In late August, retail giant Target hosted a three-day Diversity Leadership Symposium and invited undergraduate students from around the country to help develop strategies to address diversity and inclusion in the retail industry. The activities included a 'case study hackathon'. By the end of the event, CSE senior Tony Melano-Gonzales and teammates walked away with the $2,000 top prize for placing first in the hackathon.
Target challenged hackathon participants to develop an application that engages guests both inside and outside the store. Among key guidelines: participants were urged to focus on the millennial market, including styling and baby products, and all teams were required to complete their hack within a three-hour time window.
Melano-Gonzales, a transfer student majoring in computer science, and his collaborators opted to create a native Facebook chatbot called Wishbone that transforms ordinary situations into consumer products. As he told the Jacobs School of Engineering blog, "Sometimes you go to Target and you know exactly what you want - shoes, Advil, a new backpack - but other times, you just want to stop by on the way to the beach, the movies, etc. With Wishbone, users can ask ‘What do I need for the beach?’ or say ‘I'm throwing a baby shower’ and the application connects them with real relevant products.”
Users can browse the recommended list, add their desired products to their cart, and check out on Target's website -- all through the Wishbone application.
Read the full article on the Jacobs School of Engineering blog.