NTUC FairPrice Lifts Basket Size 80% with AI-Powered Smart Carts
NTUC FairPrice lifts average basket size 80% with AI-powered shopping trolleys at Punggol flagship store. Google Cloud partnership enables conversational shopping assistant and 82% self-checkout ad...
NTUC FairPrice Group, Singapore's largest grocery retailer, reported an 80% increase in average basket size at its Punggol flagship store following the deployment of AI-powered shopping trolleys. The smart carts raised customer spending from SGD 19.64 (US$14.50) to SGD 35.36 (US$26) while achieving 82% self-checkout adoption rates.
Technology Drives Commercial Results
The AI-enabled trolleys, deployed at FairPrice's "Store of Tomorrow" location in Punggol Digital District, use built-in screens to help shoppers locate products, display nearby promotions, and recommend items based on purchase history. The carts automatically scan products as customers shop and enable direct payment on the device, eliminating checkout queues.
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FairPrice launched the program in August 2025 in partnership with Google Cloud. The technology uses Google's Chirp 2 speech recognition model and Gemini API to power a conversational shopping assistant. Customers can ask the system for product recommendations, ingredient lists, and real-time inventory checks as they navigate the store.
"Our focus today with digital integration and adoption is innovation, how we can best use advanced technologies like Gen-AI to reinvent the customer and staff journey in our stores," said Dennis Seah, FairPrice Group's chief digital and technology officer.
The retailer has already expanded smart cart pilots to FairPrice Finest Sengkang Grand Mall and plans further rollout to FairPrice Finest Thomson Plaza. The company committed to testing more than 20 new digital solutions annually over three years across its network of 570 touchpoints.
Broader Automation Strategy
Beyond smart trolleys, FairPrice is deploying digital price cards across 164 supermarkets for remote price and promotion updates. The system reduces manual labor and paper consumption while enabling real-time pricing adjustments across locations.
Vision AI technology monitors shelf stock levels using existing CCTV cameras, flagging low inventory and alerting staff when cleaning or additional checkout capacity is needed. The retailer's Grocer Genie operations portal uses photo uploads to automatically assign cleanup tasks to nearby staff members.
FairPrice's supply chain center analyzes 60 million data points daily using AI to predict disruptions and optimize logistics. The company also integrated Singapore's MyInfo system to automatically apply discounts for eligible members during checkout through the FairPrice Group app.
Regional Context
The deployment positions FairPrice within Asia-Pacific's accelerating retail automation trend. The region leads global AI retail growth at 21.3% compound annual growth rate, with China specifically reaching 35% CAGR. Some 39% of Asia-Pacific consumers already use generative AI for online grocery shopping, with adoption exceeding 50% in China, India, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Consumer behavior is shifting rapidly toward AI-enabled shopping experiences. Globally, 58% of consumers now use generative AI over traditional search for product recommendations, with 71% wanting it integrated into shopping experiences, up from 63% in 2023. Among grocery retailers, 92% now use AI for personalization.
Seah acknowledged scaling challenges including hiring skilled staff, integrating legacy systems, and fostering digital-first mindsets. FairPrice addresses these through a "Prototype, Pilot, Scale" approach that tests innovations before broader expansion.
The Store of Tomorrow program won dual awards at the Asian Innovation Excellence Awards 2025 for Singapore Customer-Centric Innovation of the Year and Singapore Technology Innovation of the Year in the retail category.
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