Target upgraded its app and website Gift Finder for the 2025 holiday season to allow shoppers to find products in a more conversational way.
After a successful test during the 2024 holiday season, the new AI Gift Finder is more advanced in the generative artificial intelligence technology behind it, a Target spokesperson said in an email statement.
Shoppers can enter free-form responses to the chat bot about who they are shopping for, such as age, gender and interests. The bot will respond with product recommendations in various categories and price points.
“Target will measure success based on guest engagement and satisfaction, including how effectively the tool helps guests find relevant gift ideas and complete their purchases,” a spokesperson said in an email.
In addition, the digital branding, such as the color and graphics, matches the in-store experience better, a spokesperson said.
Previously, the gift finder was based on preset filters. Still, the 2024 holiday version had “great adoption,” Ranjeet Bhosale, Target’s Vice President of Digital Product Management, said earlier this year at the Shoptalk Fall conference.
Target’s Search Platform Understands More than Keywords
Target has been rearchitecting its search platform since January 2024 to understand longer queries and context. This is in to response to the changing ways consumers are searching for products online, Bhosale said.
While the majority of Target.com shoppers still use traditional keywords to search for products, such as “doll” or “puzzle,” a growing number of shoppers are typing in longer queries and questions into the search box, such as “What should I get for a 9-year-old girl’s birthday?”
The AI Gift Finder is Target’s tool that can understand these longer queries. Target aims to have it available not only for the holiday season, but for any occasion to help get shoppers to the products they want faster, Bhosale said.
“The best metric is when search becomes invisible, the guest automatically finds what they’re looking for and they feel confident that the choice they’re making is the right one,” Bhosale said.
More Target Customer Experience Upgrades
Another upgrade Target unveiled this week is a list-to-cart scanner. In the Target app, shoppers can scan a handwritten list and Target will add those items to their in-app shopping list.
Target also upgraded the app’s “Store Mode,” which automatically opens when a shopper opens the app while in a store. The app displays a map of the store with aisles and product categories to help shoppers navigate. If a product is out to stock, the app will offer alterative fulfillment methods, such as shipping the product to the shopper.
Shoppers often have their phones in their hands while shopping in store, Cara Sylvester, Chief Guest Experience Officer, said in the press release.
“When they use the Target app in-store, their basket sizes are nearly 50% higher as they discover more of what they love,” Sylvester said.
