Kroger expands partnership with Google Cloud for AI-powered shopping assistant

Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) announced an expanded partnership with Google Cloud to deploy artificial intelligence technology across its grocery operations. The company will implement Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience solution nationwide to create integrated meal and shopping assistants.

The AI-powered shopping assistant will help customers plan meals, create shopping lists based on preferences and budgets, and streamline the ordering process. The system incorporates features including intelligent task execution, recipe-to-cart conversion, and recommendations based on Kroger's product data, pricing and availability.

Kroger will also use Google Cloud's Customer Experience Agent Studio to analyze customer service calls to stores, aiming to identify and resolve issues earlier while improving associate productivity.

"A customer planning a week of dinners, seeking recipe inspiration, or jumping into a new food regimen, will be able to ask our integrated assistant to create a shopping list based on their immediate needs, their budget, and family's unique preferences," said Yael Cosset, executive vice president and chief digital officer for Kroger.

The shopping assistant will allow customers to complete tasks such as exploring meal ideas, building shopping carts for occasions, reordering past purchases, or comparing product details through single instructions. The system can convert requests like "I want to prepare vegan tomato soup" into guided recipes with ingredient lists that can be added to shopping carts.

Darshan Kantak, vice president of product for applied AI at Google Cloud, stated that Kroger is "pioneering the future of commerce by embracing true generative and agentic AI at the heart of their customer journey."

Kroger operates over 400,000 associates serving more than 11 million customers daily through ecommerce and retail food stores under various banner names across the United States.

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