When AI Pushes the Shopping Cart
Last week I stood in an Osnabrück grocery store, tablet in hand, discussing with an AI whether I should buy Gouda or Emmental. What sounds like a scene from a science fiction film is already reality — and exactly the scenario we have been researching for over a year in our InVerBio project.
What is InVerBio?
InVerBio stands for Intelligent Virtual Advisory Assistant in Organic Food Retail. The goal of the project is to understand how an AI-powered assistant can help people while shopping — not by simply displaying product information, but through genuine, context-aware conversation.
What have we learned so far?
Three things stand out in particular:
1. Trust requires transparency. Users accept AI recommendations far more readily when they can understand why a recommendation is being made. “This product has less packaging” is more persuasive than “I recommend this.”
2. Tone matters enormously. An overly formal assistant feels cold; an overly casual one feels untrustworthy. Finding the right balance is harder than expected.
3. People share more than asked. Many users voluntarily disclose personal context — allergies, preferences, household size — without being prompted to do so.
What comes next?
This summer we are launching a larger field study in which we will test the system in a real retail environment over several weeks. Insights will feed directly into the ongoing development of the assistant.
For more on the project, visit the InVerBio project page.