The Invisible FunnelHow AI agents evaluate real brands · by Accord
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Brands · encountered as a competitor

Target logo

Target

Met inside the Amazon, Temu study. The requirements were written for that study, not for Target.

10journeys
6named as an option
10/10site requested
10/10readable page obtained
0/10refused by the site
0selected

10 customer-agent journeys. Target was named as an option in 6; its site was requested in 10 and refused in 0, so a readable page was obtained in 10. It was selected in 0, rejected in 2 and left unresolved in 4.

Decision trace (one journey)

A journey from the Amazon, Temu study in which Target was named as an option; the tags describe the brand under study, not Target.

with memoryno readable brand-owned pagerefused by dyson.com, walmart.comobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionAmazon decision — same customer with relevant memory
    • delivered total (item + tax + shipping) at most $450 without joining any paid membership
    • return window of at least 30 days from delivery with no restocking fee, stated plainly
    • delivery within 3 days of ordering
    • human phone or chat support for order problems (preference)
    Remembers: “In March 2026 a marketplace order arrived damaged and the third-party seller refused the return; the platform took three”
  2. 2Evidence12 searches, 10 pages: dyson.com, bestbuy.com, target.com, walmart.com +1
  3. 3BeliefNothing established about the brand
  4. 4DecisionNever entered the comparisonNONENo retailer could be confirmed, from a readable/brand-sourced or consistently-reported fact set, to satisfy all four requirements at once. Target's own help page (read di…
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How the agent treated Target

  • rejected2/10
  • unresolved4/10
  • Site requested, not named as an option4/10

The agent’s recorded status for the option, one per journey.

Where its facts came from

9read on Target’s own pages
0cite its site without a page read (refused, or search extract)
0from other sites

Beliefs about Target recorded across these journeys, by the page they cite and whether the agent read it.

Reasons recorded by the agent

  • Target's own help page confirms a 30-day, no-restocking-fee return policy, but the delivered total and delivery time could not be confirmed on Target's own site within the action budget (the product page attempted returned 'item not available').
  • Return policy clearly meets the requirement (90 days, no restocking fee, no membership needed), read directly on target.com. But the delivered total (tax + shipping) and a confirmed ≤3-day delivery date for this item could not be established from Target's own pages without the customer's ZIP code.
  • Target's own shipping help page states standard delivery is 3-5 business days after shipping, which fails the 3-day delivery requirement; returns and no-membership price were otherwise fine.
  • Price and returns meet requirements, but Target's own stated standard-shipping window (3-5 business days) does not reliably meet the required ≤3-day delivery, and tax-inclusive total could not be confirmed.

Verbatim from the journey records; up to four distinct reasons.

What this does not establish: how Target fares when it is the brand under study with requirements written for it. It establishes how the agent treated Target as an alternative in these 10 journeys.

Work at Target?

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All journeys

with memoryno readable brand-owned pageobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionTemu decision — same customer with relevant memory
    • delivered total for the set of five ≤ $45 USD, as stated by the retailer
    • delivery within 8 days of ordering, as promised on the retailer's own pages
    • return window of at least 30 days, as stated by the retailer
    • refund paid within 10 days of return receipt, as stated by the retailer (preference)
    Remembers: “A 2025 order from a discount marketplace arrived after 26 days, and the refund for a wrong item took six weeks and three”
  2. 2Evidence13 searches, 11 pages: walmart.com, target.com, help.target.com, amazon.com
  3. 3BeliefNothing established about the brand
  4. 4DecisionNever entered the comparisonNONEThe best physical match found was the NutriChef 5-Piece Superior Glass Food Storage Containers Set sold via Target.com's Target Plus marketplace: all five containers are …
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no memoryno readable brand-owned pagerefused by walmart.comobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionTemu decision — customer with no relevant memory
  2. 2Evidence17 searches, 6 pages: walmart.com, target.com, amazon.com
  3. 3BeliefNothing established about the brand
  4. 4DecisionRan out of page reads before decidingNo decision: the action budget ran out after 6 page reads, before a readable Temu page.
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with memoryno readable brand-owned pagerefused by walmart.comobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionTemu decision — same customer with relevant memory
    • set of five matching containers with lids
    • each container 1-2 litres (glass or BPA-free plastic)
    • delivered total at most the customer's budget ceiling
    • delivery within 8 days, as stated on retailer's own pages
    Remembers: “A 2025 order from a discount marketplace arrived after 26 days, and the refund for a wrong item took six weeks and three”
  2. 2Evidence16 searches, 8 pages: amazon.com, walmart.com, target.com
  3. 3BeliefNothing established about the brand
  4. 4DecisionNever entered the comparisonNONEAfter 24 page/search actions, no offer could be confirmed against all required facts using the retailer's own pages. Walmart.com and Amazon.com blocked every direct page …
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no memoryno readable brand-owned pagerefused by walmart.com, crateandbarrel.comobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionTemu decision — customer with no relevant memory
  2. 2Evidence11 searches, 13 pages: amazon.com, wayfair.com, walmart.com, target.com +4
  3. 3BeliefNothing established about the brand
  4. 4DecisionRan out of page reads before decidingNo decision: the action budget ran out after 13 page reads, before a readable Temu page.
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with memoryno readable brand-owned pagerefused by dyson.comobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionAmazon decision — same customer with relevant memory
    • delivered total (item + tax + shipping) at most $450 without joining a paid membership
    • return window of at least 30 days from delivery with no stated restocking fee
    • delivery within 3 days of ordering
    • availability of human phone or chat support for order problems (preference)
    Remembers: “In March 2026 a marketplace order arrived damaged and the third-party seller refused the return; the platform took three”
  2. 2Evidence10 searches, 13 pages: dyson.com, target.com, walmart.com, bestbuy.com
  3. 3BeliefNothing established about the brand
  4. 4DecisionNever entered the comparisonNONENone of the four investigated offers could be confirmed, from sources I could actually read this session, to satisfy all three required facts (delivered total ≤$450 with …
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no memoryno readable brand-owned pagerefused by walmart.com, dyson.comobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionAmazon decision — customer with no relevant memory
    • delivered total (item + tax + shipping) at most 450 USD without joining a paid membership
    • returnable for at least 30 days from delivery with no stated restocking fee
    • delivered within 3 days of ordering
    • human phone or chat support available for order problems (preference)
  2. 2Evidence10 searches, 13 pages: target.com, bestbuy.com, help.target.com, walmart.com +1
  3. 3BeliefNothing established about the brand
  4. 4DecisionNever entered the comparisonNONEThe strongest candidate found on the retailers' own pages was the Dyson V8 Origin Cordless Stick Vacuum at Target.com: $439.99, no paid membership required, and a clearly…
run-5b469babOpen decision trace →
with memoryno readable brand-owned pagerefused by dyson.com, walmart.comobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionAmazon decision — same customer with relevant memory
    • delivered total (item + tax + shipping) at most $450 without joining any paid membership
    • return window of at least 30 days from delivery with no restocking fee, stated plainly
    • delivery within 3 days of ordering
    • human phone or chat support for order problems (preference)
    Remembers: “In March 2026 a marketplace order arrived damaged and the third-party seller refused the return; the platform took three”
  2. 2Evidence12 searches, 10 pages: dyson.com, bestbuy.com, target.com, walmart.com +1
  3. 3BeliefNothing established about the brand
  4. 4DecisionNever entered the comparisonNONENo retailer could be confirmed, from a readable/brand-sourced or consistently-reported fact set, to satisfy all four requirements at once. Target's own help page (read di…
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no memoryno readable brand-owned pageobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionAmazon decision — customer with no relevant memory
    • delivered total ≤ $450 including tax and shipping, without joining a paid membership
    • return window ≥ 30 days from delivery with no stated restocking fee
    • delivery within 3 days of ordering
    • human phone/chat support available for order problems (preference)
  2. 2Evidence10 searches, 12 pages: target.com, bestbuy.com, walmart.com
  3. 3BeliefNothing established about the brand
  4. 4DecisionNever entered the comparisonNONENo candidate could be confirmed, from a readable source, to meet all three required facts (delivered total ≤$450, ≥30-day no-restocking-fee return, delivery ≤3 days) with…
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with memoryno readable brand-owned pagerefused by walmart.com, dyson.comobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionAmazon decision — same customer with relevant memory
    • delivered total (item + tax + shipping) at or under the customer's budget, without joining…
    • return window of at least 30 days from delivery with no restocking fee stated
    • delivery within 3 days of ordering
    • human phone or chat support for order problems (preference)
    Remembers: “In March 2026 a marketplace order arrived damaged and the third-party seller refused the return; the platform took three”
  2. 2Evidence6 searches, 8 pages: target.com, walmart.com, dyson.com
  3. 3BeliefCould not establish: total price usd; return window days; delivery days
  4. 4DecisionNamed, not researched before the budget ran outNONENo candidate could be confirmed, from the retailer's own pages, to meet all three required facts (delivered total ≤$450 with no paid membership, a ≥30-day no-restocking-f…
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no memoryno readable brand-owned pagerefused by dyson.comobserved2026-09-20
  1. 1Customer missionAmazon decision — customer with no relevant memory
  2. 2Evidence7 searches, 7 pages: walmart.com, target.com, bestbuy.com, dyson.com
  3. 3BeliefNothing established about the brand
  4. 4DecisionRan out of page reads before decidingNo decision: the action budget ran out after 7 page reads, before a readable Amazon page.
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