Pick n Pay has introduced what it says is South Africa's first fully-integrated artificial intelligence (AI)-powered grocery shopping assistant.
It claims this marks a new phase in the use of generative AI within the country's retail sector.
Called Penny, the AI assistant is integrated into the Pick n Pay asap! grocery delivery app and is powered by Google's Gemini AI models.
The feature introduces a conversational shopping experience that enables customers to build grocery baskets using voice, text or photos instead of manually searching for products.
The feature will become available to all customers during July, with the rollout beginning on 6 July.
According to Pick n Pay, Penny is designed to simplify grocery shopping by understanding natural language requests and generating shopping baskets based on customer intent.
Speaking at the launch in Johannesburg today, Enrico Ferigolli, retail executive: omni-channel at Pick n Pay, explained the next disruption in retail is removing the effort from shopping itself, as consumers no longer just want speed – they want shopping apps to think for them too.
“Penny allows customers to upload handwritten shopping lists, photograph ingredients from recipes, snap products they want to buy or even take photos of ingredients already in their fridge to receive meal suggestions,” noted Ferigolli.
“The AI assistant can also recommend recipes, suggest ingredient substitutions, help plan meals within a specific budget and instantly add the required ingredients to a customer's shopping basket. Is Penny going to be 100% perfect? Absolutely not. But it will continue improving over time.
“Users can also run a voice command search in any language. The beauty of using Google Gemini is that it uses the enterprise software technology stack used across the globe and therefore uses multiple languages.”
In addition to creating shopping lists, Penny supports repeat purchases by allowing customers to reload previous grocery baskets, or reorder past shops through conversational requests.
The AI assistant is also integrated with Pick n Pay's Smart Shopper loyalty programme, enabling personalised product recommendations based on previous purchases, preferred brands, quantities and price points.
Also speaking at the launch, Kabelo Makwane, country director for Google South Africa, noted in the digital era, customers no longer need to search through various categories or know exact product names; they can just ask for it, in their own words, or allow the AI to remember what they may have forgotten.
"We are now in the era of AI assistants, where AI is moving beyond simply answering questions, to helping people get things done," Makwane said.
"The power of multimodal AI is that people don't have to adapt to technology – the technology adapts to them. Whether someone speaks, types or shares a photo, AI understands their intent. When these capabilities are built into products people already know and trust, they solve real everyday problems in a simple, intuitive way."
Ferigolli said Penny has been developed around South African shopping habits, enabling customers to complete everything from weekly grocery purchases and top-up shops, to meal planning and entertaining.
Pick n Pay's latest AI push comes as competition in SA’s online grocery market continues to intensify. Rivals including Checkers Sixty60, Woolworths Dash and SPAR2U have invested heavily in app functionality, rapid delivery and digital customer experiences,
While these competitors have introduced features such as personalised recommendations, live order tracking and rapid fulfilment, Pick n Pay says Penny is the country's first fully integrated AI-powered grocery shopping companion, signalling a new competitive battleground in local e-commerce.
"By understanding what customers are cooking, buying and planning, Penny becomes more than a shopping app – it becomes a genuine shopping companion that makes grocery shopping dramatically faster and simpler," added Ferigolli.
The launch follows Pick n Pay's revamping of the asap! service last year.
Ferigolli said the modernised platform has significantly accelerated the retailer's development capabilities, enabling it to introduce AI-powered features more rapidly.
"Last year, we re-platformed asap! across both the front- and back-end, significantly accelerating our speed of development.
“That gives us the ability to bring new AI-powered innovations to customers much faster, with more enhancements rolling out over the coming months. This is only the beginning of what AI can unlock for everyday grocery shopping, and Penny is the first step in that journey," he concluded.
Share
