{"id":31274,"date":"2026-07-03T16:49:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T11:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecatalystonline.com\/?p=21396"},"modified":"2026-08-12T16:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T11:06:22","slug":"pick-n-pay-makes-shopping-as-simple-as-a-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecatalystonline.in\/thecatalyst\/pick-n-pay-makes-shopping-as-simple-as-a-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"Pick n Pay Makes Shopping as Simple as a Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

South African retailer Pick n Pay<\/a>,\u00a0on Thursday launched an artificial intelligence-powered shopping assistant that helps customers build \u200bgrocery orders using voice, text or photos instead of searching \u200cfor products manually.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The move is part of a drive by South Africa’s second-biggest retailer by revenue to strengthen its online offering as it pursues a turnaround after \u200byears of weak trading and market share losses to larger \u200brival Shoprite (SHPJ.J)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Shoprite’s Checkers Sixty60 platform dominates South Africa’s fast-growing on-demand \u2060grocery market, pushing rivals to invest heavily in digital tools \u200band services.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Retailers around the world are experimenting with generative AI<\/a> to personalise \u200brecommendations, improve search functions and simplify online shopping as advances in large language models enable more natural interactions with consumers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Powered by Google’s Gemini AI models, the assistant \u200bwill be rolled out from July 6, the company said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Known as “Penny”, \u200bthe assistant allows shoppers to order groceries conversationally in multiple languages using voice \u200cnotes, \u2060text prompts or images, including photographs of handwritten shopping lists, recipes or products they want to buy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It can also suggest recipes, recommend ingredient substitutions, help with meal planning and budget-conscious shopping, and generate personalised product \u200brecommendations.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

“On-demand delivery changed \u200bhow people shop. \u2060AI is now changing how they order,” Enrico Ferigolli, omnichannel retail executive at Pick n Pay<\/strong> told \u200breporters at the launch event.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

“Consumers no longer just want \u200bspeed, \u2060they want shopping apps to think for them … By helping customers, our sales will grow,” he added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Ferigolli said more AI-powered features would be introduced \u2060in \u200bthe coming months.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Earlier this year, Shoprite stepped \u200bup its investment in the technology by launching an AI assistant that recommends replenishment purchases, \u200bnew products and personalised deals.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pick n Pay launched an AI-powered shopping assistant that lets customers create grocery orders using voice, text, or photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPick n Pay Makes Shopping as Simple as a Conversation - Latest Tech News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thecatalystonline.in\/thecatalyst\/pick-n-pay-makes-shopping-as-simple-as-a-conversation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pick n Pay Makes Shopping as Simple as a Conversation - 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