From apples to oranges, Instacart is looking to make grocery shopping more personalized and seamless with an AI assistant that can make product recommendations – and create meal plans.
In the latest example of generative AI moving into the retail industry, Instacart on Tuesday said its new Cart Assistant will be bundled into a white-label e-commerce service for grocery chains including Publix Super Markets, Kroger, and Sprouts Farmers Market. Cart Assistant can also be integrated into Instacart’s AI-powered shopping carts in stores.
The launch is “taking everything that we’ve been building for retailers over the last decade, and it’s bringing it into the AI era,” Instacart CEO Chris Rogers told CNBC. “It’s really about putting enterprise-grade AI tech in every grocer’s hands, whether it’s a small, local independent or a national chain.”
Meal planning, menu suggestions
Kroger Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer Yael Cosset said agentic shopping could change how families shop and eat.
“Interacting with an AI agent makes shopping and meal planning as simple as a conversation, helping customers build their basket or offering meal suggestions, truly understanding what matters most to them,’’ Cosset said.
Once Cart Assistant is integrated onto Sprouts’ website, it can be used to create a family meal plan as well as offer suggestions for leftovers, while taking into account dietary restrictions. Users will also be able to directly add the ingredients specified in a recipe into their shopping cart for faster check-out.
Aimed at grocers of all sizes
Cart Assistant is part of a suite of AI offerings from Instacart that also includes Store View, which gives grocers a real-time view of store shelves and uses images and videos to identify products that are running low or out of stock. Store View is already being used by Good Food Holdings and will soon launch at McKeever’s, according to Instacart.
Instacart became a development partner of OpenAI’s early on, and its AI browser Atlas, in tandem with ChatGPT, has shopped for users on the company website. Instacart’s platform contains items from over 1,800 retail brands.
Instacart competes against Amazon’s same-day delivery service, launched in August, as well as brick-and-mortar retail giants including Walmart and Target, which also offer delivery services.
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