AI shopping agents could reshape competition for Australia’s grocery dollar | EY - Australia

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - 23 SEPTEMBER 2026

Nearly three in four Australians (72 per cent) are comfortable with artificial intelligence (AI) gathering grocery prices, deals and product options, but most are not yet ready to let an AI agent complete the entire shop without their review, new EY Australia research has found.

The nationally representative survey of 1,000 Australian adults found 30 per cent of shoppers are at least somewhat comfortable with AI automatically reordering regularly purchased items. However, only two per cent who would prefer an AI agent complete the entire grocery shop on its own.

Richard Rome, Associate Partner, Consumer Industry at EY Australia said AI could remove much of the time and effort involved in grocery shopping for millions of Australians.

"For many, grocery shopping is a burden with a surprising amount of complexity and micro-decisions behind every basket. Our research indicates that consumers can see an opportunity for AI to take on much of that cognitive load while still delivering highly personalised outcomes," he said.

Shoppers are most willing to delegate routine product choices to AI, including pantry items (32 per cent), beverages (30 per cent) and snacks and confectionery (30 per cent). Willingness falls to 19 per cent for health and wellness products and 10 per cent for baby products and family care.

Families with children under 18 and younger shoppers aged 18-34 are among the most likely groups to be early adopters of AI in grocery shopping. Other demographics also demonstrating strong potential for AI adoption include higher-income households (65 per cent), self-employed and full-time workers (62 per cent), and shoppers aged 35-54 (57 per cent).

Sixty-three per cent of survey respondents said they want to retain some human oversight when using an AI shopping agent, while fifty-nine per cent would be willing to share personal information if it helped the agent understand their needs and preferences.

"Australians are open to AI taking some of the work out of the weekly shop, but they are not handing over the basket without conditions. The technology must save money or time, make reliable recommendations and truly understand and meet the consumers values, needs and preferences," Rome said.

The survey found 88 per cent of Australians shop across more than one grocery retailer each month, creating the potential for AI agents to become a new intermediary between shoppers, supermarkets and suppliers.

"This could challenge the assumption that a grocery shop begins with one supermarket. Increasingly, AI will be the default mode of product recommendation and selection. Our research indicates that 61 per cent of Australian shoppers already use existing AI tools to help with their grocery shopping," Rome said.

"In an AI-driven world, visibility alone won't be enough. Brands that can be understood, trusted and recommended by AI agents will have a significant advantage, making Answer Engine Optimisation a critical complement to Search Engine Optimisation."

The research was conducted by EY Australia in collaboration with the Australian Food and Grocery Council to examine Australians' willingness to use AI-assisted grocery shopping and what the shift could mean for retailers and suppliers.

Andrew Clark, Director of Retail at the Australian Food and Grocery Council, said the emergence of AI shopping agents is already top of mind for the industry.

"AI-enabled shopping has attracted significant attention and investment from retailers and suppliers over recent years and will remain an important topic for the food and grocery industry," he said.

"As part of the AFGC's role as an industry thought leader, insights such as these help bring Australia's FMCG industry together to understand emerging opportunities and champion growth."

"The AFGC is pleased to work with EY, whose expertise and insights make a valuable contribution to this important industry conversation."

The full report, Who wins the basket when AI does the shopping?, is available on the EY Australia website.

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Research methodology

EY Studio+ conducted a nationally representative online survey of 1,000 Australian adults aged 18 years and over in June 2026. The research defines an AI-powered shopping agent as a trusted, retailer-agnostic assistant that can plan, compare and recommend grocery choices across retailers and, with permission, eventually make purchases on a shopper's behalf.

Respondents were selected using a random stratified sample with quotas for age, gender and region, and results were weighted to reflect the Australian population. The survey has a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at the 95 per cent confidence level.

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