Target appoints its first chief AI officer

Target Corp. has announced that it’s appointing its first-ever chief AI officer, who begins in the role on Aug. 24.

Chandu Nair will become Target’s senior vice president and first chief AI officer, the retailer announced Aug. 11. In the same announcement, Target said Purvi Shah will become senior vice president of user experience.

“Technology is most powerful at Target when it brings together our team’s expertise, creativity and care with the speed and intelligence of trusted data, AI and modern platforms,” the retailer said in its announcement. “In our next chapter of growth, we’re strengthening our AI and user experience (UX) capabilities to advance our strategic priorities: leading with merchandising authority, elevating the guest experience, accelerating technology and strengthening our team and communities.”

Target is No. 5 in the Top 1000 Database. The market research tool tracks North America’s largest online retailers, ranking them by annual ecommerce sales and more.

About Target’s first chief AI officer

Nair spent more than six years at Lowe’s. In his most recent role, he was senior vice president of stores, data, AI and innovation. Prior to that, he was vice president of product and technology. In that role, he also focused on omnichannel marketing and digital customer engagement.

In a Q&A paired with the announcement, Nair said the most meaningful AI stories will not be about “what happens in a lab.” Instead, he said, they’ll be about how Target makes shopping easier for consumers, gives employees better tools and makes business decisions with more confidence. It could also mean bringing a new idea to market faster.

Nair described Target’s stores, merchandising and team as “distinctive strengths.”

“The opportunity is to use AI to build on those strengths and support Target’s priorities, not create a separate AI strategy,” Nair said. “We should begin with the outcomes we want and focus the technology where it can make the biggest difference.”

Nair said AI expands what technology can understand and do. He noted that the ways in which users interact with technology are “becoming more integrated.” The right experience could be conversational, but it could also involve voice or images, he said.

“And increasingly, intelligent agents may interact with systems or with other agents,” Nair said. “Powerful intelligence without a thoughtful experience can create confusion or fragmentation. An experience that looks good without the right intelligence underneath it can fall short of what people need. Advancing the capabilities together helps us create experiences that are intelligent, intuitive and useful.”

The measure of Target’s success won’t be how much AI it deploys, according to Nair. Instead, it will be the difference AI makes in Target’s growth, customer experience and employee efficiency, he assessed.

About Target’s new SVP of UX

Prior to becoming senior vice president of user experience, Shah held the role of vice president and head of UX design, research and accessibility at Target. Before joining Target, she also served as Amazon’s head of design excellence.

“Our role is to shape not only what people see, but the systems and decisions behind it to ensure each experience is as easy, inspiring and valuable as it can be,” Shah said. “That’s another way Target can continue to lead through design, bringing the same thoughtfulness we’re known for in our assortment to the technology and experiences that shape how people interact with Target.”

She shared that UX helps Target focus on three problems:

• What is the right problem to solve?
• Who is Target solving it for?
• Is Target solving it in the right way, given the context in which someone will use it?

She described that context as “especially important with AI” given its designs will be for both humans and digital agents.

“Intelligence may make a system more capable, but human-centered design helps make that capability understandable, useful and trustworthy,” Shah said. “It helps us point the technology toward the opportunities that matter most and shape how a system should behave, not just how it should look.”

A customer might start on social media, move into Target’s app, and then finish their purchase in a physical store. UX can help make that omnichannel journey feel “trusted, connected, easy and delightful,” Shah said.

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