🎯 Tarjay’s membership moment

…and the AI bots aren’t alright Aisle be waiting (Scott Olson/Getty Images) [Sponsored by]( Yesterday's Market Moves Dow Jones 38,585 (-1.04%) S&P 500 5,079 (-1.02%) Nasdaq 15,940 (-1.65%) Bitcoin $63,727 (-6.75%) Dow Jones 38,585 (-1.04%) S&P 500 5,079 (-1.02%) Nasdaq 15,940 (-1.65%) Bitcoin $63,727 (-6.75%) Hey Snackers, Spring breakers heading to Miami might need to swap their “pAArtYY hype” playlists for lo-fi study beats. The city’s [implementing]( security measures like beach closures and bag searches to curb unruly behavior common in South Beach this time of year. Stocks continued to pull back yesterday, dragged down by tech: all the Magnificent 7 dipped. [Bitcoin]( had a better day, touching a new record above $69K.   FULLCIRCLE [Target’s sales fell for the first time in nearly 8 years, so it’s launching a subscription]( Far from the bull’s-eye… Fewer folks are “doing a quick Target run.” [Target](’s holiday-quarter sales suffered as shoppers trimmed spending on discretionary goodies like blenders and fuzzy slippers. The red retailer’s annual sales dipped for the first time since 2016, and same-store revenue fell for the third straight quarter. It also gave an uninspiring sales forecast for this year. Still, Target’s stock popped 12% yesterday after it reported higher profit, courtesy of fewer discounts and lower costs. Its weak sales reflected a broader trend: - Discretionary splurges: ⬇️. Spending on electronics and household goods boomed during the pandemic as people stocked up for the forever-at-home life. That trend’s reversing. [Walmart](’s profit fell 12% last quarter as folks pulled back on big-ticket buys like air fryers and laptops. - Essential spending: ⬆️. Budgets are tight (thanks, inflation), yet people still need to eat. Walmart’s sales grew last quarter as shoppers flocked to America’s largest grocer. Unlike Walmart’s, Target’s sales are mostly from nonedible items. A subscription not called “plus”... finally. To combat slowing sales, Target’s joining the sub club. Yesterday the retailer announced a paid membership called Target Circle 360 (doesn’t roll off the tongue, but at least it’s not Target+). The program, meant to rival Walmart+ and [Amazon]( Prime, will offer perks like free same-day delivery for orders $35+ and two-day free shipping. It’ll roll out in April with a promo price of $49/year, and then cost $99/year starting May 18 (roughly the same price as Walmart+). THE TAKEAWAY Loyalty can get you through a rough patch… Target’s hoping its membership will be a new revenue stream, regardless of the economic mood. Last month, Walmart’s boss said that Walmart+ subscribers spent 2X as much as nonmembers, and the company’s CFO said membership growth is strong. Retailers are growing increasingly reliant on sub $$. Most of [Costco](’s profit comes from membership fees.   SPONSORED BY RAD AI Is Now the Time to Add AI to Your Portfolio? Marketing is an art, not a science — or, at least, it was. Dubbed “essential AI” for brands, [RAD AI]( decodes the language of the internet into actionable, highly valuable insights. These findings can be used to deliver outsized ROI, and sometimes, help brands avoid disaster. [RAD AI is disrupting the $633B marketing technology industry]( and its potential is evident by the numbers… $27M raised since 2018 from 6,500+ investors, including VCs, and execs at Google, Amazon and Meta and is also backed by the Adobe Fund for Design. ~3X revenue growth from 2022 to 2023 — while landing major clients, including Hasbro, Skechers, Sweetgreen and more. [Invest now and get up to 15% bonus shares with your investment.*]( SPONSORED BY RAD AI Is Now the Time to Add AI to Your Portfolio? Marketing is an art, not a science — or, at least, it was. Dubbed “essential AI” for brands, [RAD AI]( decodes the language of the internet into actionable, highly valuable insights. These findings can be used to deliver outsized ROI, and sometimes, help brands avoid disaster. [RAD AI is disrupting the $633B marketing technology industry]( and its potential is evident by the numbers… $27M raised since 2018 from 6,500+ investors, including VCs, and execs at Google, Amazon and Meta and is also backed by the Adobe Fund for Design. ~3X revenue growth from 2022 to 2023 — while landing major clients, including Hasbro, Skechers, Sweetgreen and more. [Invest now and get up to 15% bonus shares with your investment.*](   AIN’T [Anthropic debuts a GPT-4 rival as AI giants say the tech’s still untrustworthy]( Catchin’ a ride on the hype train… [Alphabet](- and Amazon-backed Anthropic said on Monday that it had [released]( a new version of its AI chatbot. The biz said the bot (Claude 3) outperforms OpenAI’s GPT-4 and can do things like summarize book-length chunks of text and analyze images. Anthropic’s not the only company selling a shiny new bot. [Microsoft](’s been pushing its ChatGPT-powered Copilot for Outlook, Word, and Teams, with early testers paying a monthly fee of $30/user for access. Nicked by the cutting edge… AI’s being sold as the next big thing to optimize worker productivity, but even the companies doing the selling have said the tech still has serious issues. Last month, both Anthropic and Google told The Wall Street Journal that their AI bots could generate false statements framed as facts (though companies have [pushed]( their bots as tools for news research). Meanwhile, the VP of product management at Google’s AI unit said you can’t trust the model’s output. AI’s introduction to the workplace hasn’t gone smoothly: - Mistranscript: One of Copilot’s marketed abilities is summarizing Teams meetings, but users [observed]( that it fabricated quotes from nonexistent employees (who’s “Bob”?). - Power-no-Point: One user [shared]( on X that Copilot’s attempt to make a slide presentation was riddled with errors (verdict: “a mess”). THE TAKEAWAY Release first, ask questions later… Techies are racing to unleash their latest and greatest AI offerings while cautioning customers that their output’s not reliable. The lack of polish may be one reason the tech has struggled to fully catch on. Microsoft’s splashy AI addition to Bing has so far failed to make a dent in Google’s search dominance. AI companies are moving at lightning speed to be first, but gaffes may hurt their goal of building trust: two-thirds of business execs said AI’s still in the hype phase.   What else we’re Snackin’ - [Swiped](: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made a new rule capping credit-card late fees at $8. It would save consumers an average of $220/year and help close a decade-old loophole that’s earned banks billions. - [iSlump](: iPhone sales in China slid 24% YoY in the first six weeks of the year, despite [Apple](’s discounts in the key market. Chinese rival Huawei’s sales jumped 64%, fueled by its new premium 5G smartphones. - [NoYolk]( : President Biden is forming a strike force to fight businesses that he said “rip off Americans.” Even as prices for staples like milk and eggs have fallen, officials said some corporations are keeping sticker prices high. - [Closed]( : [Tesla]( paused production at its Berlin factory after a suspected arson disrupted its power. Environmental activists built tree houses in the local forest to protest the factory's expansion plans. - [Unified]( : 10K Minnesotans from unions repping teachers, janitors, and corporate workers plan to strike this week and next for better pay and benefits. Last year saw the most US strikes in over two decades.   Snack Fact Of the Day Bitcoin surpassed its 2021 record high yesterday, briefly hitting $69.2K [Read more](   Wednesday - Job openings - Earnings expected from JD.com, Abercrombie & Fitch, Foot Locker, Campbell Soup, and Victoria’s Secret Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and shares of: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, and Walmart *Advertiser’s disclosure: This is a paid advertisement for RAD AI’s Regulation CF offering. Please read the offering circular and related risks at [invest.radintel.ai](. Equity crowdfunding investments in private placements, and start-up investments in particular, are speculative and illiquid. They involve a high degree of risk and those investors who cannot afford to lose their entire investment should not invest in start-ups.   [Instagram]( [Twitter]( Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... [See more]( [Sherwood Terms and Conditions]( • [Our Editorial Principles]( • [Contact Us](mailto:hellosnacks@sherwoodmedia.com) • [Privacy Policy]( • [Advertise with us](mailto:advertising@sherwoodmedia.com) [Unsubscribe](