Last month, Albertsons became the first retailer to deploy Google Cloud’s Conversational Commerce agent, introducing an AI-powered shopping assistant across all its store apps. The feature, called Ask AI, lets customers search for groceries using everyday language, from asking for quick dinner ideas to finding the best side dish for salmon.
The tool sits inside the search bar of Albertsons’ banner apps, including Albertsons, Safeway, and Shaw’s. It was developed in partnership with Google Cloud using the Vertex AI platform and Gemini models. According to Albertsons, more than 85 percent of conversations with the assistant begin with open-ended or exploratory questions, showing that customers are using it less like a search engine and more like a digital store clerk.
Early results suggest the feature is driving larger orders. The company found that customers who interact with Ask AI tend to add at least one more item to their baskets. Jill Pavlovich, Albertsons’ senior vice president of digital customer experience, said the assistant “moves beyond traditional search” to make grocery shopping more personal and intuitive.
The company framed the rollout as part of a long-term effort to simplify product discovery. In its blog post on the launch, Albertsons said Ask AI can answer questions about ingredients, meal ideas, or product differences while grounding its responses in verified data. Built-in guardrails and feedback tools are meant to ensure information accuracy and brand safety.
This launch follows a series of AI investments that now reach from Albertsons’ app experience to the back of the store.
Fresh-Food Intelligence
Behind the scenes, Albertsons has expanded its partnership with Afresh Technologies to use AI in managing perishable inventory. In October, the company completed a nationwide rollout of Afresh’s Fresh Replenishment solution across bakery, deli, meat, seafood, and produce departments in all store banners.
Afresh’s system applies machine learning to align ordering, inventory, and demand for items that are prepared, transformed, or sold by weight, such as deli sandwiches, subprimals, or loose produce. This helps reduce waste while keeping popular items in stock.
For example, bakery departments often sell bulk donuts under one shared product ID, making it difficult to track which varieties sell fastest. Afresh’s AI models can now break down those sales to recommend precise order quantities by flavor. In meat and seafood, the technology connects subprimals (the large cuts a butcher receives) to the finished products sold at the counter.
Albertsons’ chief merchandising officer, Michelle Larson, called the system “a game-changer” for store operations, allowing teams to manage freshness with less guesswork. The rollout follows earlier adoption of Afresh’s forecasting tools in distribution centers, where buyers receive daily demand predictions to coordinate orders with stores.
These systems sit on top of a broader data foundation. Earlier this year, Albertsons said it had built a real-time enterprise data platform designed to enable analytics and artificial intelligence at scale. The platform integrates store, inventory, and loyalty data into one environment, giving its AI models a more accurate view of demand and product flow.
Chief executive Susan Morris described the approach as central to a larger productivity plan. “We’ve built best-in-class technology platforms with our core infrastructure in the cloud and a modernized, scalable network,” she told investors during the company’s 2025 earnings call.
A New Day After Kroger
The acceleration of these projects follows a difficult transition. In December 2024, Albertsons called off its planned merger with Kroger and later sued its former partner for breach of agreement. The failed deal left the company to compete on its own against much larger national chains.
That separation has since defined its strategy. Free from merger conditions, Albertsons has doubled down on technology partnerships and data-driven operations. It has rolled out generative AI tools in its retail media arm through a collaboration with Capgemini, automating campaign planning and creative production for brand advertisers. It has also partnered with Preferabli to personalize recommendations for wine and spirits through its Vine & Cellar Reserve platform.
Digital sales rose 25 percent in the quarter ending June 2025, outpacing total sales growth. Loyalty program membership grew 14 percent to nearly 48 million customers. The company’s e-commerce business, once a drag on profitability, is now close to break-even.
In the grocery industry, those results have made Albertsons an unexpected technology leader. While rivals such as Walmart and Amazon are also embedding AI into their stores, Albertsons’ mix of customer-facing chat tools, predictive replenishment, and data infrastructure shows how a mid-sized retailer can modernize without the scale of a tech giant.
Chief executive Susan Morris calls this next chapter “a new day at Albertsons,” with the company balancing scale in terms of both physical square footage and the reach of its algorithms.
