Tesco to Use Clubcard Data to Warn Shoppers About Unhealthy Food Habits

Tesco plans to expand use of AI to personalise how people shop

Tesco is planning to vastly expand its application of artificial intelligence to customer data as the UK's biggest supermarket seeks to attract more customers by personalising how they shop. Chief executive Ken Murphy said that the grocer could harness AI alongside data from its Clubcard loyalty discount scheme to suggest shoppers make healthier choices and reduce waste. "I can see it nudging you over time, saying: 'I've noticed over time in your shopping basket that your sodium salt content is 250% of your daily recommended allowance. I would recommend you substitute this, this and this'," said Murphy, speaking at the FT's Future of Retail summit in London on Tuesday. "It can help to bring your shopping bill down, reduce waste and improve the outcome and the power of that Clubcard," he said, adding that AI "will completely revolutionise how customers interact with retailers". Tesco's Clubcard is used by more than 22mn UK households. The scheme is central to the group's strategy to attract and retain more customers to its stores. Mark Adams, senior vice-president at retail software provider BigCommerce, said that tailoring shopping to individuals was increasingly popular among retailers. "The broad strategy of most companies, retailers and brands in our space is to evolve personalisation. It's the number-one thing you can do to improve loyalty, to improve profitability, to improve relevance. AI and technology helps to deliver that," he said, speaking at the same conference. Acknowledging concerns around data sharing, he added: "There are always going to be certain customers that don't like it . . . but for me as a consumer, I don't mind giving up that data if I get the right kind of experience back." Pets at Home chief executive Lyssa McGowan, also speaking at the FT event, said: "We're already using machine learning to figure out what vouchers we should give them -- we know what their dog has for breakfast," she said. "AI will enable us to do that even better." Tesco already uses limited AI in its Clubcard offering, offering customers things such as personalised "Clubcard challenges" based on their shopping habits. However, Murphy said that "to get down to that one-to-one level of relationship, where they feel like the Clubcard is literally doing the job for them, we need to be using generative AI extensively". Tesco has bolstered its technology division in recent years, as the company has pivoted towards building its own technology rather than buying it externally. Murphy described a "massive improvement in our technology landscape" since the company hired Guus Dekkers as chief technology officer in 2018. Tesco now employs more than 5,000 people in technology, and continues to hire about 300 extra people each year. He acknowledged that these plans involved holding significant personal data, which could raise privacy concerns for some users. "It sees how you buy and it deducts who you're buying for. It probably knows the age of your kids, knows the gender of your kids." Murphy added that Tesco was still far smaller in comparison to retailers such as Amazon in terms of its AI capabilities. "We are absolute minnows. But we're up for the fight."

Tesco could use Clubcard data to alert shoppers to health content of their groceries

Suggestion will likely delight campaigners who have issued warnings over unhealthy eating Hannah Boland 17 September 2024 2:09pm Tesco could use Clubcard data to warn shoppers when they are buying too many unhealthy items, its chief executive has said. The boss of Britain's biggest supermarket said he expected to use artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor how customers were shopping to help "nudge" people into making healthier choices. Tesco's Ken Murphy said: "I can see it nudging you, saying: 'look, I've noticed over time that in your shopping basket your sodium salt content is 250pc of your daily recommended allowance. I would recommend you substitute this, this and this for lower sodium products to improve your heart health'." He said this was "very simple stuff" which could "really improve people's daily lives". The suggestion is likely to delight health campaigners who have warned that unhealthy eating is driving a costly obesity crisis that is impacting the NHS. The Institute for Public Policy Research this week called for extra taxes on unhealthy foods such as biscuits and chocolates to discourage people from buying them. However, the suggestion that Tesco would seek to influence people's personal choices will alarm privacy campaigners. Jake Hurfurt, Big Brother Watch's head of research and investigations, said: "It is astounding that Tesco's CEO wants to use this data to tell us how to live our lives. "Mr Murphy's comments should alarm everyone and serve as evidence that loyalty card schemes are based on mass-scale surveillance of customers. Tesco has no right to make judgements about what's in our baskets or nudge us on what we should and should not be buying." The suggestion that Tesco will use Clubcard data to nudge customers into making healthier choices follows pressure from regulators for supermarkets to do more to help with obesity in the UK. In 2022, the government introduced rules forcing grocers to move junk food away from prominent parts of their stores such as entrances and near checkouts. Sir Keir Starmer is plotting a series of further interventions on public health in a bid to help save the NHS from collapse. These include a ban on energy drinks for children under 16, which is expected to be introduced to Parliament next month, and supervised tooth-brushing rolled out for pre-school children later this year. Critics have been warning that Britain is moving towards becoming a "nanny state". Speaking at the FT Future of Retail Conference on Tuesday, Mr Murphy suggested AI could also be used to help Clubcard customers get better value when they shop. This could mean telling customers they should wait a week to stock up on products if Tesco had an offer coming up that could make their shop cheaper. Mr Murphy said the aim was for customers to feel that "Clubcard is literally doing their job for them and making their lives easier". The comments come amid growing scrutiny over the extent of data collected by supermarkets through their loyalty schemes and how they use it. As well as using loyalty card data to tailor offers, supermarkets are increasingly selling the information to third parties. Estimates have suggested that Tesco and Sainsbury's alone make £300m a year from selling this in-house data on their customers. So-called "insights" on shoppers are anonymised, but are used to build archetypal customers that can give other businesses an idea of what a typical person might be interested in. Tesco has said it does not "sell or share any individual customer data and we take our responsibilities regarding the use of customer data extremely seriously". Recommended How supermarket shoppers became part of a £2bn goldrush Read more