Shoppers are moving fast, and retailers need to catch up
AI agents are rapidly transforming how people shop. According to CI&T’s latest Retail Tech Report: Agentic Commerce Edition, 86% of UK & Ireland shoppers have either already used an AI agent to shop or are open to doing so. 68% have used one already and 80% of those have used an agent to shop in the past three months. Consumers are typically slow to adopt new retailer technology, so this speed of embrace is significant. Considering that 69% say the technology is making them shop smarter, it’s clear that the quickness of adoption is due to the sense of empowerment it provides.
When we zoom in on what shoppers are actually doing with these agents, the picture is enriched. Most of that agentic shopping activity is comparing brands (45%), hunting for the lowest price (42%), or finding where to buy something (39%). Consumers are beginning the path to purchase in a research mindset, and agentic AI allows them to make the smart purchase decisions they crave. The old sequence of discovering a product, researching it, then buying it has effectively flipped. Research and discovery now happen together, often before a shopper ever lands on a retailer’s own site.
This rapid incorporation of agentic commerce into everyday shopping is a rare example where consumers are ready for retail technology faster than retailers are prepared to deliver it. Right now, retailers have a narrow window of opportunity to build AI agents into their proprietary digital channels in ways differentiated from third party LLM platforms in order to demonstrate to this fast-paced consumer that their shopping experiences are worthy digital destinations.
The complexities of Grocery shopping beg the need for agentic commerce
Grocery was in the top three categories where respondents said they were most likely to use an agent to shop, but it is a category where consumers report conducting less research. Further, it is the top category where consumers prefer shopping in stores. The data suggests that price-sensitivity is what’s driving agentic adoption in the space and that the search for the best price just isn’t considered research by consumers’ more conventional definitions. The routine and price-sensitive nature of grocery shopping makes it a sensible category for using AI agents to put certain purchases on autopilot. With high-frequency staple purchases, agentic AI’s enablement of brand comparison, deal hunting, and locating necessities would bring much-appreciated value and efficiency.
Consumers do enjoy elements of discovery when it comes to grocery, but not typically with respect to the purchases they make on a consistent basis. A tool introducing a new brand in a taste-driven staple category may struggle to change behaviour, unless it is quick to compare the preferred brand and the newly suggested brand on specific taste-related attributes. Alternatively, a tool recommending a fun, seasonal flavour in a treat category and putting it on offer to a shopper with a sweet tooth could drive a trial. Additionally, a budgetary agent that could balance the cost of the basket within the shopper’s designated desired spend, while making substitutions on household products where there aren’t brand loyalties, would be a welcomed form of agentic commerce.
The real risk is losing share, not losing the category
It’s tempting to misread shoppers’ enthusiasm for AI as a threat to overall retail spend. But the data doesn’t show that. 48% of shoppers say AI is making them shop more, not less, and UK retail sales kept climbing this summer despite ongoing cost-of-living pressure. Self-reported sentiment isn’t the same as purchase behaviour – buyers may feel like they’re spending less because they’re ‘buying smarter,’ but the sales figures tell a different story.
Technology that empowers the consumer will never be a threat to retail. Retailers win when they’re on the same team as shoppers, and agentic commerce enables that unification. By building a trusted agent around transparent, compassionate dynamic pricing, retailers can turn a defensive move into loyalty. Developing a proprietary agent that leverages a retailer’s own data and incorporates their loyalty scheme in parallel to optimising search engine and LLM discoverability will become the secret to mastering omnichannel strategy in this new retail era.
Loyalty is how retailers win the digital last mile
Once consumers trust an agent in providing better deals and comparisons, loyalty programme integration can drive conversion. A retailer’s own agent, connected to its loyalty scheme, can do something a third party AI agent cannot. It can show a shopper exactly how to use their points against what’s on offer that week or flag allergies and dietary needs proactively while perusing the virtual aisles. Both features would give shoppers a reason to stay on a retailer’s own platform rather than look elsewhere.
However, a proprietary agent is less powerful if the retailer isn’t showing up in third party platforms in the first place. Retailers need to ensure they are visible inside LLMs while maintaining and enhancing the quality of their own channels, through experiences a third-party agent simply can’t provide. Accurate, natural-language product description data matters now more than ever before and has redefined what polished marketing copy looks like.
The next steps for retailers
Consumers have already put their trust in AI agents like ChatGPT and Google Gemini to help in their day to day lives, and they’re expecting to be able to do so in the retail world as well. Brands need to invest in this new reality in order to deliver solution-oriented shopping journeys. In order for retailers to improve the path to purchase by leveraging agentic AI, they’ll need to honour the unique nuances of the category in which they operate, and understanding the complexities of grocery shopping behaviours is a great place to start.
