Key points
  • AI shopping tools are gaining traction as cost-of-living pressures drive consumers to seek cheaper prices with less effort.
  • Australian price comparison platform Zyft is expanding its AI-powered tools, allowing shoppers to compare prices, track discounts and potentially automate purchases when target prices are reached.
  • Research shows most Australians are comfortable using AI to find bargains, but still want the final say before money is spent.

As Australians grapple with persistent cost-of-living pressures, a growing number of AI-powered shopping tools are promising to help consumers find bargains with less effort.

Part of the broader trend towards "agentic AI", these systems are designed to pursue a goal by planning and carrying out tasks on a user's behalf. In shopping, that can mean searching for deals, monitoring prices, tracking discounts and, in some cases, completing purchases automatically.

While the technology promises to help consumers find better deals with less effort, its growing role in purchasing decisions is prompting fresh scrutiny over privacy, transparency and the extent to which shoppers are willing to trust AI with their money.

Speaking on the Savings Tip Jar podcast, Zyft CEO Richard Stevens said many Australians are already using AI tools to research purchases, with the next stage being automation of the transaction itself.

"In today's world where everyone's time-poor and always wanting to make sure they're getting the right deal at the right time, agentic AI takes that next step of the journey," Mr Stevens said

Rather than consumers moving from a comparison site to a retailer's website and manually completing a purchase, future systems could allow shoppers to simply instruct an AI assistant to buy a product once specific conditions are met.

Zyft bets on AI-assisted shopping

Among the companies seeking to capitalise on the growing appetite for AI-powered shopping tools is Australian-owned price comparison platform Zyft.

The platform aggregates pricing data from thousands of online retailers and allows users to compare products, track price changes and receive alerts when items fall below a chosen price point. 

More recently, it has expanded into grocery price comparisons, reflecting growing consumer interest in reducing everyday spending.

Mr Stevens said the company was working to make price research less time-consuming for shoppers.

"If the service is something like Zyft, which offers price drop notifications, you can say, 'I want to buy this item, but only when it reaches this price, and then when that price is identified, it can complete it," he said.

The company says it compares prices across more than 50,000 retailers and tracks around 140 million products, positioning itself to take advantage of the shift towards AI-assisted purchasing. However, the broader challenge for platforms operating in the space may be convincing consumers to trust AI not just to find deals, but eventually to act on them.

Trust often stops at the checkout

New research from EY Australia found 72% of Australians are comfortable with AI gathering grocery prices, deals and product options on their behalf. 

However, most are still reluctant to hand over full control at the checkout. While 30% said they were at least somewhat comfortable with AI automatically reordering regularly purchased items, just 2% would prefer an AI agent to complete an entire grocery shop without human review.

The research suggests Australians are comfortable using AI to do the price checking, but still want control over the purse strings, particularly for routine household spending.

Mr Stevens acknowledged consumers would not necessarily rely on AI blindly.

"If you're buying a very expensive item, would you trust it implicitly and not do further research? It's your money. It's your purchase. So you've got these tools at your disposal to find the best way of giving you that confidence you're getting a good deal."