Story audio is generated using AI
The race to win the heart of an online grocery shopper has entered a new phase, with Woolworths becoming the latest retailer to put AI at the centre of the customer shopping experience.As leading grocery retailers continue investing in AI-powered shopping tools, the next battleground is increasingly becoming not only how quickly groceries arrive at customers’ doors but also how easily technology can help them decide what to buy before they even start shopping.Woolworths announced on Monday that it has launched My Woolies Chef, an AI-powered food assistant built into the Woolworths app that helps customers decide what to cook before automatically turning recipe ideas into a grocery shopping basket on Woolies Dash.After years of competing on delivery speed and promotions, retailers are now using AI to remove the effort from grocery shopping itself.My Woolies Chef allows customers to ask simple questions such as what they can cook with ingredients already in their fridge, request recipes based on dietary requirements or household size, and receive meal suggestions drawn from more than 20 years of the Woolworths Taste recipe archive. Once a recipe is selected, the ingredients can be transferred directly into a Woolies Dash shopping basket.Woolworths said the tool will initially be rolled out to a small group of MyDifference loyalty programme members from September as part of a beta testing phase before a broader launch planned for early 2027.Once a recipe is selected, the ingredients can be transferred directly into a Woolies Dash shopping basket.The launch follows a series of AI announcements from rival retailers, highlighting how competition in the grocery market is increasingly moving beyond stores, pricing and delivery times into digital shopping experiences.Last week, Pick n Pay unveiled Penny, an AI-powered grocery assistant for its asap! delivery app that allows customers to build shopping baskets using voice notes, text messages and photographs instead of manually searching for products. Business Day reported that during a demonstration, the assistant created meal plans based on household size, budgets and dietary preferences before automatically adding ingredients to a shopping basket.The launch came just months after Checkers Sixty60 introduced Pixie, its AI-powered shopping assistant developed by ShopriteX. The assistant analyses customers’ shopping habits and preferences to recommend products and improve with every purchase through insights gathered from the retailer’s Xtra Savings rewards programme.Shoprite has also expanded its use of AI beyond online shopping by introducing its smart trolley, allowing customers to scan products and monitor their spending while shopping in-store.The growing investment reflects how retailers are trying to make digital shopping more personalised and convenient as online grocery competition intensifies.“For us, this is not technology for technology’s sake. It is about using innovation to make everyday decisions easier and helping customers plan, shop and cook with greater confidence. “What makes this particularly exciting is that we’re bringing together trusted food expertise, recipe inspiration and digital convenience in a way that feels intuitive and genuinely useful for customers. It’s about using innovation to solve everyday problems,” said Woolworths Food CEO Chan Pillay.Business Day
