AI shopping agents poised to reshape Australian grocery competition, but consumers demand oversight

Australians are warming to artificial intelligence in the grocery aisle, but only on their own terms. A new survey of 1,000 adults found that nearly three-quarters of the country—72 per cent—are comfortable letting AI scan prices, compare deals, and surface product options. That comfort evaporates the moment the technology tries to act alone. Only 2 per cent of shoppers would hand over their entire grocery list to an algorithm and walk away. The gap between those two numbers tells the story of where the technology stands: useful as a tool, not yet trusted as a substitute for human judgment.

The research, conducted by EY Australia in partnership with the Australian Food and Grocery Council, reveals a population willing to offload some of the cognitive burden of shopping—but not all of it. Thirty per cent of respondents said they could accept AI automatically reordering items they buy regularly. The willingness to delegate varies sharply by product category. Pantry staples, beverages, and snacks command the most trust, with roughly 30 per cent of shoppers open to AI handling these choices. That figure drops to 19 per cent for health and wellness products and plummets to 10 per cent for baby products and family care items—categories where consumers feel the stakes are higher and personal knowledge matters most.

Certain demographics are already leaning in. Families with children under 18 and younger adults aged 18 to 34 show the strongest appetite for AI-assisted shopping. Higher-income households, self-employed workers, and full-time employees also demonstrate significant openness to the technology. But across all groups, a single condition dominates: 63 per cent of respondents insisted they want to retain human oversight when using an AI shopping agent. Nearly 60 per cent said they would share personal information—purchase history, dietary preferences, budget constraints—if it meant the AI could better understand their needs.

What makes this moment significant for retailers and suppliers is the fragmentation already baked into Australian shopping habits. Eighty-eight per cent of shoppers visit more than one grocery store each month, a pattern that creates an opening for AI agents to become something new: an intermediary layer between consumers and the retailers competing for their business. If an AI system can learn what a household needs, where to find it cheapest, and which stores stock it best, the traditional assumption that a grocery shop "begins" at one supermarket begins to crack. Sixty-one per cent of Australian shoppers already use existing AI tools to help with their grocery decisions, suggesting the infrastructure for this shift is quietly taking root.

The implications ripple outward. In a landscape where AI becomes the default mode of product discovery and recommendation, visibility on a retailer's website or in a search engine may no longer be enough. Brands will need to be legible to algorithms—optimized not just for human search but for what the industry is beginning to call Answer Engine Optimisation, a discipline focused on making products understandable and trustworthy to AI systems that will recommend them. Richard Rome, an associate partner in consumer industry at EY, framed it plainly: "Brands that can be understood, trusted and recommended by AI agents will have a significant advantage." The grocery industry is watching this unfold. Andrew Clark, director of retail at the Australian Food and Grocery Council, acknowledged that AI-enabled shopping has already captured the attention and investment of major players across the sector. The research itself signals how seriously the industry is taking the shift—not as speculation about a distant future, but as a present-tense question about how competition will be reshaped in the years immediately ahead.