The Shoprite Group's Pixie, the artificial intelligence (AI) that was recently intergrated into the company's popular shopping app, Sixty60 has been given an upgrade allowing customers to chat to the AI shopping assistant, using text, voice and images to get personalised shopping help, meal inspiration and product recommendations.
Developed in house by the ShopriteX team, Pixie Smart Chat can recommend products, restock regular purchases, suggest recipes and create shopping baskets based on individual customer needs and preferences.
The launch builds on the retailer's existing Pixie Smart Basket feature, which introduced a personalised shopping experience designed to help customers quickly browse and select products.
Neil Schreuder, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer for the Shoprite Group, said the latest development moves Pixie beyond product recommendations.
“With Pixie, our goal was to use AI to remove friction from grocery shopping by understanding what customers need. Now Pixie moves beyond smart recommendations, becoming a 24/7 personal shopping butler,” Schreuder said.
Pixie Smart Chat is designed to respond to a range of everyday shopping situations
.A customer planning a weekend braai, for example, can ask Pixie for suggestions based on their preferences and local weather conditions. The assistant can recommend products ranging from meat and salads to alternative meals if weather conditions change.
Customers can also upload an image. Someone looking for replacement razor blades can photograph their existing razor and ask Pixie to help identify a suitable product.
A photograph of a handwritten family recipe can similarly be uploaded, allowing Pixie to help identify the ingredients required and add them to a Sixty60 basket.
The assistant can also provide meal inspiration, with recipe suggestions, cooking instructions and ingredient lists that can be added directly to a basket.
These include an exclusive selection of recipes from Jamie Oliver.
Recipes can be saved, downloaded or shared, while recent conversations allow customers to return to previous interactions.
Pixie is powered by Xtra Savings, the Shoprite Group's retail rewards programme, which gives the AI assistant access to relevant shopping context.
This includes information such as a customer's location, weather conditions, shopping mission, purchasing behaviour, shopping history and preferences.
The system is also designed to remember relevant preferences, instructions and interactions over time, meaning customers can build on previous conversations rather than starting from scratch with every shopping trip.
The retailer said customer privacy and responsible data handling remain central to the service.
The more customers use Pixie, the more personalised its recommendations are intended to become, helping shoppers find products they regularly purchase and keep their household staples stocked.
Sixty60 became the first online retailer in South Africa to introduce a personalised AI shopping assistant when Pixie launched in April 2026.
Since then, Pixie has helped shoppers add more than four million products to their baskets.
The retailer said one customer completed a grocery shop worth more than R1,500 in just 15 seconds..
Pixie Smart Chat will initially be rolled out in phases to Xtra Savings Plus subscribers over the next few weeks.
ashley.lechman@nationalmg.co.za