How Target uses AI in inventory, store tools and shopping assistants
Target has described generative AI tools for guests and store teams, a ChatGPT app and a data-science inventory system covering about 2,000 stores. A case study of what is published, with limits.
KEY TAKEAWAYS Summary by the editors
- Target said in November 2025 that a data science-driven inventory management system covers about 2,000 stores and hundreds of thousands of products, starting with frequency items such as cereal or underwear.
- On 19 November 2025, OpenAI and Target announced a Target app inside ChatGPT, launching in beta the following week, alongside ChatGPT Enterprise use by 18,000 employees.
- Target's Store Companion, a generative AI chatbot for store team members, was reported in August 2024 and answers on-the-job process questions and coaches new hires.
- Bain says generative AI enhances hundreds of thousands of Target.com product pages with review summaries and revised titles and descriptions, but publishes no quantified business results.
- The sources reviewed describe Target's AI work across general merchandise and retail operations, with no apparel-specific AI results published.
Target has published more detail on its generative AI tools than most retailers: assistants for store teams, gift and shopping advice for guests, an app inside ChatGPT and a data-science inventory system. It has not published quantified results, and none of the sources reviewed isolates apparel. This case study therefore describes Target's retail-wide AI approach and what it implies for apparel.
How does Target use AI in its supply chain and inventory?
In a Fortune interview published on 26 November 2025, chief information and product officer Prat Vemana said Target uses a data science-driven inventory management system covering about 2,000 stores and hundreds of thousands of products, aiming to match inventory with expected demand. Its early focus is frequency items such as cereal or underwear, the products bought repeatedly and where forecasting is comparatively stable.
Frequency items are an easier starting point than fashion with its short life cycles, which is a reminder that proven inventory models in retail do not transfer automatically to apparel. Target also said it plans to raise capital expenditure for the next fiscal year by $1 billion, to about $5 billion, covering new stores, remodels and technology focused on merchandising, supply chain and store operations.
Which AI tools do Target's store teams use?
Store Companion is a proprietary generative AI chatbot, first reported in August 2024, that answers on-the-job process questions, coaches new team members and supports store operations management. In the November 2025 OpenAI announcement, Target listed Agent Assist and Store Companion as tools that help service centre and store teams serve guests, including price matching, starting returns and resolving issues.
Target rolled out ChatGPT Enterprise to about 18,000 headquarters employees. About 4,300 employees attended training sessions, and Vemana said 92 percent were satisfied. The company also said it deployed several agentic AI use cases, mainly for customer service requests and IT workflows.
| Tool | Users | What it does | Published result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Store Companion | Store team members | Answers process questions, coaches new hires | None quantified |
| Bullseye Gift Finder | Guests | Recommends kids' gifts by age, hobbies and favourite brands | None quantified |
| Shopping Assistant and gift tools | Guests | Answers product questions on product pages and suggests gifts | None quantified |
| Target app in ChatGPT | Guests | Browse, build baskets, check out via Drive Up, pickup or shipping | Beta announced 19 November 2025 |
| Inventory management system | Planners | Matches inventory with expected demand across about 2,000 stores | None quantified |
How does Target use AI to serve guests?
Bain, which worked with Target on its initial generative AI use cases, reports that Target uses generative AI to enhance hundreds of thousands of Target.com product pages with review summaries and revised titles and descriptions. Bullseye Gift Finder, which RetailWire reported on 11 December 2024, recommends kids' gifts from thousands of ideas based on age, hobbies and favourite brands.
On 19 November 2025, OpenAI announced that Target would launch a Target app inside ChatGPT, where shoppers can browse, build multi-item baskets and shop for fresh food, with checkout via Drive Up, Order Pickup or shipping. Vemana told Fortune that Target wants to appear wherever shoppers ask questions, including ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. This is an early example of a retailer preparing for AI-mediated discovery.
What does Target's approach imply for apparel suppliers and brands?
Target's statements show that a large retailer is working on how its products appear in AI assistants and how its own staff use them. Two implications follow for brands that sell through retailers like it. First, product content quality matters: titles, descriptions and attributes feed both on-site generative summaries and external assistants. Second, retailers are building internal assistants that answer questions from their own data, so suppliers' information needs to be accurate and consistent across channels.
There is also a caution about inventory models. Target began with frequency items, where demand is steady and history is rich. Fashion has shorter lives, more variants and more returns. A retailer's choice to start elsewhere suggests that apparel is a harder forecasting problem, not that it is unsuitable.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What data does the tool use? | Quality of outputs reflects quality of inputs |
| Who reviews errors? | Store and service tools can give wrong policy answers |
| How are results measured? | Target has not published conversion or margin data |
| Which external surfaces are connected? | ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini are named as places Target wants to appear |
What risks does Target's approach carry?
Rolling out a generative assistant to 18,000 employees and a shopping assistant to guests creates several exposures that the sources mention only indirectly. Assistants can give wrong answers on price matching, returns or product attributes, and staff may share confidential data with external tools. Target says ChatGPT Enterprise is designed to work safely with its proprietary data, which addresses part of that, but it is a vendor statement and should be read as such.
There is also concentration risk. Several of the tools were built with OpenAI, and the ChatGPT app ties Target's guest experience to a third-party interface whose rules can change. For brands, the lesson is to keep product data, customer relationships and measurement under their own control, so that new interfaces can be added or replaced without starting again.
What are the limits of the evidence?
- Target has published no conversion, margin or markdown results for these tools in the sources reviewed.
- The inventory system's early focus on frequency items says little about apparel.
- Several descriptions come from partner announcements, such as OpenAI and Bain, which have an interest in showing success.
Target's approach does show the pattern many large retailers follow: start with internal productivity and store tools, add guest-facing assistants, and then extend to external agent surfaces. For apparel teams, the relevant lesson is the data foundation: the product titles, descriptions and attributes that Target is using generative AI to improve are the same inputs that external assistants read.
Frequently asked questions
How does Target use AI for inventory?
Target said in November 2025 that a data science-driven inventory system covers about 2,000 stores and hundreds of thousands of products, with an early focus on frequency items such as cereal or underwear. No results were published.
What is Target's app in ChatGPT?
On 19 November 2025, OpenAI and Target announced a Target app inside ChatGPT, launching in beta the following week. Shoppers can browse, build baskets and check out through Drive Up, Order Pickup or shipping.
What is Store Companion at Target?
Store Companion is a generative AI chatbot for store team members. It answers on-the-job process questions, coaches new hires and supports store operations management, according to Target's 2024 announcement as reported by RetailWire.
Has Target published apparel AI results?
The sources reviewed do not report apparel-specific AI results. They describe retail-wide tools and an inventory system focused on frequency items, and publish no quantified outcomes.
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