Pick n Pay Launches 'Penny': A Gemini-Powered AI Assistant for asap!
Pick n Pay is betting on conversation over search to win over South Africa's on-demand grocery shoppers. In a massive upgrade to its asap! platform, the retailer has introduced Penny, a new AI shopping assistant backed by Gemini technology. The goal? To make ordering your weekly groceries as seamless and natural as chatting with a friend.
Built using Google's Gemini large language models, Penny enables customers to build shopping baskets using natural conversation through voice, text or even photographs.
The feature, which begins rolling out in July, positions Pick n Pay firmly in the next phase of South Africa's fast-growing e-commerce battle, where retailers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to differentiate customer experiences rather than competing solely on delivery speed.
A shift from search to conversation
Unlike traditional online grocery shopping, where customers browse categories or search for individual products, Penny allows shoppers to describe what they need in everyday language.
Customers can ask the assistant to recommend meals, generate shopping lists, suggest alternatives, build baskets within a budget or even upload handwritten shopping lists and photographs of products for recognition.
Need ingredients for a pasta dinner? Penny provides recipe suggestions before automatically assembling the required products into a shopping basket. Running low on groceries? Customers can photograph the contents of their fridge and receive meal recommendations based on what they already have.
"We're moving from search-and-scroll shopping to conversation-led shopping that makes buying groceries faster, smarter and far more intuitive," said Enrico Ferigolli, retail executive for omnichannel at Pick n Pay at the unveiling.
"For years, the focus has been on faster delivery. The next disruption is removing the effort from shopping itself."
The multimodal assistant can process voice notes, typed requests and images, while recognising multiple languages, including several South African languages, making the experience significantly more accessible for local consumers.
The next chapter in retail innovation
The launch builds on a major overhaul of the asap! platform completed in 2025, when Pick n Pay rebuilt its online ecosystem to integrate grocery shopping, Smart Shopper rewards and value-added services into a single platform.
Since then, the retailer has expanded the service to include Pick n Pay Clothing and continued investing heavily in digital capabilities.
Those investments are already translating into strong growth.
According to Pick n Pay's latest financial results, its online business recorded turnover growth of 32.7% on a like-for-like basis during the 2026 financial year, while its on-demand delivery services, including asap! and Pick n Pay groceries on Mr D, increased by 37.6% year-on-year.
Ferigolli described the platform rebuild as the foundation that made AI integration possible.
"This is only the beginning of what AI can unlock for everyday grocery shopping, and Penny is the first step in that journey."
Building a smarter shopping experience
Beyond simplifying grocery shopping, Penny has been designed to become increasingly personalised over time.
As customers continue using the assistant, it learns shopping preferences including favourite brands, purchasing habits, price sensitivity and previous orders, enabling increasingly tailored recommendations.
Future developments are expected to include deeper personalisation, expanded recommendation capabilities and additional AI-powered services as Pick n Pay continues investing in the platform.
For now, customers remain in control of checkout, payment and delivery scheduling, with Penny focused on removing friction from product discovery and basket building.
Supplied by: Pick n Pay.
Guzzle Media