On September 9, Instacart and Shipt unveiled competing AI tools designed to simplify grocery shopping by creating baskets from user inputs. Instacart highlights the commercial benefit of larger average baskets, while Shipt emphasizes reducing shoppers’ mental load.
- Instacart’s AI assistant boosts average basket size above $115
- Shipt markets its assistant as mental load relief without citing business metrics
- Unclear if or how sponsored products appear in AI-built carts
What happened
Shipt launched Ask Shipt while Instacart introduced Clementine on September 9, both AI assistants designed to create grocery carts based on user prompts, recipes, or photos. These tools aim to speed and simplify the shopping experience by automating product selection within their respective apps.
Instacart publicly shared that Clementine-built orders contain more items than typical purchases and exceed its typical $115 basket average, making a direct business case. In contrast, Shipt frames its product as a solution to ease mental strain from meal planning but did not release comparable order size data.
Why it matters
Conversational AI assistants represent the fastest-evolving front in grocery delivery, changing how consumers interact with products and how retail media operates. Traditionally, sponsored placements rely on shopper input via search bars, but these assistants decide cart contents autonomously, potentially decreasing shopper control and transparency.
Neither Instacart nor Shipt clarified whether sponsored brands can pay to be included in AI-generated carts or how shoppers would perceive such placements. This uncertainty raises regulatory and consumer trust questions, particularly as courts and bodies worldwide focus on transparency in algorithmic recommendations.
What to watch next
Industry observers will watch whether AI cart assistants incorporate paid placements and how transparently these are disclosed to consumers, given the growing importance of retail media revenues and ongoing legal scrutiny of opaque recommendation practices.
Additionally, how these tools integrate with or compete against broader AI ecosystems—such as Shipt’s experiments embedding shopping within general assistants like ChatGPT, versus Instacart’s white-label tech sold to grocers—will shape the future of AI-driven grocery shopping experiences.