Albertsons said its AI shopping tools are lifting online order values by as much as 26 percent, a rare bright spot in a year when the grocery chain's in-store sales have struggled. The company rolled out the tools last year to answer customer questions, suggest products, build shopping lists, and offer personalized recommendations across its 2,200-plus stores, which operate under brands including Safeway, Vons, and Lucky's.
The results show shoppers who engage with the tools spend more per order. Jill Pavlovich, Albertsons' senior vice president of digital shopping experiences, told The Wall Street Journal that standard conversational search delivers about a 10 percent lift in average order value. "About a 26% lift in average order value when they use more comprehensive assistants to find their recipes, find the ingredients that match their dietary preferences," she said.
Why the lift matters
The gains come at a useful time. Albertsons started 2026 with strong pharmacy and online growth, but in-person grocery sales lagged as the company dealt with "a more cautious consumer" managing inflation, it said in its first-quarter earnings report. Year-on-year sales were tepid, and profit came in 22 percent below analyst expectations, according to Yahoo Finance.
The company has also been reshaping its footprint. After a failed merger with Kroger in December 2024, Albertsons closed more than 30 stores. For sales professionals, the pattern is familiar: when foot traffic softens, the focus shifts to raising the value of each transaction. That's exactly what the AI tools are doing - and the data is strong enough that Albertsons is talking about it publicly.
The broader grocery picture
The wider industry is in a similar spot. Grocery inflation has cooled since hitting a four-decade high in 2022, but consumers remain guarded with their cash amid economic uncertainty, industry publication GroceryDive noted in July. Shoppers have bought fewer groceries year-on-year for five consecutive quarters, according to consulting firm Bain & Company. The West is driving the decline - it's the only region where buying volume has fallen at least 2.5 percent year-on-year for three straight months.
For sales teams, the takeaway from Albertsons isn't about groceries. It's about what happens when you give buyers a tool that genuinely helps them decide. The company didn't push discounts or promotions - it gave customers better answers, and they responded by spending more. That's a model worth studying for anyone selling in a cautious market. Sales professionals who want to see how AI can shape buying behavior in their own field can start with AI for Sales resources, or look at AI for Sales Representatives training that covers practical applications like personalized recommendations and customer assistance.
Why this matters for sales professionals
The Albertsons numbers give sales teams a concrete benchmark: AI-assisted buying decisions can raise order value by double digits. The mechanism matters more than the tool. Customers spent more because the AI reduced friction - it found recipes, matched dietary preferences, and built lists. It didn't push products; it solved problems. Sales professionals who apply that logic to their own pipelines - helping prospects answer their own questions before the pitch - can expect similar gains in deal size and close rates.
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