If you are a frequent visitor to Singapore, you must be familiar with FairPrice, the country’s largest retail brand. Recently, the retailer has introduced a smart concept store called FairPrice Finest Store of Tomorrow located in the Punggol Digital District area that leverages various types of AI technology with the help of Google Cloud.
What is unique about this FairPrice Finest Store of Tomorrow is that it comes with 15 upgraded smart trolleys and comes with a tablet and a product scanner that offers a number of very useful smart functions.
Previously, the smart trolleys already came with interesting features such as product scanning functions and built-in in-store navigation that makes it easy for customers to find the shelf location of the product you want to buy quickly and easily.
With the help of Google Cloud technology, these smart trolleys have been upgraded with the addition of agentic and multimodal AI technology. These include:
A multi-turn conversational agent built using Chirp 2, Google Cloud’s most advanced voice recognition model, and the multimodal Gemini API;
A product catalog and inventory search agent built using Vertex AI Search and Gemini API, to retrieve and summarize product information;
A knowledge agent built using Gemini API, Vertex AI RAG Engine, and Grounding with Google Search API to process barcode information and suggest additional products based on recipes or food matches from trusted sources.
For example, a customer can say they want to cook red chicken, white rice, and fatty meat to the smart cart’s AI agent, and the attached tablet will list the ingredients you need to buy to enable you to cook these dishes.
Using the smart cart’s built-in navigation system, it will take you to the shelves and areas that have these ingredients, and you can scan them directly into your cart for a quick and easy shopping experience.
What’s unique about the new AI system introduced on these smart carts is that it understands a wide range of languages and dialects used in Singapore, including Malay, English and various dialects of Chinese.
It can also give you suggestions on products to buy based on common queries such as “I want to buy rice” or “I’m looking for lactose-free milk”. The cart will then list a few options and take you to a specific shelf with products like these.
Paying after you’re done shopping is also very easy. FairPrice has previously introduced a dedicated lane for these smart carts, and with the FairPrice app, you can pay directly through the app. What’s more, the app will update the sale prices not only with in-store promotions, but also with SG60 vouchers that Singaporeans can take advantage of.
They have also introduced AI agent technology in their pharmacies. A body composition scanning scale has been introduced, and the recorded data will be processed by Tanita API and Gemini technology and then sent to the Wellness Genie terminal, which will provide you with lifestyle advice, meal plans, recipes and customized shopping lists to enable users to start a healthier lifestyle and diet.
For employees at the FairPrice Finest Store of Tomorrow, their employee app has been updated to allow store managers to review the daily sales stock of products. Using cameras and various scanning systems in the store, managers can see which shelves need to be replenished with new stock at a glance.
The use of AI generative technology is also being utilized for the purpose of creating promotional content. The use of Google Cloud AI technologies such as Imagen 4 and Veo 3 has made it easier for FairPrice’s marketing department to edit images and generate promotional videos such as Price Drop, Buy Now and Durian Buffet quickly and easily.
Currently, FairPrice Finest Store of Tomorrow has two locations, including in Punggol Digital District and Sengkang Grand Mall. FairPrice says that a third location will be introduced by the end of 2025 at Thomson Plaza.