Carrefour has launched Hopla, an advice robot for shoppers online. The chatbot which is based on ChatGPT, has been integrated into the retailer’s official website so customers can for help in choosing products for their basket, based on their budget, food constraints they may have or menu ideas.
The chatbot is connected to the site’s search engine and offers customers lists of products related to what they are discussing, right up until they make their purchase.
In addition, it can suggest anti-waste solutions for reusing ingredients and composing associated recipes and baskets, the company said.
Carrefour is also using generative AI to enhance its brand product sheets by providing customers with product descriptions and extra product information. So far, more than 2000 products have gone up online as a result of the technology the company said.
As part of its digital strategy, other areas of focus for the technology is the company’s internal purchasing processes. Thion is currently being developed alongside teams from the non-retail purchasing division to help them with daily tasks such as drafting invitations to tender and analysing quotes.
Alexandre Bompard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Carrefour Group, said in a statement: “Thanks to our digital and data culture, we have already turned a corner when it comes to artificial intelligence. Generative AI will enable us to enrich the customer experience and profoundly transform our working methods. Integrating OpenAI technologies into what we do is an amazing opportunity for Carrefour. By pioneering the use of generative AI, we want to be one step ahead and invent the retail of tomorrow.”
The new features are the result of a collaboration with Bain & Company and Microsoft, partners of OpenAI. They use Microsoft’s OpenAI Azure service to access OpenAI’s GPT-4 technology whilst leveraging Microsoft Azure’s data security, reliability and confidentiality features to ensure compliance with general data protection regulation (GDPR).
