Christina Hennington
Executive Vice President and Chief Growth Officer at Target
Thanks, Brian, and good morning, everyone. In many ways, the themes of the first quarter operating environment were very similar to what we've outlined in recent quarters. So it likely comes as no surprise that we continue to face elevated volatility and see a reprioritization of spending away from discretionary categories in the face of persistent inflation in groceries and essentials.
Despite the near term challenges facing the retail industry and our business, we remain confident in our ability to generate long term results. Largely driven by the unwavering commitment displayed by the Target team to our guests, each other and the communities where we operate. Guests continue to place their trust on Target, choosing to shop with us more and more often at a time when consumers are hyper focused on managing their budget.
As Brian mentioned, American consumers continue to face difficult trade off decisions as they juggle the wants and needs of their families. Consumers saving rates are down and while inflation rates are finally declining, so is consumer confidence. The fear of a looming recession weighs heavily on many American families, and though discretionary spending remains soft, our guests are still looking to sprinkle some affordable joy into their regular shopping at Target.
In the first quarter, comparable sales were flat to last year, which was squarely at the center of our expectations. As you heard from Brian, we continue to benefit from traffic and sales growth in our frequency categories, food and beverage, household essentials, and beauty, which help to offset softer year-on-year sales in our more discretionary home, apparel, and hard lines categories.
Within the quarter, total sales were strongest in February, began decelerating in March and soften further near the end of April. Q1 performance was led by Beauty, which delivered comp growth in the mid-teens, in light of continued strength in both Core Beauty and Ulta Beauty at Target assortment. Food and beverage grew in the high single digits, reflecting broad based strength across the category.
Household Essentials delivered low single digit growth reflecting notable strengths in both the health and pet care categories. Apparel, home and hard lines, all experienced sales declines from the mid-single digits to low double digits as guests continue to pull back on discretionary purchases. Notably, guests are shifting to shop more just in time in these categories as they wait until the last moments before key events to invest in new decor or wardrobe refreshes.
As we've been noting for some time, despite overall softness in discretionary categories, seasonal moments and newness in apparel, home and hard lines continue to be bright spots, prompting great responses from our guests. Within the first quarter, we have strong Valentine season and Easter holiday across multiple assortments ranging from food and hosting solutions to decor and giftables.
New offerings in apparel, including the latest wave of our designer dress collection, and new sets in women's athleisure have seen incredible responses from guests. And this year's major theatrical releases such as Super Mario Brothers and the upcoming Disney film, The Little Mermaid, are driving outsized share gains and sales momentum. These examples demonstrate that when our assortments are fresh, seasonally relevant, and affordable, that's a winning formula to engage and delight our guests.
Given that consumers are cautious when buying discretionary items, we are being more declarative than ever about affordable joy and leaning into value messaging across all our media channels, in-store signing, merchandise displays, and through our digital platforms. With a balance of strong opening price points, timely and relevant promotions, as well as a mix of competitively priced national brands and high quality and affordable own brand offerings, we have an opportunity to boldly demonstrate the power of Target's value proposition to our guests. As I've shared in prior calls, this is where the power of Roundel and Target Circle really shine through, creating collective value for our guests and for Target.
With consumers more price conscious and focused on promotions right now, we know they're willing to search for a deal, but appreciate when we make the hunt easy for them. By utilizing our rich guest insights, we are best able to match the right product to the right guests with the right promotion. This is why we take such a differentiated approach with Roundel, thoughtfully and selectively connecting vendors and their products to our guests. Roundel's interconnection with the broader Target's [Phonetic] digital ecosystem means we are uniquely positioned to inspire the millions of users of our website, the Target app and other diverse media platforms. This helps vendors find consumers that are most likely to be interested in their products, creates awareness and conversion to new products for our guests, through compelling deals and ads, and drives top line and bottom line benefit to Target. All with an eye to enhancing the guest experience.
Similarly, we know this personalized touch is why active Target Circle users make two-and-a-half times the trips in Q1 compared to non-circle guests and spent three times more. Whether through everyday offers or member exclusive events like Target Circle Week in March, we see incredible guest response to Target Circle promotions. Roundel and Target Circle provide opportunities for us to connect with guests in both the short and long-term, offering instantly gratifying promotions in the now and a tailored and elevated experience that builds lasting affinity tomorrow and beyond. And beyond promotions and product placements, we know that when guests try our own brand offerings, they love the value and quality they receive, and this leads to repeat purchases.
We also know that simplified, easy to understand pricing promotion removes friction from the shopping experience, both in stores and online. This explains why our guests are responding to affordable home decor selections, where we are expanding our assortment of items priced under $10. It's why we recently launched new swim assortments starting at just $12 and to help our guests get ready for summer celebrations of all kinds, our only at Target Sun Squad brand offers everything needed to be outside this summer. With more than 60% of the entire assortment priced under $10, and nearly 90% of the assortment priced under $20. But our comprehensive view of affordability extends beyond compelling price points.
In particular, our own brand portfolio offers an unmatched combination of quality and price. For an example, look no further than our $3 billion owned brand Cat & Jack, featuring on trend, durable, and affordable kids' clothing. With everyday essentials like $4 t-shirts, $5 leggings and $8 dresses and jeans, Cat & Jack offers both affordability and style. And because we stand behind not just the price, but the quality of these items as well, we guarantee all Cat & Jack apparel for one full year with three returns should anything not meet our guest expectations. This is just another example of how we offer comprehensive value for our guests, giving them affordable options without skimping on quality.
As we look to the second quarter and beyond, we will continue the steady drumbeat of newness and value, all while maintaining a cautious inventory ownership position in our discretionary categories. In terms of seasonal moments and holidays, Target teams are focused on helping our guests celebrate all summer long. Starting last weekend, we kicked things off by celebrating Mother's Day with affordable and inspiring ways to thank the moms in our lives. And we have plans to continue celebrating key summer moments all quarter long, wrapping up with everything needed to host the perfect fourth of July barbecue.
With new summer food and beverage offerings, including more than 100 new good and gather items, to Target exclusive pickup offsets [Phonetic] for amateurs and pros alike, we are listening closely to our guests and providing the hottest trends across our entire assortment. In apparel, guests will find vibrant color palettes across our offerings, helping all families celebrate summer in style. Best of all, these apparel items provide amazing value with clear, compelling opening price points.
For kids and kids at heart, the summer's roster of exciting movie blockbusters will find their way into multiple assortments, ranging from apparel to toys to collectibles, featuring familiar characters from Disney, Marvel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and more. And because you can never have too much of a good thing, the latest assortment drop from Tabitha Brown just launched a few days ago. Already off to a fabulous start, this collection celebrates the joy that comes from gathering alongside friends and family, recharging in the summer sun and pausing for fun and games.
The assortment includes over 60 items ranging from backyard entertaining essentials, games, tableware, outdoor furniture, as well as guest favorite food items backed by popular demand. As we navigate this challenging environment, we will continue to lean into flexibility and focus on retail fundamentals, while remaining vigilant in monitoring, changing trends with the consumer and the economy. It's only because of our incredible team that we are able to stay nimble, listening for and quickly applying guest feedback into our operations for our teams and stores, supply chain and headquarters locations around the world. Thank you for sharing your talents and passion and support of our guests. You are truly the best team in retail, and you bring Target's values to life each and every day.
With that, I'll turn the call over to John.