Albertsons personalizes online wine shopping with AI
Albertsons Companies Inc. is utilizing artificial intelligence to make highly individualized direct-to-consumer wine recommendations.
The Boise-based grocery conglomerate is leveraging the Preferabli Sensorial AI platform to deliver a personalized experienced to customers shopping its Vine & Cellar Reserve direct-to-consumer wine platform.
Available exclusively to Albertsons, Safeway, Vons and Pavilions customers in California, Vine & Cellar Reserve is an expanded and enhanced version of the online Vine and Cellar wine platform the grocer launched in summer 2023. It offers a variety of wines from around the world, including brands and vintages typically unavailable at national supermarket retailers.
Each wine in the collection is handpicked by Albertsons master of wine Curtis Mann and his buying team. The Vine & Cellar Reserve online customer experience includes rich content, guided recommendations, and a showcase for wines with similar taste characteristics, as well as food pairing recommendations, for each individual shopper.
"Vine & Cellar Reserve was created to give customers access to a curated selection of premier wines from around the world," said Curtis Mann, group VP of alcohol for Albertsons Cos. and Master of Wine. "By partnering with Preferabli, we're helping customers receive personalized recommendations based on their individual preferences, learn about the wines they are considering and ultimately, find and discover new wines."
Preferabli's proprietary machine learning database, using hundreds of characteristics for each wine, supports these personalized online shopping features.
"We're imagining a world driven by individual preferences, using machine intelligence with human touch,” said Pam Dillon, co-founder and CEO of Preferabli. "Our software extends the bounds of what human beings can do to create true and lasting customer relationships by working at scale."
[READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: How Albertsons created its omnichannel experience]
Albertsons sues Kroger for breach of contract, calls off merger
In other major news involving Albertsons, the company has moved to terminate its merger agreement with The Kroger Co. and has filed a lawsuit suing the grocery store giant for breach of contract.
The move came the day after the U.S. District Court in Oregon and the King County Superior Court for the State of Washington granted regulators’ requests to block the $24.6 billion deal.
As of Sept. 7, 2024, Albertsons Companies operated 2,267 retail food and drug stores with 1,726 pharmacies, 405 associated fuel centers, 22 dedicated distribution centers and 19 manufacturing facilities. The Company operates stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia under more than 20 well known banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs, Kings Food Markets and Balducci's Food Lovers Market.
