Scandinavian retailer Coop Sweden has teamed up with EBI.AI, a UK-based artificial intelligence (AI) lab, to build the “world’s most advanced grocery retail AI assistant” for its customers via apps, web or Google assistant.
Coop is one of Sweden’s largest grocery chains with 817 stores and is owned by the Swedish Cooperative Union (KF). The retailer says that by combining the digital and in-store journeys, customer experience will be enhanced and life made easier for shoppers.
Launching in the spring, the assistant, named Cooper, will provide users with a concierge for Coop Sweden’s customers’ daily needs.
“Coop wants to build a level of customer experience that is unparalleled in the Swedish retail marketplace,” said Amer Mohammed, Coop Sweden’s chief digital officer. “The work that EBI.AI is doing for us gives us a tool to build strong relationships with our customers and support them with an important part of their daily life.”
Cooper will understand each customer’s dietary requirements, suggest recipes, provide nutritional and loyalty scheme information, but in the future, it will handle all aspects of customer engagement.
“I look forward to driving this development that will change both how we shop and how we eat,” adds Mr Mohammed.
EBI.AI is using its data engineering expertise, Lobster AI communications platform and Adobe Experience Cloud to provide the solution. EBI.AI managing director, Matthew Doel added: “It is a privilege to work with Coop in Sweden as the company is serious about delivering extraordinary customer experience and an excellent example for others to follow.”
Coop Sweden has had an online shop since 2008, that today reaches over 60% of Swedish households with home deliveries. In addition, they offer meal plans that can be picked up in all Coop stores. The company is ranked as Sweden’s most sustainable grocery chain and has the highest percentage of organic sales in the country’s grocery retail industry.
