Target Roundel has launched an early pilot running ads inside ChatGPT, aiming to prove that conversational placements can drive real commerce outcomes, not just impressions. As one of the first retail media networks on the platform, Roundel is testing how intent-driven, AI-native ads can fit into customers’ product journeys.
Target’s AI Ad Pilot: An Intent-Driven Approach
The pilot places ads that match user prompts and the flow of a conversation, mirroring search intent within a chat environment. Placements promote Target’s own inventory and Roundel partners, and ads are clearly labeled so users know when content is promotional. The format is conversational: instead of a traditional banner or search result, the ad appears as part of an answer when it aligns with the user query.
Measuring Success: Beyond Clicks to Commerce
Roundel is focused on aggregated performance metrics that show whether ChatGPT can become a meaningful performance channel. That includes conversions, add-to-cart events and downstream sales tied back to the ad exposure. Longer term goals include integrating first-party data, building closed-loop measurement to link impressions to purchases, and offering flexible buying models similar to existing retail media capabilities. Those features will determine whether brands can reliably buy performance on conversational platforms.
Shaping the Next Wave of Discovery
ChatGPT represents a potential new discovery runway alongside search and in-site retail media. Target has an incentive to learn early: as ChatGPT traffic grows, Roundel can help set standards for labeling, measurement and buying. Early testing gives Roundel and its brand partners strategic insight into attribution, creative formats and how conversational intent differs from keyword search. Some marketers may hesitate, but controlled pilots are the fastest route to practical answers about scale, ROI and integration with retail data.
For retail media leaders and brand teams, Target’s pilot is a practical experiment in adapting proven measurement and buying practices to an emerging AI channel. The results will shape how conversational commerce fits into media plans and whether retail networks can extend closed-loop commerce into AI-native environments.
