Pick n Pay is introducing a generative AI shopping companion named “Penny” into its asap! on-demand delivery app. Built on Google’s Gemini models, the feature is scheduled to roll out to select users starting Monday, 6 July 2026, before reaching all asap! customers in the subsequent weeks. The retailer is billing the update as South Africa’s very first conversational grocery shopping experience.
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Penny allows users to construct an entire grocery basket using natural language, via voice notes, text messages, or photographs, completely bypassing the traditional necessity of searching and scrolling through long product grids.
In practice, a new “Ask” button will appear directly next to the app’s search bar. Tapping it opens a chat interface with Penny. For instance, if a user requests a recipe for carbonara, Penny will instantly return the cooking method alongside a carousel of ingredient options (such as spaghetti, pecorino, and bacon) that can be added straight to the cart.
Beyond recipes, customers can instruct Penny to:
- Reorder items from a past shopping trip.
- Design a meal plan tailored to a specific budget.
- Suggest product substitutions.
The assistant is uniquely multimodal. Enrico Ferigolli, Retail Executive for Omnichannel at Pick n Pay, recalled testing the system by uploading a photograph of a handwritten shopping list written in Italian, which Penny accurately translated and converted into a basket of locally available products.
While Penny can fully assemble a grocery basket, it does not autonomously place orders or process payments due to the financial complexities and security requirements surrounding credit card transactions. Once the basket is complete, Penny hands the user over to the standard checkout screen to select a delivery slot and apply Smart Shopper points. Furthermore, the experience is strictly native to the asap! app; outside users cannot access Pick n Pay’s catalogue via external Gemini APIs or third-party AI agents.
The technology handles queries using a specialized infrastructure to protect core data:
See also
- API Framework: Gemini is isolated from Pick n Pay’s primary databases, interacting instead through restricted APIs for search parameters, order histories, and Smart Shopper data.
- Retrieval Layer: The assistant references a curated content management system to ground its suggestions.
- Retail-Media Integration: A forthcoming layer will allow manufacturers to bid on specific search terms within the chat interface, mirroring standard in-app digital advertising.
While the feature technically supports any language native to Google’s Gemini foundation model, Ferigolli noted that performance varies. Indigenous South African languages are improving rapidly but do not yet match the accuracy of major global languages, suggesting that local startups will eventually need to build specialized language layers on top of these large foundational models.
The rollout marks a distinct philosophical divergence from Pick n Pay’s primary rival. Checkers Sixty60 launched its own AI assistant, Pixie, in April 2026. Built in-house by ShopriteX using Xtra Savings data, Pixie focuses heavily on predictive replenishment and a swipe-based “Smart Basket” layout. In contrast, Penny prioritizes open-ended conversation. According to Ferigolli, while Penny starts with dialogue and Pixie starts with reordering, both platforms will likely evolve to handle both functions over time.
The launch builds upon a massive 2025 tech overhaul of the asap! front and back ends, which helped drive online sales growth of 48.7% for the financial year ending 2 March 2025. Backed fully by CEO Sean Summers and the board, Pick n Pay plans to debut additional AI features over the next three to four months. Conceding that the company has been “a little bit behind,” Ferigolli expressed confidence that this advanced technological foundation will allow them to overtake competitors rapidly.
