Compiled by Dylan Bettencourt
- Pick n Pay has launched Penny, an AI assistant that lets shoppers build baskets with voice notes, text messages or pictures.
- Checkers launched Pixie three months earlier, using shopper habits and loyalty data to predict what customers may need.
South Africa’s grocery giants are now fighting for shoppers with artificial intelligence.
Pick n Pay has launched Penny, an AI-powered shopping assistant for its asap! delivery app.
The launch comes three months after Checkers Sixty60 introduced Pixie, its own AI shopping assistant.
Both tools are built for shoppers who want apps to do more of the work for them.
Penny will be available on the latest version of the asap! app from Monday.
It lets shoppers build baskets by sending voice notes, text messages or pictures, instead of scrolling through long lists of products.
At the launch in Johannesburg, Pick n Pay omnichannel retail executive Enrico Ferigolli said online grocery shopping is no longer only about fast delivery.
“For years the focus has been on faster delivery. The next disruption is removing the effort from shopping itself,” said Ferigolli, TimesLive reported.
“Consumers no longer just want speed, they want shopping apps to think for them.”
Pick n Pay says Penny is powered by Google’s Gemini AI models.
The assistant can understand voice, text and images. Shoppers can upload handwritten lists, take pictures of products they want or snap ingredients already in their fridge.
They can also ask Penny for recipe ideas or a week’s meal plan based on a budget.
During a demonstration, Ferigolli showed how a shopper could ask Penny to make a weekly meal plan for four people. The ingredients were then added straight into the shopping basket.
Checkers Sixty60 launched Pixie in April.
Shoprite said Pixie studies shoppers’ habits, buying patterns and preferences to predict what they may need before they search for it.
The tool uses information from the Xtra Savings rewards programme and gets smarter with every purchase.
The arrival of Penny and Pixie shows that retailers are not only trying to make shopping easier.
They are also trying to keep customers inside their own apps, loyalty programmes and product worlds.
Penny is built inside Pick n Pay’s asap! app, meaning its suggestions are likely limited to products available through Pick n Pay.
For shoppers, the promise is less scrolling and faster baskets.
For retailers, the prize is loyalty.
As online grocery shopping grows, the winner may not only be the retailer that delivers fastest.
It may be the one whose AI assistant understands shoppers best.
Pictured above: Pick n Pay has launched Penny, an AI-powered shopping assistant for its asap! delivery app.
Image source: Pick n Pay
