Target is leveraging generative AI solutions to help customers and employees. The company’s India-based GCC plays an integral role in its growth strategy.
![]()
Target, the American retail corporation, is leveraging generative AI to deliver exceptional experiences through a range of use cases. In its first-ever media interaction in India, the company shared how it is using machine learning techniques to deliver highly personalised experiences. While it has no stores in India, the brand has a Global Capability Centre or GCC in Bengaluru.
At the interaction, the company executives shared how the team based in India has been helping Target deliver remarkable guest experiences using Generative AI. The interaction comes close at the heels of Target’s AI conference named Multiplai which is slated for July 19 in Bengaluru.
Target executives said that generative AI has been used in its everyday operations. The company revealed that for members, Target recently deployed an app called Store Companion which is a chatbot for handheld devices. This chatbot provides answers to questions posed by Target’s store associates related to the processes and procedures in the language of their choice as English may not always be the primary language of some associates.
According to Brad Thompson, senior vice president of Technology, at Target, the company is currently working on over 20 generative AI proof-of-concepts based on various large language models. Thompson also stated that Target makes use of various generative AI models from companies like OpenAI and Google to power some of these experiences.
“Generative AI presents us with new tools and new techniques to create new experiences that were not possible before at scale with traditional AI or traditional software development,” Thompson added.
For now, the company does not have any plans to develop its own AI model; rather, it will continue to use the best available AI models in the market. According to Thompson, some of the AI models that the company is using have over 93 per cent accuracy, and the company uses a technique called retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to reduce issues like hallucinations.
Meanwhile, Andrea Zimmerman, SVP and president of Target in India, called their Bengaluru office the company’s extended headquarters, highlighting its workforce with over 4,500 employees, out of which 1,700 members are part of the tech team and includes engineers, data scientists, and analysts who work in tandem with their US counterparts.
Target was incorporated in 2004 in India, and the company started its operations in 2005, which makes it one of the oldest Global Capability Centers (GCCs).