So, the “weirdly hot” Santa that retail giant Target (TGT) rolled out, as it turns out, is not the only attempt it is making at improving on Santa. Now, an artificial intelligence (AI) powered Santa is making an appearance. Target investors got a little creeped out and sent Target shares down fractionally in the closing minutes of Thursday’s trading.
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Dubbed the “Bullseye Gift Finder,” Target’s AI-driven Santa Claus is less about knowing if you have been good or bad, but rather, what you might like assuming you have been good, noted a report from Retail Dive. A set of questions starts the process off—the age of the person being shopped for, their hobbies, favorite brands, and a few other points—and then the gift finder can pin it down from there.
Not surprisingly, the Bullseye Gift Finder is focused pretty heavily on toy shopping, but there is little reason it cannot expand outward from there. In fact, Target is already planning an encore with the new Shopping Assistant, which answers questions and recommends products from a generative AI-driven chatbot.
Firing Up the Sales
While the AI hardware is set to help give shoppers ideas on what to buy, Target is also firing up some new sales ahead of the big day to help give shoppers a reason to buy more. The biggest such reason will be a three-day “holiday countdown” sale, according to a report from Bring Me The News. The sale is set to run through Saturday and will feature savings on “thousands of toys.” Indeed, half of those thousands will cost under $20 each.
Finally, IGN noted Target is also focusing on Lego sets, dropping several sets to under $10 each. If you have followed Lego prices for the last few years, you will know it is something of a minor miracle. These include unexpected items such as the Lego Flowers sets—yes, flowers made out of Lego. Many are available for delivery and actually are a match for—or even an improvement over—prices seen on Black Friday.
Is Target Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on TGT stock based on 12 Buys and 15 Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 1% rally in its share price over the past year, the average TGT price target of $142.58 per share implies 4.97% upside potential.
