American retail giant Target aims to facilitate internal operations in nearly 2,000 stores across the United States with a handy AI assistant called “Store Companion”.

In a June 20 press release, Target announced its intention to roll out a generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) chatbot for its store members by August this year.

The Store Companion chatbot can answer on-the-job process questions, help coach new team members, support store operations management, and perform multiple other operation-related functions.

Immediate access to Gen AI assistance via the app on handheld devices will allow the Target store teams to work more quickly and efficiently. In turn, that should enhance guest engagement and shopping experience.

“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 Brett Craig, executive vice president and chief information officer at Target.

“Generative 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. 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.”

Mark Schindele, executive vice president and chief stores officer, Target

To develop the innovative tool, Target’s in-house technology team used real frequently asked questions and process-related documents from its US-based store teams. The project moved from its initial testing phase to the planned rollout in just six months. The retailer is already piloting the tool at about 400 stores.

Target will use the teams’ feedback to improve the experience ahead of the chainwide rollout. Experienced team members are also sharing their expertise and adding materials to improve the tool during its pilot stage. At present, feedback from pilot teams indicates a positive impact of Store Companion on their daily work.

You can explore more on how retail giants leverage AI from Walmart and Amazon use cases.