Target smartens staff coaching and management support with GenAI platform launch

24 Jun 2024 --- Target plans to introduce a new generative AI (GenAI) tool to its nearly 2,000 stores by August. Store Companion is a chatbot designed by Target that can answer on-the-job process questions, coach new team members and support store operations management, among other functionalities. 

The US retail giant previously leveraged advanced digital services to enhance shopping experiences on the consumer front, including “guest-centric” solutions like personalized beauty shopping and virtual makeup try-on functions.

On the backend, Store Companion’s goal is to make the teams’ jobs easier and allow them to work more quickly and efficiently, offering “faster service and deeper guest engagement” to make the shopping experience even better. 

The initiative is part of Target’s strategic approach to using GenAI more broadly across its business.

“We know technology will continue to play an outsized role in the future of retail — for our team members, our guests and our business. With that in mind, we’re continually experimenting with new tools to make it even easier for our team to do their jobs and to bring more of what guests love about shopping at Target to life,” says Brett Craig, executive vice president and chief information officer, Target.

“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.”

The Store Companion chatbot will be available as an app on store team members’ specially equipped handheld devices.Smart coaching services
The Store Companion chatbot will be available as an app on store team members’ specially equipped handheld devices, providing immediate answers to their questions about processes and procedures. 

For example, team members can input prompts 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.

To develop this resource for its store team members, Target’s in-house technology team used frequently-asked questions and process documents from its store teams across the US.

The team took the project from its initial testing phase to planned rollout in just six months. Target is currently piloting the tool at about 400 stores, using the teams’ feedback to improve the experience ahead of the chainwide rollout.

“Gen AI is game-changing technology, and Store Companion will make daily tasks easier and enable our team to respond to guests' requests with confidence and efficiency,” says Mark Schindele, executive vice president and chief stores officer at Target. 

“The tool frees up time and attention for our team to serve guests with care and to create a shopping destination that invites discovery, ease and moments of everyday joy.”

Future directions
Early feedback from pilot teams indicates that Store Companion is positively impacting their daily work.

“We’re hearing great feedback from our team about the new app,” says Jake Seaquist, store director at one of the pilot stores in Champlin, Minnesota, US. 

“Streamlining day-to-day tasks goes a long way with our team members and adds up to more time spent with guests and a better guest experience across the store.”

Next to Store Companion, the retailer plans to roll out another internal GenAI tool in the coming months, starting with its headquarters team members. Target will continue testing “dozens of additional GenAI applications” throughout 2024 and beyond.

In other GenAI use cases, Bath & Body Works is collaborating with Accenture to “modernize, transform and simplify” its core digital and technology platforms through a newly launched multi-year program.

Meanwhile, the Estée Lauder Companies’ Google Cloud partnership is scaling GenAI across brand sites to understand consumers better, direct R&D efforts and translate the prestige of its beauty brands to digital experiences.