Target rolls out generative AI shopping tools for holidays
Target Corp. is letting customers enhance their holiday gift shopping activities with leading-edge artificial intelligence.
For the 2024 holiday season, the discount giant is debuting "Bullseye Gift Finder," a generative AI-based solution designed to provide customers seeking holiday gifts for kids with personalized product recommendations within seconds.
Available on the Target e-commerce site and mobile app, Bullseye Gift Finder serves up personalized gift recommendations based on selected criteria including age, hobbies, favorite brands and more.
For example, if a consumer selected fields for a two-to-four-year-old, including options for baby and toddler, focused on toys for creative thinking and sensory development, the tool would search a selection of Target’s toy assortment and recommends a lineup of relevant products.
Target launched the solution with a focus on toys and is adding thousands of additional gift ideas for kids throughout the season.
"If you’re looking to wow the kids on your holiday gift list, you need to check out Target’s Bullseye Gift Finder, which pairs the power of generative AI with our incredible assortment to recommend just the right toy to make them smile at a price that will make you smile, too," said Cara Sylvester, executive VP and chief guest experience officer, Target.
Target is also testing a new generative AI chat feature called “Shopping Assistant” during the current holiday season. Customers can find it under “About this item” on the product display pages of select private label brand items when logged into their Target.com account.
The feature lets customers type a question into the search field such as, "Will this shirt shrink in the wash?" and receive answers in real time.
These new tools follow the summer 2024 rollout of Store Companion, a proprietary generative AI chatbot for employees that can perform tasks such as answering on-the-job process questions, coach new team members and support store operations management.
In addition, Target says it is leveraging generative AI technology for digital shopping-related purposes such as making hundreds of thousands of enhancements to its product display pages on Target.com for easier searching and summarizing product reviews and more.
The retailer says it will continue testing dozens of additional generative AI applications this year and beyond.
Holiday promotions in full swing at Target
Target is releasing these new generative AI-based shopping solutions in the midst of a busy holiday promotional season. The retailer got an early start to its Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday offers, and also on Black Friday (Nov. 29, 2024) Target began offering two exclusive Taylor Swift releases.
The items, including the official "Taylor Swift/The Eras Tour," which provides behind-the-scenes look at the making and performance of the superstar’s Eras tour, and "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology" album on vinyl and CD, are both selling at levels in their respective categories which have either not been seen before or are at the highest in years.
[READ MORE: Target sets sales records with exclusive Taylor Swift holiday offers]
Minneapolis-based Target Corp. operates nearly 2,000 stores and an e-commerce site.
