Checkers has added conversational abilities to Pixie, the Sixty60 AI shopping assistant, closing the clearest gap between it and Penny, the rival Pick n Pay switched on in July.

When Pick n Pay launched Penny, the two assistants were built on opposite philosophies. Penny, running on Google’s Gemini models, started from conversation: ask for a carbonara recipe and it returns the method with a carousel of ingredients to drop into the basket. Pixie, built in-house by ShopriteX on Xtra Savings data, started from replenishment – predictive reordering and a swipe-based Smart Basket rather than open dialogue.

Pick n Pay omnichannel executive Enrico Ferigolli described the split to TechCentral as deliberate, predicting that “over time, both will do both”. Conversation was always on Shoprite’s road map – it listed “conversational features” as a future plan when Pixie launched – but Penny got there first. Now Sixty60 customers can use text, voice and images to talk to Pixie, the same multimodal inputs Penny launched with.

The feature set tracks Penny closely. Snap a razor and Pixie identifies the replacement blades; upload a handwritten recipe and it builds a basket; ask for dinner ideas and it returns recipes – including an “exclusive selection” from Jamie Oliver – with a one-tap add to basket. Shoprite adds a wrinkle: Pixie factors in time of day and local weather, pitching a braai on a sunny afternoon and comfort food when a cold front moves in.

The competitive logic is the more interesting part here: Sixty60 remains the category leader on range, delivery and its Tinder-style Smart Basket, and was first to market with an AI assistant in April, opening Pixie to all users in July. Penny then put a capability in the market that Pixie lacked and left it there for two months. Smart Chat removes it.

In a statement, chief strategy and innovation officer Neil Schreuder described the upgrade as turning Pixie into “a 24/7 personal shopping butler”, echoing Ferigolli’s pitch of an app that thinks for the customer.

A promotional video for the new Pixie Smart Chat feature:

Both retailers are converging on the same destination from different starting points, and the contest is no longer about whether an assistant can chat. It is about whose data makes the chat useful. Here Shoprite’s hand is strong: Pixie learns from Xtra Savings, the country’s largest grocery loyalty base. Shoprite says it has helped add more than four million products to baskets since April – a figure offered without a denominator, and one that counts additions rather than purchases.