The convenience of ordering groceries via safe shopping online has saved consumers from the ordeal of having to trek to a real-world supermarket and put products in the basket by hand. However, there are still some limitations associated with buying online, chiefly involving the need to manually select the items to order.

Such issues are set to be overcome thanks to a new app being rolled out by a German retail chain called Edeka. The smartphone grocery shopping solution is endowed with machine learning capabilities which will allow customers to have their grocery orders automated.

The upshot of this is that in the long term the app will learn the habits and needs of individual users and thus tailor orders to their requirements without the need for direct interaction. This will even mean that deliveries will be scheduled appropriately to coincide with the typical point at which particular products run out and need to be replaced.

Such levels of automation will clearly take weeks or months of monitoring user habits to become particularly effective, but the implementation of AI will allow for the accuracy of the app to grow over time.

The app is also aimed at allowing customers to collaborate with other members of the household to build shopping lists, add suggestions as to which products to order and share images of particular items that they believe might be useful.

Other aspects of the app include the ability to automate the planning and implementation of menus that users can follow throughout the course of the week according to the kinds of foods that they add to their baskets.

Smart shopping services like this will no doubt arrive in the UK if they prove to be a hit in other parts of Europe.