A transformation is taking place in South Africa with the way consumers are choosing to shop for their groceries with the introduction of Artificial intelligence (AI) systems in various shopping apps integrated into major retailers’ apps, changing the way people shop in the country.
The 2026 South African Customer Experience Report,has revealed that South African consumers buckling under the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis are becoming more innovative and using technology to help them stretch their rands further before making purchases.
The report, now in its eighth consecutive year shows that almost a quarter of consumers in the country (23%) have begun using AI search (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity) to compare products, prices, find discounts, deals and “ask anything” questions.
Rogerwilco CEO Charlie Stewart said the quality of a company's digital presence had become an increasingly important part of the customer experience.
“Consumers increasingly expect information to be available immediately, easy to understand and capable of answering anything that matters to them. The quality of any organisation’s digital footprint has therefore become part o
f the customer experience itself,” Stewart said.
For brands, the implications are significant because consumers may be forming an opinion about a product or service before they ever visit the company's website, contact centre or physical store.
In this new era, AI has emerged as a formidable ally for shoppers. The accessibility of comprehensive product and pricing information at their fingertips has transformed the buying process. Before engaging with any brand, consumers are armed with the power of AI.
Retailers ready to upgrade
Major retailers have responded to changing shopping behaviour by introducing tools such as the Shoprite Group's Pixie, the company’s AI assistant, recently integrated into the company's popular shopping app, Sixty60 has been upgraded to allow customers to chat to the AI shopping assistant, using text, voice and images to get personalised shopping help, meal inspiration and product recommendations.
Pick n Pay launched an innovative way for consumers to shop for groceries via their on-demand app, Pick n Pay asap!
Pick n Pay asap! launched the feature on Monday, a game-changing feature called Pick n Pay Inspire that integrates social commerce into grocery shopping.
This innovative shoppable video feed, which Pick n Pay said is a first for a South African grocery retailer, is now available in the Pick n Pay asap! app and set to revolutionise the way consumers engage with their grocery shopping experience.
The retailer said that Pick n Pay Inspire allows customers to shop for products directly from videos, enhancing the shopping experience by removing the usual hurdles that accompany grocery shopping.
Adding to its comprehensive digital experience, last month saw the introduction of Penny, Pick n Pay's AI-driven conversational shopping companion.
This cutting-edge feature permits customers to engage with the app in an intuitive manner, allowing them to inquire about meal ideas or show photographs of products.
Penny transforms grocery shopping into a natural, conversational process that encourages a richer engagement with the store’s offerings.
As the future of digital grocery shopping unfolds, the focus is increasingly on making the experience more personalised and intuitive.
“With Penny, you can ask what to make for dinner or show it a photo. With Pick n Pay Inspire, you can discover something you want to make or try, and shop it there and then,” Ferigolli added.
“Ultimately, we want to meet customers wherever they are and make shopping feel less like a task, more like a natural part of their everyday life.”
Woolworths also strengthened its digital retail ecosystem with My Woolies Chef, an AI-powered food assistant designed to simplify meal planning and enhance the customer shopping experience.
Built into the Woolworths app, the tool helps customers answer a common daily question, “What’s for dinner tonight?”, while creating a more connected journey from meal inspiration to shopping.
Powered by AI and drawing from the Woolworths TASTE recipe archive that spans over 20 years, My Woolies Chef allows customers to use simple prompts to get personalised recipe suggestions based on available ingredients, preferences, household needs or occasions.
Once customers have chosen a recipe, they can move from inspiration to an automatically linked shopping basket on Woolies DASH.
The tool will be available to a small cohort of existing MyDifference loyalty programme members from September 2026, as part of an ongoing beta testing phase, with the intention of rolling it out more broadly in early 2027.
Sixty60's recently upgraded Pixie was 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.
South African shoppers are adopting AI
“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.
Shoprite said that between April and July 2026, Pixie has helped customers add more than four million products to their Sixty60 baskets. Within its first three months, 98% of Xtra Savings Plus members had used Pixie, making it one of the fastest-adopted features in Sixty60’s history.
"Pixie's most active user has added 730 products to their basket using the swipe-down-to-add-to-basket functionality, with a total basket value of R36,236, while one customer completed an entire grocery shop in just 15 seconds, adding 10 products to a basket worth more than R1,500," Shoprite said.
The retailer added that it believes South African shoppers embrace AI when it delivers clear and practical value, particularly when it helps to save time and simplify everyday tasks.
This trend is reflected in broader consumer research. Visa found that 77% of South African consumers have used AI to assist with shopping, while PwC’s 2025 Voice of the Consumer research found that 59% would be comfortable using AI for meal planning and menu suggestions, 56% for grocery and food budgeting and 44% for predictive grocery shopping lists based on previous purchases and shopping habits.
"We expect AI to evolve into an increasingly capable shopping companion that better understands customers’ needs, offers greater convenience and helps them make faster, more accurate decisions," Shoprite said.
ashley.lechman@nationalmg.co.za