British retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has testing a new AI tool, the Wine Finder, designed to guide customers through the often-daunting process of selecting the perfect wine.  

By posing a series of quick questions about taste preferences, the Wine Finder provides personalised wine recommendations from the store's range. 

Research titled "Wine Worries," commissioned by M&S, revealed that almost a quarter of shoppers spend upwards of ten minutes contemplating their wine choices in in-store aisles. 

The tool is now accessible online for more than 500 stores and features in point-of-sale marketing across 20 Foodhalls.  

M&S also supports customers with its digital catalogue available through the M&S app, which offers livestock information from more than 1,000 stores, aligning with M&S's goal to evolve into a "shopping list" retailer. Customers can check stock at their local stores and compile digital shopping lists.  

The Wine Finder taps into this catalogue to ensure that its recommendations are available at the customer's preferred location. 

The technology behind this initiative comes from Preferabli, an AI-driven product discovery and recommendation software specialising in wine, spirits and food.  

This marks the first time such technology is being adopted by a UK grocery retailer.  

Developed by an expert team including PhDs and wine experts, Masters of Wine and master sommeliers, the Preferabli platform uses a proprietary database with detailed profiles for each wine. 

M&S Food's head of beers, wine and spirits Caroline Thompson-Hill stated: “We know wine can be a difficult category to shop and it’s important that we find new ways to support our customers when shopping our incredible range in store. By utilising AI, the Wine Finder tool helps encourage customers to try different regions, grapes and bottles they’ve not considered before. By suggesting wines to try, we’ll help customers make decisions in stores and hopefully find some new favourites.”  

M&S recently announced three senior appointments to its global leadership team as it seeks to reset its international business and bolster its future growth plans.