Tesco has agreed a three‑year partnership with French startup Mistral AI to develop generative artificial intelligence tools across its retail operations, including a revamp of personalised Clubcard offers and faster data analysis on its loyalty base.

The supermarket said the deal forms part of a broader strategy to use AI to improve the experience for customers, colleagues and suppliers, building on existing applications in delivery routing, demand forecasting and tailored engagement.

Under the agreement, Tesco will gain full access to Mistral AI’s commercial models and future developments, alongside support from its engineers. The companies will also create a joint AI lab to co‑design and build new generative AI solutions for different parts of Tesco’s business.

Mistral AI, headquartered in France, describes itself as a pioneer of high‑performance open‑source models and end‑to‑end infrastructure through Mistral Compute, with a growing global presence and customers including HSBC, AXA and Stellantis.

Ruben Lara, Tesco’s director of data, analytics and AI, said the collaboration is intended to make internal processes more efficient and enhance service: “By bringing together our retail expertise and Mistral AI’s cutting‑edge technology, we hope this partnership could ultimately save colleagues time, improve how we do things and help us to better serve our customers.”

Tesco said it has doubled the size of its technology team over the past five years, reflecting the potential for new tools to improve customer experience. It pointed to current uses of AI that optimise delivery routes to open more time slots, support complex demand forecasting to maintain availability, and enable more personalised Clubcard engagement.

Marjorie Janiewicz, chief revenue officer and US general manager at Mistral AI, said: “We are proud to partner with Tesco, a leader in retail innovation. Our Applied AI team will collaborate with Tesco’s experts to build customisable, controllable and frontier AI products to improve internal workflows and Tesco’s customers’ experience.”

The partnership signals an acceleration in Tesco’s adoption of generative AI, with content development and document drafting among the expected applications. The supermarket emphasised that investments will focus on tangible improvements across operations while maintaining its commitment to innovation in ways that benefit customers, colleagues and suppliers.

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