There were plenty of reasons why Coles investors were upbeat last week. The supermarket giant was making inroads against Woolworths. Profits were up. What went under the radar was the work being done to transform its technology.

It hasn’t been unusual for non-tech stocks to highlight their digital chops throughout the half-yearly reporting season last month, but with investors currently richly rewarding parsimony, nothing says efficient deployment of capital as succinctly as two letters: AI.