'm smiling because I have a three year old daughter. Every time I'm with her in the city and I go into a Starbucks, she asks for a cake pop. It's like she believes she deserves a cake cup. If I deserve a latte, you know, stuff. We speak of my language here. So let's shift yours a little bit to you and kind of the way that you go about your work. The first question I would have for you is how are you able to as an individual keep in touch with all the kind of changing consumer trends? What tools and what people do you lean into to make sure that you're at the speed of culture, so to speak?

It takes a village. We have a big team at Target who focuses on the consumer insights. We have a group that focuses specifically on food insights and food trends. They're talking to guests every day, getting feedback, what's working, what's not working. But they're also traveling around the world and they're seeing what's working in other markets and what we could potentially learn. From and bring back to the U.S. one of the things I'm excited about for this holiday season is we're doing a partnership with Marks and Spencer's M and S, which is the world famous British retailer, and bringing in their assortment and selling it for a limited time this holiday season with most items under $10. And it's just a great example of we were out in London and we were looking at different trends and we were so impressed with the products at M and S. And so we made a partnership and we did it for the first time last year and it was gangbusters. So we're doing it again this season and it's just an example of inspiration can come from a lot of different places. Obviously we're getting tons of media clippings, articles, podcasts. We have external speakers come to Target to share their insights and their perspectives. And oftentimes we bring in people from other industries just to bring a fresh perspective. Again, you never know where a good idea is going to come from.

Absolutely. And you talk about taking a village and a big part of that is you being able to trust your team and building a great team. What do you look for in the people who you bring up to your team at Target and what are some of the proven success strategies at building a successful team around you?

A couple things. I think first and foremost is building a team that's diverse. People who have different backgrounds, different lived experiences, different career paths, different industry experience. So if you look at my direct report team, some of them have grown up at Target their whole career. Some of them have worked in the grocery industry at competitors, some have come from doing completely different things not in food and Bev, have experience working in the home business. And then people who I think stylistically bring different perspectives. Some are operators, some are supply chain experts, some are more creative marketers. And I think having that mix is where you get the really good ideas. So I think a diverse team is paramount. The second thing I would say is when we're recruiting, if you had asked me this question just 10 years ago, I would have given you a different answer. I probably would have said, you know, when we're interviewing, we're recruiting, we're looking for people who strong leaders, track record of success, good strategic problem solver. And those are important. But I actually think what's become more important now is two things. One is resilience and the ability to it doesn't always go your way. And there are ups and their downs in business for sure, in retail. And you have to be Able to weather the downs and then try to extend those highs as long as you can. But it's not all going to be the way you had planned. And so you have to be resilient, you have to be tough and you have to be able to pick yourself up and pick the team up and get people motivated and to go back at it again. So resilience. And then the second thing I would say is just being flexible, agile. I mean things are always changing and so you can't get so locked into this is the plan and we're going to go execute the plan, the annual operating plan, we go execute that and then we're going to be successful if we deliver the execution. It's constantly changing. I mean on a daily basis we're looking at daily sales or we're talking weekly and we're looking do we need to make any changes to this, our plans for this weekend? And so being able to kind of be flexible and agile and not too stuck in your ways is really, really important.

Especially in this world of AI where we have no idea types of innovations and tools that are going to be at our disposal three to six months from now. So if you're not flexible, then you could find yourself sort of on the outside looking in, right?

Absolutely. I mean flexible. And you have to be curious. I mean you have to be kind of lifelong learner. How we go to market today is so different than how I went to market at Pepsi or at Miller Kors or at Quaker. It's changed so much. And you have to be willing to. Takes a little bit of humility, a little bit of vulnerability to say you don't know everything. And somebody who might be a lot younger on your team might be way more experienced on a different platform than you are and need to lean into their insights and be curious and want to learn about it.

I think it's all great advice and wrapping up here, Rick. I mean obviously you're in a very exciting position. You've had a great career, you wanted to be a lawyer when you were first getting started and now you're in a very creative industry and a really fun, powerful brand. What would you tell 21 year old Rick, based upon everything you've experienced in your career that you wish you knew then that maybe would have made the journey a little bit easier for you?

I think I probably would have told myself, don't stress out so much, don't worry so much about all the things. I mean, I caused myself a lot of stress in those early years and I Probably could have avoided that and just had a more fun. And I think when you show up at work and you're having fun and you're enjoying the people you work with, and I have the pleasure to work with an amazing team at a company with whose culture I completely align with and identify with, that's a lot of fun. And so just remind yourself that that's what it's about and not sweating all the little details and stressing yourself out unnecessarily. It'll all work out.

Yeah. And you know, as we know, there's doctors who have people's lives in their hands and maybe they need to be stressed out. But for you and I and the work that we do, although it's important and we are responsible for the livelihood of others, ultimately it's not life or death, so to speak. So I think erring towards the side of having fun and being more creative the way you do probably will yield better results anyway, right?

Yeah, I think so. I mean we are in a creative business and I think the winners in retail are the ones who are going to come up with new ideas, fresh ideas. They're going to be the ones that are listening to the guest and are really truly empathetic and understanding of the guest needs and then come up with really fun creative ideas to deliver on those needs.

Yeah. In that regard, anything for 2024 that you're excited about or maybe you're working on that you care to share what you want to accomplish for next year for the brand?

There's a lot of things we're excited about and the areas that we're most focused on are really certainly ease, affordability and innovation are the three areas that we're focused on. From an ease perspective. We're constantly looking at how do we make our same day services even better like with Starbucks, what's next thing we're launching now returns through same day services where you can just drive up and return your products, which makes it even easier. We continue to lean into affordability. We think that will be really important for our guests throughout next year. And one of the ways we do it, and we do it with Target, I think is our own brands. And so you're going to see not just a few new items, you will see hundreds of new items across good and gather and favorite day next year. And then we'll continue to lean into inspiration and do things partnerships like the Marks and Spencer partnership I mentioned. We also did a partnership with Tabitha Brown that was really well received, was a super optimistic, joyful influencer and we have been working to have a line of products that we will have on the shelves year round. So in and out item it did so well. We want to bring that back. But we're always looking to partner with new fun, creative partners.

Very cool. I can't wait to see what you got your sleeve for next year. So to wrap up, is there a quote or mantra we ask all of our guests that you like to live by that drives you every day?

Just be you. I know that sounds really simple and maybe a little bit trite, but at the end of the day, just be your real authentic self. And I think that's really important. And I think oftentimes, particularly in corporate America, we can forget that and spend a lot of time trying to be someone that we're not and lose sight of what makes us really special and that we should be bringing to the table every day. So I would just say just be you.

Love that. That's fantastic advice. We're going to leave you with that. So thanks so much Rick for joining. Cannot wait for our audience to hear this interview. I've been a big time fan of yours for a while, so it's been great to be able to dive deeper into the stuff you're working on.

Thanks man.

Yeah, thank you. On behalf of Susan Adweekeen, thanks again to Rick Gomez, Executive Vice President and Chief Food and Beverage Officer at Target, for joining us today. Sure. To subscribe Rate review the Speed of Culture podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Till next time. See you soon everyone. Take care. The Speed of Culture is brought to you by Suzy as part of the Adweek Podcast Network and a Guest Creator Network. You can listen subscribe to all Adweek's podcast by visiting Adweek.com podcast to find out more about Suzy, head to Susie.com and make sure to search for the speed of culture in Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts or anywhere else podcasts are found. Click follow so you don't miss out on any future episodes. On behalf of the team here at Suzy, thanks for listening.

Finding the right audience shouldn't feel like doom scrolling with Experian. It doesn't. Experian syndicated audiences help you reach holiday shoppers, car buyers and more across over 200 top platforms with over 2,400 pre built audiences. There's no more doom scrolling. It's audience targeting you can trust. Made simple. Learn more at experian.com adweek that's E-P-E-R-I-A N.com adweek.