Britannia, WPP Launch 'A-Eye', Turning Smartphone Into Shopping Assistant For Visually Impaired

Britannia Industries Ltd., in partnership with WPP, has launched Britannia A-Eye, to empower the retail experience for the visually impaired.

Britannia A-Eye turns a smartphone into an intelligent shopping assistant, allowing users to scan their surroundings through their phone cameras. 

The AI reads the environment, providing voice-based responses to guide visually impaired shoppers through store aisles, which are customised to each retail store. Further, the solution identifies products and can access details such as pricing, ingredients, nutrition information and expiry dates. Currently, this solution is enabled for Britannia products.

Powered by Google Gemini and based on Vertex AI Multimodal Live, the pilot leverages Google Astra's capabilities to improve retail experiences, in partnership with MORE Retail and Mithra Jyoti, an NGO dedicated to empowering the visually impaired community. 

This first-of-its-kind initiative uses the latest multimodal AI capabilities of Google Cloud to enable navigation, real-time product identification and instant access to product information, empowering visually impaired consumers to shop independently.

"Britannia A-Eye is a testament to how innovation can revolutionise inclusivity in retail," Siddharth Gupta, general manager of marketing at Britannia Industries, said. "This initiative is not just about leveraging cutting-edge technology — it's about fostering equity and independence for all consumers."

"While this initiative is still in its early days, it holds the promise of fundamentally changing the way retail is experienced, ensuring accessibility is not an afterthought but a standard for all," Daniel Hulme, chief AI officer of WPP, said.

For those who are blind or visually challenged, being able to shop on their own is a matter of respect as much as convenience. Britannia A-Eye is a significant step in ensuring that shopping is autonomous, seamless and barrier-free for people with vision impairments, said Amar Jain, co-founder of Mission Accessibility, lawyer and a key advocate for accessibility.

Consumers can experience this technology at MORE Supermarket at TC Palya, Bengaluru.