As of February, Target began reporting that in-store traffic and retail sales had started to recover following the data breach which impacted up to 40 million cardholders during the holiday season. However, the company still has a long way to go before it will reach the confidence levels previously attained.
General Sentiment – a digital and social media analytics firm – reports that brand sentiment has a “positive 24” sentiment reading as of March 15. This a marked improvement over the “negative 47” reading which had been the average compiled during the height of the data breach news. However, Target is nowhere close to the “positive 47” reading it received in March last year.
Customer confidence is fleeting; one misstep and years of effort can be ruined. According to the 2012 Ponemon Institute study sponsored by Experian Data Breach Resolution, companies affected by the Experian data breach lost, on average, 12 percent of their value. In some cases, up to 25 percent of the brand’s value was lost.