Target store employees will soon have a mini AI-powered sidekick to quickly answer their questions from when something will be in stock to procedures to handle food during a power outage and how a customer can sign up for the Target Circle loyalty program.
Called the Store Companion, the generative AI chatbot is accessed through workers’ handheld devices and will be rolled out to all of Target’s nearly 2,000 stores by August.
When that happens, Minneapolis-based Target would be the first major U.S. retailer to announce it was bringing generative artificial intelligence to its entire store team.
“A store team member job is really hard,” said Brett Craig, Target’s chief information officer, in an interview. “They’re interfacing with our guests everyday, and they have so much responsibility across different processes. … It really is about empowering the team.”
The tool is expected to save time because employees can ask informal, conversational questions instead of looking up answers in physical handbooks or Target’s online intranet guides. To develop Store Companion, the in-house technology team used real frequently asked questions from its store teams and took additional feedback from employees as it was tested in stores.
The Champlin Target was one of the first stores in the country to pilot the technology, starting to use it in March.
New employees unfamiliar with Target’s processes have found it helpful, and so have workers facing unusual situations, said Champlin store director Jake Seaquist.
“This is making (answers) more findable,” he said. “Quicker, too.”
One morning earlier this week, storms knocked out the power that fed some of the refrigerated food and produce sections of the store. Employee Steve Noon asked Store Companion what to do with the food items and received a step-by-step guide on how to protect the temperature-sensitive items by using a tarp-like material and gave guidance on how to determine what items needed to be thrown out.
Target is currently piloting the tool at about 400 stores to collect feedback as it prepares for the chainwide rollout.
Store Companion is only one way Target is exploring the use of AI.
Target has begun to use AI to improve customers’ experience on its website and app by allowing for a more intuitive guided search, letting customers use more conversational language. For example, instead of a customer searching for “napkins” or “plastic forks,” he or she might search “summer party,” which would bring up a wider selection of party supplies, invitations, outdoor tableware, meat for grilling and possibly forgotten items such as bug spray.
Generative AI also is being used to summarize reviews and provide more detailed product descriptions.
Target also is testing other ways to use generative AI, Craig said.
“Generative AI is a truly transformative technology that is empowering our team in ways that I think will be really, really impactful on the experience that we can create,” Craig said.