Target leverages Gen AI to accelerate production and trend forecasting

The American value retailer is looking to move faster than ever before to engage with shoppers where trends emerge, as data from the HubSpot Consumer Trend Report 2024/2025 found that 85 percent of Gen Z and Millennials want to purchase trending products within 24 hours of seeing them on social media.

Target has invested in new tools, such as its proprietary GenAI-powered trend intelligence platform, which analyzes large volumes of visual and written trend data to generate insights specific to the company’s owned brands. Tasks that previously took weeks can now be completed in hours, saving the design and production teams time.

For example, after the GenAI-powered trend intelligence platform identified greens, berries, and blues as key colors for fall, these were incorporated into the season’s collection. Target is now expanding its GenAI-powered trend intelligence platform into additional categories and exploring its application in the home and other areas.

In addition, Target has been using 3D modeling across almost all of its own brand categories to design, test, and refine products virtually, significantly reducing the amount of time needed to develop, refine, and create product samples.

As a result, across its own apparel brands, including A New Day, Universal Thread, Wild Fable, Shade & Shore, and more, Target has implemented new flexible, accelerated production calendars that reduce up to 80 percent of its production timelines. The new schedules are said to be Target’s fastest go-to-market speed business models and allow design teams to go from concept to production in record time.

“We’ve spent decades building and refining our industry-leading merchandising, trend, design, and sourcing capabilities. And today we’re leaning into new ways to move even faster to meet the high expectations consumers have for our brand,” said Bill Foudy, senior vice president & president, owned brands, Target, in a statement.

“By using consumer insights and leveraging technology to rethink how we design, source, and produce, we’re building a more agile, responsive model so we can deliver the style, quality, and value our guests expect from Target, exactly when they want it.”