Tesco is rolling out a new Clubcard feature this week: an AI assistant designed to help shoppers plan their meals. The tool, which follows a successful trial involving 280,000 members of staff, is now being extended to customers.
Personalised service backed by Clubcard data
The assistant aims to deliver a personalised service that saves shoppers "time, stress and money" while also cutting down on food waste. Linked to data gathered through purchases made using the retailer's Clubcard, the tool began trialling in April before starting to expand to customers last month.
Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy said: "We are also making strong progress on AI-enabled personalisation, extending Your Clubcard Prices and beginning the customer rollout of our meal planning assistant, helping customers manage their busy lives."
Meal ideas and ingredient-based searches
In April, Tesco revealed the assistant would initially support customers with meal planning by offering a "natural, two-way dialogue to offer inspiration in the form of personalised recipe ideas", taking dietary preferences into consideration. Shoppers can search for meals based on cost or type of cuisine, or both, and can even create a dish by listing ingredients they already have at home that they'd like to use up.
Tesco confirmed that the assistant's use of Clubcard data would enable it to advise customers on what they may already have sitting in their cupboard or fridge. The feature will be integrated into the Tesco app as part of a long-term strategy to expand its capabilities "so it can help customers with more parts of their day-to-day lives and provide them with a genuinely intelligent, helpful shopping experience".
Development with Tomoro AI and OpenAI
Tesco revealed that its in-house teams had been collaborating with Tomoro AI, a UK-based artificial intelligence consultancy established in 2023. They are working alongside OpenAI on developing the new assistant, with the project carried out under "strict secrecy protocols" since autumn last year.
The supermarket giant confirmed that AI had been "behind the scenes" of its operations, including its Clubcard loyalty scheme, "for years" in order to "improve the overall shopping experience". The retail giant has doubled the size of its technology team over the past five years and has signed a three-year strategic partnership with European AI start-up Mistral to develop new AI capabilities.
