Albertsons is expanding its agentic commerce strategy with a new artificial intelligence (AI) shopping assistant designed to handle increasingly complex, end-to-end grocery tasks.

The assistant went live on Dec. 3 across Albertsons’ grocery websites, including Safeway, Vons and Jewel-Osco, the retailer said. Support for mobile apps is planned for early 2026.

Unlike a traditional search bar, the tool is designed to guide shoppers through planning and purchasing. Albertsons said the assistant can build carts from recipes, interpret handwritten grocery lists, and suggest meals based on ingredients already at home.

Albertsons is No. 18 in the Top 2000, Digital Commerce 360’s database ranking of North America’s leading retailers by annual online sales. There, it falls under the Food & Beverage merchandise category. Digital Commerce 360 projects Albertsons’ online sales in 2025 will reach $7.59 billion.

Albertsons web sales by year

How Albertsons’ assistant builds on earlier AI investments

The new Albertsons assistant builds on Ask AI, a conversational agent that Albertsons introduced earlier this year using Google Cloud technology.

The new system takes that further. According to the grocer, it uses OpenAI models and multiple collaborative agents — software systems that work together to complete tasks — to support more advanced planning and purchasing workflows. The approach is part of what retailers call agentic commerce, where AI agents can handle more complex shopping tasks on behalf of users.

“With the Albertsons AI shopping assistant, we can understand our customers’ needs on a deeper level, allowing us to serve them in the best way possible,” said Jill Pavlovich, senior vice president of digital customer experience at Albertsons, in a statement.

Pavlovich noted that the tool enables dynamic, two-way conversations. Shoppers can share context — such as cooking for six, wanting leftovers, or planning vegetarian meals — and the assistant tailors suggestions in real time, she said.

Albertsons also said the tool is designed to cut down the time required for online grocery shopping. Citing Capital One Shopping research, the retailer noted that the average grocery trip takes about 46 minutes. The assistant, it claimed, could reduce that process to roughly four minutes.

Use cases include restocking, meal planning and recipe shopping

The assistant is available through the Meals Hub on Albertsons’ websites.

The retailer outlined multiple use cases:

• Rapid restock: reorder weekly staples and frequent purchases.
• Plan meals: generate a weekly meal plan and add ingredients to the cart, with duplicates removed.
• Shop lists: type or upload a grocery list and the assistant suggests products for each item.
• Fridge cleaner: suggest recipes using ingredients already at home.
• Shop recipe: pull ingredients from online recipes or images and add to cart.
• Event-ready: choose a theme or holiday and receive curated product suggestions with offers.

In Digital Commerce 360 testing on the Safeway website, the assistant allowed shoppers to set dietary preferences — such as classic or vegan — and flag allergies. A memory toggle lets users choose whether the assistant remembers preferences and past interactions. Shoppers can also delete all stored data and chat history at any time.

More capabilities planned

Pavlovich said Albertsons is using AI as a key part of its strategy for the shopping experience, with the ultimate goal of driving customer engagement and growth.

“The Albertsons AI shopping assistant is an exciting step in this journey, with much more innovation to come,” she said.

Expanding into Albertsons’ mobile apps in early 2026, the grocer said the assistant will add more agentic commerce capabilities. Those will include budget optimization, in-store aisle guidance to help locate products, and voice interaction.

Albertsons added that the assistant’s multi-agent architecture also sets the stage for compatibility with off-platform agents, opening the door to future integrations, including chat-based experiences.

Retailers lean into agentic commerce

Retailers, as well as shoppers, are accelerating their use of agentic commerce, where AI systems anticipate needs, compare prices, and complete purchases automatically. A recent Kearney report found six in 10 U.S. consumers expect to use an AI shopping agent within the next year.

Walmart has been one of the more active players. Earlier this year, the retailer detailed several “super agents” driving its strategy. These include Sparky, a customer agent in the Walmart app, with upcoming features including agentic commerce functions. Others include Marty, Walmart’s partner agent that helps suppliers and advertisers manage onboarding, orders and campaigns, and an associate agent that centralizes schedules and sales data for store workers.

In November, Kroger expanded its partnership with Instacart to improve digital efficiency and offer more agentic shopping experiences.

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