Pick n Pay launches Inspire shoppable-video feed to link recipes and groceries to one‑tap baskets

The retailer describes the feature as a first for the South African grocery retailer. Products featured in videos appear on screen and can be added directly to a customer's basket, with grocery orders available for delivery within an hour.

The development reflects a broader evolution in e-commerce, where consumers increasingly discover products through entertainment, creators and social content rather than through traditional search-led shopping journeys.

From inspiration to basket

The concept behind Pick n Pay Inspire is to reduce the number of steps between discovering a product or recipe and purchasing the items needed to recreate it.

"We've all done it – you spot a recipe on Instagram, screenshot it, open your grocery app and then try to remember what half the ingredients were," says Enrico Ferigolli, Retail Executive: Omnichannel at Pick n Pay.

"With Pick n Pay Inspire, there are no screenshots, no searching and no trying to remember what you saw. It takes you from 'I want that' to 'it's in my basket' in just a tap."

The feed will feature a combination of recipes, entertainment and Pick n Pay Clothing content. Clothing purchases made through the feature will be delivered within three to five business days, while grocery products can be ordered through asap!.

The approach effectively brings elements of social discovery into the retailer's own digital ecosystem, blurring the distinction between content and commerce.

Social commerce moves beyond fashion

Social commerce has traditionally been associated with categories such as fashion and beauty, where influencers, creators and visual content can directly inspire purchasing decisions.

Grocery presents a different opportunity. Food content already plays a significant role across social platforms, from recipe videos and meal inspiration to product demonstrations and cooking trends.

By connecting those content formats directly to a grocery basket, Pick n Pay is attempting to turn inspiration into a transactional opportunity.

"Social commerce is about shortening the distance between seeing something and buying it," says Ferigolli. "People increasingly discover what they want through content – whether it's a recipe, a creator, a sporting moment or a product demonstration."

The significance for grocery retail lies in the removal of friction. Instead of seeing a recipe on one platform, searching for its ingredients on another and then completing the transaction elsewhere, the entire journey can take place within the same environment.

Building on live shopping

Pick n Pay's move into shoppable video is not its first experiment with social commerce.

The retailer has been running its Unreal Deals live shopping show since 2024 across its website and social platforms including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

The format combines entertainment and product demonstrations, with viewers able to interact with hosts and shop featured deals while watching.

On 25 August, the programme moved into Pick n Pay Inspire for the first time, bringing the live-shopping model into the new shoppable-video environment.

This provides the retailer with an opportunity to combine two increasingly important elements of digital retail: content-led discovery and immediate purchasing.

Rather than treating content as marketing that sits separately from the transaction, social commerce makes the content itself part of the shopping journey.

The rise of more conversational grocery shopping

Pick n Pay Inspire is also being launched alongside another digital shopping development from Pick n Pay asap!.

Last month, the platform introduced Penny, a conversational AI-powered grocery shopping companion that allows customers to search using voice or images rather than relying solely on conventional keywords and filters.

Together, the two features point towards a broader shift in digital grocery retail.

Penny is designed around conversation and intent, allowing customers to describe what they need or want to make. Inspire approaches the same problem from the opposite direction: customers can discover something through content and immediately act on that inspiration.

"The future of digital grocery is about making shopping feel less like a chore and more like a natural part of everyday life," says Ferigolli.

For retailers, that shift could become increasingly important as consumers become accustomed to discovering products across multiple digital environments. The challenge is no longer simply providing an online catalogue, but creating digital shopping journeys that reflect how consumers actually discover, evaluate and purchase products.

With Pick n Pay Inspire, the grocery basket becomes part of the content experience itself — bringing social commerce another step closer to the everyday supermarket shop.