Iceland has turned to AI to help reduce food waste across its estate, deploying a dynamic markdown solution from AI-powered retail operations platform, Retail Insight.

The WasteInsight solution will help the frozen food retailer improve sell-through on near-expiry items and goods reaching their sell-by dates, using AI intelligence to discount produce.

By generating the optimum rate of discount – based on the remaining shelf-life, type of product and likelihood of sell-through – the technology will help Iceland tackle waste and offer value to shoppers, while protecting margins.

The dynamic markdowns will also help its colleagues identify close-to-expiry goods requiring discounts more quickly, helping to save time. The platform will also help optimise stock rotation, monitoring inventory levels and notifying staff in real-time when items are close to their expiration dates.

It will also integrate with the retailer’s food donation charities by flagging instances where it is better to donate or redistribute items rather than allowing them to expire on-shelf.

“Reducing food waste remains an important priority for Iceland,” said its Stores Director, Steve Shirley. “We are continually looking for ways to improve how we use operational data to support our colleagues in making faster, better informed decisions.”

Shirley added that the deployment would help it “explore how AI-driven intelligence can support waste reduction objectives while improving consistency across our store operations.”

“Retailers have access to more operational data than ever before, but data only creates value when it enables better decisions,” Retail Insight’s EMEA GM, Martin Rigby, said.

“The opportunity is to move from reporting what has already happened to identifying where action is needed before waste occurs.”

“We are delighted to be working with Iceland to support its continued focus on reducing food waste,” Rigby added. “By combining AI with operational insight, WasteInsight helps surface the products and actions that matter most, enabling colleagues to intervene earlier and with greater confidence.”

The rollout of WasteInsight follows several recent moves in which the frozen food retailer has turned to AI to improve store operations.

Earlier this year, it rolled out a multi-agentic stock optimisation solution from invent.ai to help improve on-shelf availability and keep shelves stocked. It also recently announced that it has worked with SAI, leveraging Vision AI to reduce retail losses and theft by 80% across its estate.