Driving Incremental Revenue with
AI-Powered Recommendations

Spencer Price
VP Strategy, Wynshop

The future of grocery retail doesn’t lie in bigger catalogs or faster deliveries—it lies in understanding shoppers with a precision that’s almost invisible. What we’re talking about isn’t just offering a discount on familiar items or suggesting products loosely based on past purchases. AI-driven recommendations are challenging the fundamentals of how we think about customer engagement, and, more importantly, how we generate revenue.

We tend to think of grocery shopping as a straightforward process, but it’s layered with nuance: impulse buys, subtle preferences, seasonal shifts, even the shopper’s current mood or health goals. The ability to tap into these layers, to anticipate what a customer might want before they realize it themselves, is where AI thrives. The system isn’t guessing—it’s responding in real-time, generating options based on patterns that even the shopper might not fully recognize.

At Wynshop, using Halla Intelligence’s AI engine, we’ve seen what happens when recommendations go beyond the surface level. It’s not just about what’s been bought before. AI digs into the context of the shopper’s behavior—the specific combinations of products they’ve added to their cart and their previous patterns. For example, a customer buying pasta and tomatoes isn’t just a “pasta lover.” Maybe this time, they’ve added basil and garlic. A traditional system might miss the subtle shift in behavior, but AI recognizes this as a potential recipe builder, suggesting high-quality olive oil or a complementary spice. That small, intuitive nudge is what turns a simple cart into a complete experience.

But the real shift comes when you consider what’s being left on the table. Recent findings from Grocery Doppio reveal that only 11% of grocers are personalizing even half of their shopping journeys​. That’s staggering, especially when the same data shows that AI-powered personalization can drive 10-30% increases in revenue. The technology is there, the data is there, yet the industry hasn’t fully embraced it. Why? It’s not about complexity; it’s about vision.

Retailers that stick to conventional product recommendations miss the fact that 7x increases in add-to-cart rates are not just theoretical—they’re happening now. Perhaps this is because we often tend to underestimate the power of relevance. When AI connects the dots between a shopper’s previous behaviors, their current selections, and the potential for what comes next, it builds more than a shopping experience—it builds trust. It creates a feeling that the system “gets” you, even if you’re unaware of it. And that’s where loyalty is born—not through loyalty programs or discounts, but through the simple act of anticipating needs.

For grocers, this is an inflection point. It’s not about following the latest trend—it’s about taking a hard look at what’s possible and realizing that the tools to drive meaningful, measurable change are already here.