Adyen Report: A third of Australian consumers turning to AI to shop, up 45% since 2024

Adyen, the global financial technology platform of choice for leading businesses, today published its 2025 Annual Adyen Retail Report that finds there’s been a 45% surge in people using artificial intelligence (AI) to shop in Australia. 

In a poll of 41,000 consumers across 28 countries, including Australia, one in ten (10%) Australians surveyed said they had used AI for the first time over the past 12 months to help them with their shopping experience. And an impressive 56% of people said they would be open to making purchases using AI technology in the future.

32% of Australians polled said that they use AI to help them get their shopping done. Shoppers are positive about their experience, with 57% of consumers saying AI helps to inspire them when buying outfits, meals and other purchases. Six percent said that they get their best ideas for new products when using the technology. Over half (56%) said that they wanted to find unique brands using AI, a development that highlights a key opportunity  for brands to combine partnerships and cross-selling to drive customer sales. 

Boomers and Gen X Lead AI Adoption Growth

Use of AI in the shopping experience is rising in popularity across all age demographics in Australia, but it’s the Baby Boomer generation (60-78 years) and Generation X (44-59 years) who recorded the biggest increases over the past 12 months, each growing at 65%. However, just 11% of those aged 60 and over say they currently use AI to support them making purchases, while 47% of Generation Z (16 – 27 years) and 45% of Millennials (28 – 43 years) do. Overall, 65% of Australian consumers said that they understood retailers might be using AI to recommend products to them.

“Australian consumers are embracing AI at an incredible pace as they explore how it can enhance and personalise their shopping experience,” said Hayley Fisher, Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand at Adyen. “From helping people discover new brands to acting like a personal stylist for choosing outfits or planning meals, AI is fast becoming a trusted part of how Australians shop. What’s particularly exciting is seeing how quickly older generations are catching on - it’s no longer just the domain of digital natives.” 

Retailers Look to AI for Growth

When Australian retailers were asked how they are planning to increase their revenues in 2025,  26% said they would invest in AI to support their sales and marketing activity and 30% would invest in AI to support product innovation.

“AI is no longer viewed as a future bet— it’s already changing how Australians shop and how retailers operate,” said Fisher. “We’re seeing more retailers embrace AI to make shopping easier, faster and safer for their customers - whether that’s through personalised recommendations, smoother checkouts or smarter fraud detection.”

“With the launch of Adyen Uplift in Australia earlier this year, we’re helping businesses boost payment performance and deliver better customer experiences. It’s clear AI is becoming a key growth driver for retailers in 2025.”

Beyond AI, Unified Commerce Offering Still Key 

While investment in new technologies is welcome, just 46% of Australia’s retailers polled said they currently enable customers to shop and complete transactions easily across online and offline channels. A further 17% of business leaders planned to enable this over the next 12 months. A similar amount (18%) said they were planning to serve customers with exclusive in-store experiences.

Adyen’s 2025 Retail Report found technologies and online experiences to be opening new channels for brands to connect with customers, with 41% of people expecting to be able to shop with a business across multiple touch points including social media, apps and the online store. For example, almost a third of consumers said that they use social media to shop (30%).

But despite such high digital usage, physical stores remain the preferred destination for shoppers (46%) over those who prefer filling their baskets online (17%). Shoppers said they value the ability  to see and feel the product before making a purchase (50%), try on items before purchasing (49%) and they also referenced the advantages of immediacy when in-store. In fact, 30% said they prefer to walk out of the store with the product in hand. 

About Adyen

Adyen (AMS: ADYEN) is the financial technology platform of choice for leading companies. By providing end-to-end payments capabilities, data-driven insights, and financial products in a single global solution, Adyen helps businesses achieve their ambitions faster. With offices around the world, Adyen works with the likes of MECCA, Lorna Jane, the Cotton On Group, True Alliance, Nando’s, Freelancer.com, Kogan.com, Budgy Smuggler, Movember, Showpo, Rodd & Gunn, and Jurlique.

Research Methodology

Consumer research 

The research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 41,089 Nat Rep Consumers across Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, UAE, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Australia, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, UK, Brazil, Mexico, Canada & USA (Aged 16+). The data was collected between 26.02.2025 - 12.03.2025.

Merchants research

The research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 14,003 retail merchants (aged 18+) across the UK, US, Canada, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UAE, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Brazil and Mexico. The data was collected between 10.02.2025 - 12.03.2025.

Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society and follows the MRS code of conduct and ESOMAR principles. Censuswide is also a member of the British Polling Council.

*Percentage increases were calculated by comparing those who selected any “Yes” answer options to the use of AI in shopping against those who answered that they had used AI to shop for the first time over the past 12 months”