Target Expands AI Commerce Push as Traffic and Sales Rise

Target is turning to agentic commerce as part of a $6 billion growth plan led by CEO Michael Fiddelke, who took the top job in February after a prolonged sales slump. The retailer has built shopping experiences across OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and AI Mode, and Microsoft Copilot, allowing customers to discover products, build baskets and check out within conversational interfaces. Target is also deploying personalization and supply-chain digital twins to sharpen recommendations, inventory placement and fulfillment.

Target on Aug. 19 reported comparable sales rose 3.8% in the quarter ended Aug. 1, with store comparable sales up 2.7% and digital comparable sales gaining 8.7%. Net sales increased 5.3% to $26.54 billion, while customer traffic rose from May through July. Fiddelke said referrals from external AI platforms had climbed significantly; Target previously reported a 2,000% year-on-year jump in AI-driven traffic during the first quarter, compared with nearly 400% growth across retail sites overall.