Pick n Pay asap! has launched Penny, South Africa’s first fully integrated AI-powered grocery shopping companion, transforming the way customers shop for groceries through natural conversations.
Powered by Google’s Gemini AI models, Penny is built into the Pick n Pay asap! app and allows shoppers to create grocery baskets, plan meals and discover products using voice, text or images. Unlike a customer service chatbot, Penny is focused entirely on helping customers shop and does not handle payments, account management or order enquiries.
The feature will be available in the latest version of the Pick n Pay asap! app and will be rolled out to all customers from 6 July 2026.
Instead of manually searching for products, customers can simply tell Penny what they need in their preferred language by speaking, typing or even uploading a photo. The AI instantly builds a shopping basket based on the request.
“On-demand delivery changed how people shop. AI is now changing how they order,” said Enrico Ferigolli, Retail Executive: Omnichannel at Pick n Pay. “We’re moving from search-and-scroll shopping to conversation-led shopping that makes buying groceries faster, smarter and more intuitive.”
