Target To Roll Out Its Own AI Chatbot For Employees

MINNEAPOLIS — Target on Thursday announced plans to roll out a new generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool to employees at all of its nearly 2,000 stores by August.

The tool — called "Store Companion" — is an AI-powered chatbot designed by Target that can answer on-the-job process questions, coach new team members, support store operations management, and more.

Store Companion's goal is to make the teams' jobs easier and allow them to work more quickly and efficiently.

Target is piloting the tool at about 400 stores ahead of the chainwide rollout.

"The transformative nature of GenAI is helping us accelerate the rate of innovation across our operations, and we're excited about the role these new tools and applications will play in driving growth," said Target CIO Brett Craig in a news release.

The chatbot will be available as an app on store employees' handheld devices, providing immediate answers to questions like: "How do I sign a guest up for a Target Circle Card?" and "How do I restart the cash register in the event of a power outage?" and receive instructions and resources in seconds.

The tool also serves as a store process expert and coach, helping new and seasonal team members learn on the job, the company said.

To program the chatbot, Target said its in-house technology team used real frequently asked questions and training documents from its store teams across the U.S.

Target said it is also using AI to power its product pages and search capabilities to curate the most relevant results and make it easier for customers to find what they're looking for.