Customers of Spanish retail chain Mercadona can now access a personalised AI grocery assistant that aims to simplify the planning of weekly meals and grocery shopping.
MercadonIA is an independent project of Mercadona, developed by telecommunications engineer Juan Carlos Cavero Gracia. The AI utilises a customised GPT model and the OpenAI platform trained on Mercadona product data, according to daily El Economista.
MercadonIA crawls Mercadona's website to gather product information, including nutritional values and prices. The developer relied on image reading technology to extract the nutritional tables of all the products since they were in photographic format on the supermarket's website.
The AI tool creates weekly meal plans that align with dietary preferences, such as gluten-free, low-calorie, or vegan options. It also provides an overview of macronutrient distribution.
It develops meal plans that fit the budget, for example, €50 per week for two people, suggesting cost-effective products and options for bulk purchases to save money.
Additionally, it generates organised shopping lists that group products by supermarket aisle, making the shopping trip more efficient.
Users can interact with MercadonIA by providing specific instructions. For example, 'Create a weekly menu for two people with a budget of €50, focusing on low-calorie dishes and natural ingredients' or 'Design a gluten-free menu for three people with a daily calorie limit of 1,500 per person.'
Expansion In Portugal
As of the end of 2024, Mercadona operated over 1,600 stores in Spain and 51 in Portugal.
Construction has begun on a new supermarket in Alta de Lisboa, marking the company's first entry into the city of Lisbon. Scheduled to open in 2025, this store will bring Mercadona's total count in the Lisbon district to six.
The 5,000 square metre store will feature an underground parking facility and adhere to Mercadona's Efficient Store Model, emphasising customer service, streamlined shopping experiences, and benefits for customers, employees, suppliers, and the community.
Management Change
Meanwhile, Elena Tejedor, formerly the general director of external relations, is leaving the management committee of Mercadona.
However, she will continue to be professionally associated with the company.
Héctor Hernández, currently the managing director of finance, external relations and legacy, will assume responsibility for external relations.
