In one month, Checkers, Pick n Pay and now Woolworths have launched their AI shopping Agents.
See my review of Pick n Pay’s Penny AI here: https://www.et-artificial-intelligence.co.za/first-impressions-of-pick-n-pays-new-ai-system-penny-ai/
AI is now helping their customers to shop faster.
They can choose a meal and the AI agent will not only give the recipe, but also preparation instructions and the ingredients can be added to your shopping list.
AI is giving customer convenience and saving time and effort.
Checkers is talking about a customer who ordered within 15 seconds.
It’s always been frustrating trying to search on shopping apps for “rice” and getting hundreds of hits. From rice cereal to rice cakes, to rice pudding when all I wanted was 1kg of Tastic rice.
The AI streamlines the process.
Gives customers what they are looking for rather than a huge collection of anything that contains one word from their search.
There’s no hi-tech in this type of AI agent.
It’s been done for the past 3 years, but finally these three stores are realizing that customers want an easier, faster and more convenient way to place their orders and do their inquiries.
“Same as last week, but not as much milk”
“Give me boerewors and crisps for the 10 people coming to watch rugby”
They are not only saving time, but having a far better shopping experience.
Why has it taken so long? Customers would have used AI 3 years ago. The technology was available.
I suggest there was resistance from marketing, resistance from CEOs who were, and still are terrified of AI.
Who still don’t understand it, who don’t use it.
Who complain about it “hallucinating”.
Who say it “has to be perfect”, but continue to employ call centre agents who take weeks to give the wrong reply
It’s the IT people who know AI, but they don’t understand customer dynamics so they can’t convince a CEO. It’s better, the CEO thinks, to appoint a task group (just like Cyril Ramaphosa), than just do the job.
It’s why, if you read my review of Penny AI, no one bothers to read the questions and answers coming through the AI and no one follows up when a customer has a genuine problem.
It took three years for these three to pluck up the courage to implement an AI system that has in 3 weeks already benefitted their customers and themselves.
This is positive.
My hope is all the other companies out there will see the success they are having and follow suit.
Its not about the cost of implementing AI, nor the time it may take, but the vision to see how it will help your customers.
Some of our smaller implementations have taken less than a week with a similar low cost.
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