The Friday Checkout is a weekly column providing more insight on the news, rounding up the announcements you may have missed and sharing what’s to come.
If artificial intelligence is the latest buzzword for the grocery industry, then agentic AI capabilities seem like the latest frontier in the grocery industry’s quest to capture omnichannel shoppers.
Eager to be a leader in the agentic commerce arena, Instacart announced this week that people can connect to Instacart through Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant, in a new development that the grocery technology company says will allow users to build a grocery cart inside their chatbot conversation. It’s the latest example of the grocery industry trying to reach consumers through chatbots — but is this actually an area that is ripe for consumer innovation?
A newly released report by FMI — The Food Industry Association and NielsenIQ found that generative AI adoption among consumers — especially where agentic AI is concerned — is still in the “early days.” New Dunnhumby data found that just 29% of surveyed shoppers in the U.S. and U.K. are excited about agentic shopping, with nearly half calling it “intrusive or unnecessary.”
This isn’t surprising given the media attention to AI “slop” muddying the waters.
Instacart isn’t alone in its efforts to advance agentic AI in the grocery space. Walmart announced in late fall that it would work with OpenAI to allow customers to make purchases within ChatGPT’s new Instant Checkout feature. By March, Walmart had pivoted away from using that tool, opting to instead embed its commerce agent Sparky across ChatGPT and Google Gemini. While this could be easy to perceive as a warning sign that agentic commerce is on rocky terrain, Walmart’s move indicates that testing — and then tailoring — this type of AI-powered shopping experience will be key.
With major companies like Walmart and Instacart testing the space, grocers should be cautious about jumping on the agentic commerce bandwagon too soon, and instead keep a watchful eye on how convenient and reliable these automated shopping tools prove to be.
In case you missed it
Gopuff makes a high-profile addition to its board
The convenience delivery company announced Wednesday that Howard Schultz, the founder and former CEO of Starbucks, will join its board of directors. Schultz, who helped the coffee chain grow from six locations to thousands globally, will join technology entrepreneur Betsy Atkins on the company’s board.
“Gopuff is in the imprinting stage of its culture and growth, and I look forward to seeing it continue to build trust earned through quality, consistency and a deep respect for customers,” Schultz said in a statement.
Kroger-owned Murray’s says ‘yes’ to the dress
The last thing a bride-to-be needs is to go hungry while dress shopping. Kroger-owned Murray’s Cheese announced this week that it’s partnering with wedding dress outlet Kleinfeld’s to offer two food boards for VIP dress-fitting appointments.
The boards include a cheese board with several cheese varieties, edible florals, dried fruit and oatcakes; and a fruit board with citrus, melon, grapes and a mix of berries.
Trader Joe’s mini totes are a huge hit
Ever since Trader Joe’s introduced its mini tote bags in 2024, the pint-sized carryalls have become a hit with shoppers. Numerator found that last year, 9.6% of all Trader Joe’s shoppers bought one of the totes, which the chain releases at various times and in various forms throughout the year. And those individuals are some of Trader Joe’s most loyal customers, spending an average of $1,356 per year at the chain — or 2.6 times the average TJ’s shopper — according to Numerator.
Impulse find
Schnucks rediscovers “Mom’s” famous recipe
Nearly a century ago, Anna Donovan Schnuck opened a 1,000-square-foot store in north St. Louis so that she could sell her beloved potato salad and other homemade dishes. That shop would go on to become a Midwest grocery chain with more than 100 locations, but the recipe for the potato salad that helped inspire Donovan — or “Mom,” as many called her — to go into business faded into memory.
Until recently, that is.
Donovan’s granddaughter discovered the handwritten potato salad recipe in some of her old papers. She gifted the treasured note to her cousins during the holidays, eventually leading to Schnucks re-releasing the dish at its stores’ deli and prepared foods sections. Anna Schnuck’s Original Potato Salad, which features red-skin potatoes, double-smoked bacon lardons and caramelized onions, sells for $7.99 per pound and is on sale for $6.99 per pound until Tuesday.
