DURBANVILLE, SOUTH AFRICA - 27MARCH 2020 Checkers said that their delivery service Sixty60 will continue to deliver groceries and household essentials during the lockdown period (Photo by Gallo Images/Jacques Stander)
Shoprite Holdings, the largest retailer in Africa, on Thursday introduced a smart AI shopping assistant for Checkers Sixty60 to help customers in choose items.
Pixie, developed by ShopriteX, predicts what individual customers actually need, and when they need it.
“This marks the latest step in Sixty60’s evolution – using AI to make the app faster to use, more personalised and ultimately simpler to complete your shopping,” said Shoprite.
Think of how some ATMs work, if you have withdraw R50 several times, one day you get to an ATM and it says: “Would you like to withdraw your favourite amount of R50?” Pixie is set to do something similar.
This innovation comes after the introduction of Xpress Trolley, a self-service checkout system at some Checkers stores.
Shopping that knows you
The largest retailer in Africa said Pixie learns from how each customer shops.
“Based on individual purchase habits, restocking patterns and preferences, it surfaces only relevant product recommendations, making it easier to find and reorder the things customers buy regularly,” said the retailer.
“The Smart Basket feature presents product cards in a brand-new interface that lets users simply swipe to browse, swipe up to remove, or swipe down to add to their basket.”
Shoprite said the days of searching and scrolling through endless product catalogues to find regulars or relevant products are limited.
Checkers AI assistant to give personalised offers
The retailer said Pixie presents customers with personalised offers based on what they actually buy, as well as what is relevant, rather than random deals.
“This is the dawn of using the best of AI to make shopping simpler and more personalised for consumers,” said Neil Schreuder, chief strategy and innovation officer for the Shoprite Group.
“Shopping used to be something you did. But now, it’s something Pixie, your personalised shopping assistant, handles for you. It’s shopping, magically simplified.”
Developed by South Africans, for South Africans
ShopriteX team includes product designers, data scientists, machine learning engineers and software developers. This is the group of people who developed Pixie.
“Built on the same customer-focussed philosophy that created Sixty60, Pixie is local technology, developed by a South African team for South African shoppers,” said Shoprite.
The retailer highlighted that Pixie is built on a foundation of privacy and trust, never compromising individual customer data.
