Target taps Lowe’s executive as first chief AI officer

Let Retail Dive's free newsletter keep you informed, straight from your inbox.

For Chandhu Nair, collaboration will be essential as the retailer focuses on how technology can elevate user experience.

Target is making AI part of its C-suite, an indication of just how critical the technology is to its operational strategy.

While it attached a broad remit to the new role, tasking Nair with “bringing greater focus and coordination to AI across the enterprise,” the company also zeroed in on a concrete use case: how AI can bolster UX.

The coupling enables Target to flip the enterprise script on implementing AI at a time when companies are still struggling to measure ROI . Rather than seek out productivity or efficiency gains by adding AI capabilities to applications, the AI-UX partnership gives the company’s technology strategy a different shape, one, as Nair said in an interview attached to the press release, that starts with outcomes and focuses on where tech can make the biggest difference.

“That requires what I call radical collaboration,” Shah said in the interview. “We need product, technology, data and business teams sitting side by side with UX and the people we serve, learning and co-creating together from the beginning.”

With Nair's appointment, the company will add to its roster a seasoned retail executive who has spent years working in positions that blend product and technology together, racking up experience at Lowe’s , Staples and Gap. His latest step reflects a broader trend of a combined product and technology position moving up the corporate ladder, a trend that includes Target’s Vemana, who was promoted to chief information and product officer last year .

Bringing the product and technology together means companies can move faster and achieve “tighter alignment between the technology that goes into the product and what customers want,” Martha Heller, CEO at executive search firm Heller, told sister publication CIO Dive in a previous interview.

Nair’s appointment also comes at a time of transition for the retailer, a shift in strategy that appears to be paying off. During its Q1 earnings call in May, the company reported that net sales were up 6.7% year over year to $25.4 billion.

"As AI reshapes retail, its true impact won’t ultimately be measured by models, benchmarks, or the sophistication of the technology," Nair said in a Tuesday post on LinkedIn . "It will be measured on the frontlines. In how we make experiences better for guests. How we empower team members. How we simplify work. And ultimately, how we make the entire enterprise smarter while keeping people at the center.”

Get the free daily newsletter read by industry experts

Retailers in the category face a poor housing market, elevated interest rates, low consumer confidence and ever-changing tariff policies.

In the first half of the year, Etsy sold Depop, Reformation filed for an IPO and Bed Bath & Beyond made a slew of acquisitions.

Subscribe to Retail Dive for top news, trends & analysis

Sign up for the free newsletter.

Interested? Explore more of what has to offer.

You're all set

Thanks for signing up! Please keep an eye out for a confirmation email from [email protected] To ensure we make it into your inbox regularly, add us to your allow list, mark us as a safe sender, or add us to your address book. Check out more from

Get the free daily newsletter read by industry experts

Retailers in the category face a poor housing market, elevated interest rates, low consumer confidence and ever-changing tariff policies.

In the first half of the year, Etsy sold Depop, Reformation filed for an IPO and Bed Bath & Beyond made a slew of acquisitions.

The free newsletter covering the top industry headlines