The VARUS supermarket chain has launched an AI assistant on its online service VARUS.UA, which automatically selects products and forms a ready-made basket based on the user’s text, voice, or visual request.
The VARUS supermarket chain has launched an AI assistant on its online service VARUS.UA, which automatically selects products and forms a ready-made basket based on the user’s text, voice, or visual request.
Now, the buyer just needs to write or say what he wants to cook, for example, «borscht», «lasagna», «dinner for guests» or «Asian cuisine week», after which the system will independently select the necessary ingredients.
AI works in a chat format on the VARUS.UA website. The company also plans to add it to the VARUS mobile application soon.
The assistant supports several query formats. The user can:
After that, AI analyzes the request, finds the necessary products in the catalog, and forms a ready-made cart.
When selecting, the system takes into account the assortment of the nearest store, the popularity of products among buyers, as well as current promotions and discounts. If the desired product is not available, AI offers an analogue from the same category, focusing on products that had the highest sales over the past week.
After creating a cart, you can edit it: change brands, packaging, delete or add items.
In addition, repeat customers can use the «Repeat my last order» command to quickly restore a previous purchase.
According to VARUS, before the launch of AI, over 45% of customers collected orders manually through a product catalog.
The company notes that creating a large grocery cart could previously take about 30 minutes, especially if it involved complex recipes or purchasing groceries for several days.
The AI assistant creates the first version of the cart in a few seconds, and its verification and editing takes about one to two minutes. According to the company, re-processing a previous order takes about 30 seconds.
The AI assistant was developed jointly by the VARUS.UA and Neomi teams.
The development and testing of the service lasted almost a year. Initially, the tool was used by company employees, a closed pilot was launched in the summer of 2025, and in the spring of 2026, the function was opened to all users.
According to VARUS, after the service was restarted in April, the number of users of the AI assistant has been growing by approximately 260% every month, and the turnover of orders generated with its help increased by approximately 250% in May compared to the previous month.
As a next step, the company plans to launch a separate tool for regular customers, which will analyze purchase history and automatically create orders from products that the user purchases regularly.
