Woolworths to incorporate agentic AI into its Olive chatbot

Woolworths is set to enhance its seven-year-old Olive chatbot with agentic AI capabilities, using newly-launched Gemini technology from Google Cloud.

The Australian retailer is included in the launch announcement for ‘Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience’, which Google unveiled at the National Retail Federation's (NRF) annual trade show in the United States. Large Australian retailers are frequent guests at the NRF event.

Google Cloud said that Gemini Enterprise for CX “introduces new prebuilt and configurable agents that are developed using Google's latest Gemini models and can be quickly deployed.”

It’s intended that the agents serve the function of “proactive digital concierge”, assisting customers “from initial discovery to post-purchase support.”

One of the features that Google Cloud is hoping will attract retailers' interest is its AI's ability to “execute consented actions”.

“Most chatbots can only give shoppers information or links to follow,” the vendor said.

“[By contrast], this agent takes consented action. If shoppers are indecisive about a product, the agent can provide options based on past shopping history from their local stores, take into account real-time product availability, and upon consent, add items to their cart and even handle checkout.”

It doesn’t appear that Woolworths intends to use these more advanced features, at least initially, with the focus appearing to be on making Olive behave more like a meal planning assistant.

The agentic AI technology will also strengthen Woolworths’ personalisation proposition.

"As the first Australian retailer to partner with Google's agentic platform, we are evolving our digital shopping assistant Olive into an intuitive partner that won't just answer questions, but actually anticipates your needs – planning meals based on what you love and spotting the specials that matter to your budget,” Woolworths Group managing director and CEO Amanda Bardwell said in a statement.

“This is a practical innovation that's all about us doing the heavy lifting for you, making shopping that little bit easier to give you time back in your day."

Olive was first launched in November 2018 after it was built by Woolworths’ digital arm WooliesX.

It does make use of some Google service integrations already, notably to help customers locate products in aisles.