Grocers Bet on Agentic AI That Shoppers Actually Use

Giant Eagle's omnichannel shoppers carry a 30% higher lifetime value than single-channel customers — the number driving the grocery chain's aggressive push into agentic AI, executives said at this year's Groceryshop. The figure anchors a wider shift across grocery: Kroger, Giant Eagle and DoorDash are all racing to deploy practical AI tools that bridge physical stores and online ordering, moving past simple search and intrusive chatbots.

The focus, executives said, is training shoppers to weave agentic shopping into their daily routines.

Why is Kroger focused on the gap between inspiration and baskets?

Yael Cosset, chief digital officer at Kroger, said the retailer's priority is removing friction between the moment a customer is inspired to buy an ingredient and the moment they actually order it. "The shopping assistant is helping close the gap that exists between inspiration and basket shopping," he said.

Kroger recently launched its own AI shopping assistant, designed to solve universal grocery problems: busy parents making last-minute runs, or hosts cooking for guests with multiple dietary constraints. The tool instantly builds a Kroger basket matching those requirements. Shoppers can also add personal context, such as a photo of a handwritten shopping list or their grandmother's favorite recipe.

"The investments we're making right now are to actually continue to inject the personalization capability we've built over decades into that shopping assistant," Cosset said.

Cosset emphasized that grocers need a steady strategy to accustom shoppers to agentic grocery buying. "Customers don't wake up and say, 'Oh, I'm going to shop online today,' or 'I can't wait to go into the store,'" he said. "It's on us to remove that friction and the burden of having to think differently about how they engage with us. And that's where I think AI really is transformational."

Kroger has spent the past 10 years building its digital and physical experiences together, Cosset said. Shoppers can now see and track online orders and in-store hauls in one hub, with that data informing future shopping journeys.

The contextual experience also opens doors for Kroger's CPG partners, which can reach shoppers through retail media advertising or recipe content.

What is Giant Eagle's AI strategy?

Shweta Prabhu, vp of digital, e-commerce, MarTech, loyalty, data analytics and AI, enterprise systems at Giant Eagle, said the company is using agentic AI to convert single-channel shoppers into omnichannel shoppers. Every dollar invested in seamless experiences, she said, "is one that will keep our most valuable customers coming back to us."

The retailer's main grocery app now includes an AI recipe generator that lets customers scan meal ideas and add ingredients to their cart seamlessly.

Giant Eagle is also integrating fragmented backend teams. Heather Feather, vp of digital, e-commerce and customer analytics, said the retailer combined its e-commerce operations team with marketing and merchandising last year.

"No store receives as much weekly traffic as our website and mobile app do," Feather said. "I think that's a great reframe for all of us and our partners as we think about investment and priorities."

Closer collaboration lets the departments better target shoppers who cross between stores and digital channels. More integration could follow: Kroger announced its intention to acquire Giant Eagle earlier this year, with the deal expected to close next year, opening the door to deeper tie-ups in 2027.

What did DoorDash learn about what users don't want?

DoorDash co-founder Andy Fang said delivery platforms face the challenge of learning what users actually want from AI-powered shopping tools while building them. "Oftentimes when people think of using AI to order, they think of a chat window popping up," he said.

The problem, DoorDash found, is that users who see a chat window don't know what to say to the bot and end up ignoring it. "So a lot of work that we've done is not only to incorporate intelligence into the experience," Fang said. "But also picking up on the trends of actual problems that people want AI to solve for them."

Users prefer simple, practical tools, Fang said. They like the ability to automatically prompt "reorder my usuals" during browsing rather than sifting through an order history page. DoorDash is also building tools natively into the app that make it easier to modify real-time orders, such as finding similar SKUs or alternatives to out-of-stock items.

What happens next?

Retailers are gathering real-time feedback on how customers use agentic AI, but many unknowns remain. On the pressure to deploy AI fast, Cosset was direct: "Of course everybody wants to go fast [because] it's a huge opportunity. But with speed comes risk, so speed with precision and direction is good."

By Tom Whitfield