Australia Post release Agentic Commerce research

Today was the launch from Australia Post of their annual eCommerce Report, which is a must-read for Australian retailers who want to keep abreast of changes in the local market based on thorough consumer research.

We were thrilled to be asked by Australia Post to help them with the launch, and are doing keynote presentations at each of their 11 customer events around Australia in the next few weeks. Tim O’Neill kicked off with the first breakfast briefing this morning in Melbourne…

The topic of our presentation is Agentic Commerce, incorporating Australia Post’s research along with our opinion on what retailers need to know to stay competitive in an AI-powered shopping world.

The report is recommended reading in full for any retail business, and below are some excerpts from Australia Post’s research specifically relating to AI behaviours:

1. AI adoption has surged, with 6 in 10 Australians now using AI.

2. 28% of Millennials use AI every day.

3. There is some significant hesitation towards have AI Agents shop autonomously on your behalf….

   

4. Younger generations are more comfortable and optimistic about agentic commerce…

   

5. 44% of Australian businesses are advocates of agentic commerce.

6. 85% of Australian businesses are taking steps to prepare for an agentic future.

7. Top categories shoppers would consider using an agent to purchase…

For me the surprising stat was the level of hesitation and distrust for AI Agents & shopping, which points (I think) to confusion around the term “AI Agents” in general and in particular what this means in a retail context.

For example: most users of ChatGPT, Gemini etc are using them for product research, comparison etc - it’s only the final transaction step that is currently not available (in Australia) within these apps. This is coming soon, and when combined with better memory in AI chat, and smarter models, I think people will embrace Agentic shopping more quickly than they expect.

While on the topic of commerce, some big news from OpenAI last week as they stated their intention to focus on the research stages of shopping, not on transactions, contrary to their original plans to widely launch ChatGPT Instant Checkout. I expect we’ll see new design patterns and interactions in ChatGPT to help people with their shopping, and payment will continue to be handled by the retailer.

We work with agencies, companies and brands to elevate Customer & Employee experiences with generative AI. Our advisory team helps you understand what’s possible and how it relates to your business. We provide training for you and your team to get the most out of generative AI tools. Our design & technology team build bespoke AI solutions to meet your needs.

Contact us: www.timeundertension.ai/contact

Here are five interesting developments from the past few weeks:

1. Nvidia yesterday announced NemoClaw, their enterprise wrapper for OpenClaw.

2. We built the Intelligent Canvas, which generates AI opportunities tailored to your business, on an infinite canvas you can zoom around and explore.

3. Australian uses ChatGPT to create cancer vaccine to save dying dog (paywall)

4. OpenAI released a whole lot of data about ChatGPT usage

5. NotebookLM released ‘Cinematic Video Overviews’ which are a lot of fun, but limited for professional use

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