PayPal Australia and YouGov have unveiled research highlighting adoption of AI in online shopping among Australians with almost half of those surveyed saying they have utilised AI assistants for product searches.

The study, conducted by YouGov and commissioned by PayPal Australia, surveyed 1,044 Australians aged 18 to 75, ensuring national representation through weighting by age, gender, and location.

The findings reveal that 48% of Australians have utilised AI assistants for product searches while shopping online. This figure rises to 66% among Australians under the age of 45. Furthermore, 78% of respondents expect AI shopping tools to become mainstream, while 61% express trust in AI to make product recommendations.

Despite the growing acceptance, 92% of Australians have concerns about using AI in online shopping, with privacy and data security being the predominant worry for 64% of respondents. However, 57% are willing to share their online shopping habits and preferences to enable more personalised AI shopping recommendations.

PayPal’s research suggests a shift towards ‘agentic commerce’, a model where AI agents autonomously research, negotiate, and execute purchases on behalf of consumers and businesses.

PayPal Australia MD Simon Banks said, “Agentic AI is not just another enhancement to the way humans use technology in retail. It’s got the potential to completely disrupt the existing model of ecommerce.”

PayPal has partnered with Perplexity to integrate agentic commerce within the Perplexity Pro chat interface. This integration allows consumers to find products, book travel, or buy tickets and complete transactions instantly through a fully-integrated PayPal experience.

Banks stated, “Natural language will become common place in helping shoppers find products. Imagine telling AI exactly what you want, in your own words and getting tailored options instantly. No scrolling, or site hopping – just results. From chatbots to social feeds, consumers will be able to make seamless one-click purchases wherever they are.”

In addition to this partnership, PayPal has launched its agent toolkit and MCP servers on paypal.ai. This initiative enables developers to create experiences for payments, shipment tracking, invoice management, and more, all powered by PayPal and integrated within an AI agent.

Banks added, “At PayPal, we’re already exploring how to give consumers the power to use their PayPal credentials and smart wallet features within AI-powered experiences to seamlessly pay with the right payment method, at the right merchant, at the right time.”

The research also indicates that 38% of Australians are interested in using AI assistants for price tracking and deal alerts while shopping online.

Banks noted the implications for sellers stating, “Sellers will need to fundamentally shift how they approach marketing and search functions in response to the growth of agentic shopping tools. They’ll need to put greater effort into building agentic AI experiences and making sure their products appear at the forefront of natural language search.”

Trust remains a critical factor in the adoption of agentic commerce. Banks emphasised, “Trust is crucial to enabling agentic commerce. These solutions must be safe and secure, particularly as integration with smart wallets and payment options becomes more readily available. This is where PayPal has a unique advantage in providing the trust and security sellers and consumers have come to expect.”