Online grocery store uses customer purchase histories to predict when items will run out

Rosie is a platform for food shopping that learns users' purchase routines to deliver items when they need them.

Italy’s Milk, Please! has already enabled homeowners to crowdsource last minute groceries when they find they’ve run out. Now Rosie is a platform for food shopping that learns users’ purchase routines to deliver items when they need them. Shoppers signing up for the New York-based service first enter details about their household – how many people live there, their age and sex, and information about their regular buying habits. They can then browse items in the store and add them to their basket as they would with any other e-retail outlet. Purchased items are saved at a grocery store close to the user’s location and they can pick them up in their own time. Through the Rosie app, consumers are alerted when they might be running out of a particular item based on smart algorithms and their purchase histories. The service automatically finds the cheapest price for the item and reserves it in a nearby store. Alternatively – through Rosie’s partnership with personal errand service TaskRabbit – users can get someone to pick up their items for them. This kind of innovation – along with ideas such as smart fridges – could help take the pressure off the busy modern family. How else could daily chores be streamlined and made easier?