More than a Store is a regular column that delves into the experiential side of grocery retailing.
As grocers look to crack the code on making grocery e-commerce a better customer experience, Albertsons is one of several companies betting big on artificial intelligence to both streamline the basket-building process and serve up meal inspiration.
Albertsons announced last week the launch of its AI-powered planning and shopping assistant that the grocer says can hold “intelligent two-way conversations with the customer.”
Just based on recent announcements, AI-assisted shopping seems poised to be the new frontier in how people get their groceries. Instacart, DoorDash and Target are rolling out shopping experiences on ChatGPT, while Kroger and Sprouts Farmers Market are implementing new AI technology from Instacart that lets people build baskets by conversing with an AI-powered online agent.
As grocers push the adoption of agentic commerce, I’m reminded of the shoppable recipe hoopla before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sure, shoppable recipes can be a time saver, but they haven’t become as widespread as expected over the last five years. Which is surprising, given how tedious it is navigating a grocer’s seemingly endless array of online aisles and adding individual ingredients one by one.
Albertsons claims that its new agentic shopping tool, which stems from the Ask AI feature that the grocer introduced earlier this year, can one-up shoppable recipes. It can find recipes, add the ingredients to a customer’s cart and even generate a weekly plan and shopping list. Other features of the tool include reordering weekly essentials and frequently purchased items, turning imported recipes into shoppable ones and suggesting products for themes or holidays.
Is Albertsons’ AI tool as helpful as the grocer claims? I decided to give it a whirl with the task of finding recipes for a dinner party for four that accommodates everyone’s allergens and dietary preferences.
But first, I had to access the tool. The Albertsons announcement notes that the AI assistant is housed under the “Meals Hub,” but much to my chagrin, it doesn’t appear to be available in the iOS Safeway app. I instead had to use my desktop computer to find the tool on Safeway’s website, where I decided to test it with a complex prompt.
I wrote my prompt in the chat box: “Find recipes for a dinner party with four people. One person is vegan. One person is lactose intolerant. One person is gluten-free. One person has a nut allergy.”
The AI assistant wrote back: “Here are dinner recipes that are vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free, and nut-free—perfect for your party of four. Please review the options above and let me know if you’d like details or to add any to your cart.” It gave me 12 recipe suggestions.
I was surprised by the plethora of delicious-looking options, which included white bean coconut-green curry, a strawberry-avocado salad, a spicy tofu rice bowl and a golden cauliflower chickpea bake. Each recipe blurb included a photo, the serving size, preparation time and a short description. Clicking on each gave me the full ingredient list, instructions, nutritional information and necessary cooking utensils.
Conveniently, “Add” and “Remove” buttons let me add the main ingredients to my shopping cart on the right-hand side of the screen. For recipes that shared ingredients, like garbanzo beans, the tool calculated how many cans I would need for all of the recipes in my cart — saving me from some dreaded math.
The basket also noted whether an item was on sale, had a coupon to clip or was out of stock and needed to be swapped. While the basket prominently displayed coupons and savings, I questioned whether consumers would prefer to see the full range of mustards available and their respective price tags.
I also spied several private-label items in the basket, highlighting agentic shopping as a potential avenue for grocers to accelerate sales for store brands.
When I followed up with a “Find dessert recipes” query, the AI assistant remembered my earlier query and suggested seven vegan options that were gluten-, dairy- and nut-free. Below the recipes for tropical fruit pudding cups, fruit salad and cinnamon-roasted pears, the assistant gave several options I could click, such as “Find deals on dessert ingredients” and “Show more vegan dessert recipes.”
Unfortunately, the sole result for “Find deals on dessert ingredients” was a box of O Organics vegan boxed mac and cheese with a $1 off coupon. As much as I love cheesy carbs, that isn’t exactly my idea of a dessert. I gave that recommendation a thumbs down.
Giving the tool a second chance, I selected “Show more deals on dessert ingredients.” Several varieties of Marie Callender's frozen pies that were on sale popped up — close but no cigar, since those aren’t gluten-free.
And that’s the thing about AI, it’s a tool that isn’t always accurate. Generative AI models can hallucinate, authoritatively providing people with incorrect information. “Safeway AI BETA can make mistakes. Please double-check responses,” a note below the chat box for the Albertsons AI tool read.
Given the fervor of AI adoption by major companies, it seems like agentic shopping will become more widely available to consumers. I expect there will be a learning curve for both AI models and consumers. Case in point: A query to “Find recipes for vegan Christmas dinner recipes” turned up zero results in the Albertsons tool, but six suggestions popped up when I asked, “Find recipes for vegan holiday dinner recipes.”
While companies tout how speedy AI solutions can be, consumers will need to be patient while AI models are in the learning phase. Ken Fenyo, an independent consultant and advisor in the retail and tech sectors, noted in a LinkedIn post that Albertsons’ AI shopping assistant didn’t appear to be fully integrated yet with his shopping history.
“When I tried the rapid reorder request, it identified items I frequently buy at Safeway. But when I typed in a shopping list, many of the items it suggested were not my preferred brands and when I asked it to find coupons for the items I frequently buy it said it couldn't find anything (even though there are many coupons on the site that are for items I buy),” Fenyo wrote.
When it works properly, AI can be a shortcut for meal inspiration and to quickly add recipe ingredients. I could see myself turning to the Albertsons AI tool — or a similar one from other grocers — to help me find recipes for parties or ones with specific trendy ingredients. But as of right now, I’m not banking on AI to do all my grocery shopping for me.
