US headquartered retailer Target Corporation said that 40 per cent of its global technology workforce is based in Bengaluru, positioning the city as the execution hub for its digital transformation.
Target India arm has around 5,700 employees. The workforce spans the retail value chain, driving capabilities across technology, merchandising, store design, marketing, and finance. The company also said that it engages with Indian universities for its talent pipeline.
“We engage with campuses as part of our broader approach to building a strong pipeline of future talent. We have a strong apprenticeship programme and go above and beyond to bring apprentices in. We believe strongly in the talent that comes off campus and creating avenues for people to grow, learn and develop their careers. Our conversion of those apprentices is about 35% into actual full time team member,” said Andrea Zimmerman, President Target India.
The corporation is re-architecting its technology and data ecosystems to transition from using artificial intelligence to running on AI.
“Moving to run on AI requires us to fundamentally re-architect the stack. Most of our architecture in the data ecosystem is built for human consumption. When you have an agentic consumption of the future, we can’t re-create an AI stack and a data stack that’s AI ready,” explained Prat Vemana, Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Product Officer for the company.
The company also emphasised that AI implementation focuses on re-skilling the workforce and accelerating roadmaps rather than changing headcount numbers. The technology shifts operations from a software development lifecycle to an AI development model. It also added that technology and process optimisation compressed apparel ‘design-to-market cycles’ from 42 weeks to a mere few weeks.
To optimise operations, Target utilises AI to build a twin of its supply chain to simulate decisions and predict outcomes before execution. In-store, AI algorithms map navigation paths for team members fulfilling orders across layouts.
On the guest experience front, the retailer uses AI to generate pools of marketing imagery from photography. It also employs image recognition to tailor item recommendations based on purchase history.
To manage data security and risks, Target maintains a responsible AI governing body. “The very first thing we did as we started to do our first group concept was we stood up a responsible AI governing body,” explained Brad Thompson, Senior Vice President of Technology. This committee vets contracts, evaluates use cases, and embeds policies into language model prompts to ensure compliance.