November 2025 • Sales Factory Retail Intelligence

Target is making a decisive move into the next era of digital commerce. This week, the retailer announced a new AI-powered shopping experience built directly inside ChatGPT. This positions Target at the leading edge of conversational retail.

Just in time for Black Friday, the new experience will enable shoppers to build baskets through natural language prompts, shop for fresh food, check out using their Target account, and choose from shipping, curbside pickup, or in-store pickup options. Loyalty and same-day delivery integrations are planned for future phases.

This is more than an app launch. It is a channel strategy shift with real implications for brands, retailers, and the future of shopping behavior.

Key Takeaways

1. Target is opening a new front in the retail channel war.

Target becomes one of the first big-box retailers to embed its full shopping workflow inside a large language model. This effectively turns ChatGPT into a digital storefront and gives Target early access to a fast-growing behavioral trend: shoppers using AI for inspiration, idea generation, and product discovery.

This is more than a convenience feature. It is a land grab.

2. AI-powered shopping will reshape the discovery phase.

Consumers already ask ChatGPT for recipes, gift ideas, home improvement recommendations, décor styles, and wellness routines. With this integration, Target can remove friction in real time by transforming their research and discovery into a purchase, without transitioning to traditional search queries.

This creates a fluid path from inspiration to recommendation to purchase.

3. Expect higher basket quality and more cross-category opportunities.

Conversational shopping naturally lends itself to multi-item missions:

“Help me plan a holiday party.”

“I need to set up a nursery.”

“Build me a weekly meal plan.”

“Give me the essentials for moving into a dorm.”

Retailers and brands that own the conversation can shape the basket. That is powerful.

4. Target is signaling rapid acceleration in enterprise AI.

Behind the scenes, Target is heavily investing in AI infrastructure, internal tooling, and real-time analytics. The ChatGPT app is simply the consumer-facing tip of the iceberg.

This aligns with Target’s stated focus on speed, operational efficiency, and trend responsiveness, and it signals a future where AI becomes core to Target’s retail strategy rather than an add-on.

What This Means for Brands

1. AI-driven merchandising is becoming a must-have.

Brands will need to ensure their product content is optimized for conversational discovery, including:

  • Clear benefits
  • Strong positioning
  • Structured product data
  • Rich media and variant coverage
  • Recipes, bundles, and project-based use cases

If your product is not optimized for AI-readable experiences, it will be less likely to surface in AI-driven recommendations.

2. This creates new opportunities for category leadership.

Brands that think in terms of solutions rather than SKUs will thrive.

Expect increasing value in:

Conversational retail favors brands that help shoppers think, not just buy.

3. The retail media landscape is about to shift again.

As ChatGPT becomes a shoppable channel, brands will eventually be able to influence how and when products appear in recommendations. This will shape the AI-driven path to purchase.

The question is no longer “Where are consumers shopping?”

It is “Where are consumers starting their thinking?”

What This Means for Retailers

1. Chat-based commerce is officially here.

Target is planting a flag. Other major players such as Walmart, Amazon, Home Depot, and Lowe’s will not sit still. Expect rapid experimentation across:

  • Curated AI shop-in-shops
  • Recipe and project planning
  • Personalized replenishment suggestions
  • Guided gifting
  • AI-powered customer service that transitions directly into shopping

2. Fulfillment flexibility becomes non-negotiable.

Target’s integration includes pickup, curbside, and shipping. This is a reminder that the AI layer only works if the physical retail engine underneath is fast, predictable, and data-rich.

Sales Factory’s POV

Target is not introducing a novelty. Target is rewriting the front end of the shopping journey.

For years, brands and retailers have optimized for search. Conversational commerce changes the equation. The battleground shifts from keywords to intent, from product pages to problems solved, and from optimizing listings to optimizing narratives.

Retailers and brands that embrace this shift now will be the ones shaping consumer behavior as conversational commerce becomes mainstream.

This is a moment to pay attention.