More than a third of shoppers (38%) say they will switch from their usual online supermarket to a third-party AI-powered shopping application such as ChatGPT, according to new research from Algolia. 

With the UK online grocery market worth £23.4 billion in 2024, the AI search engine says retailers risk losing £500m every week to third-party AI-driven alternatives. 

Younger consumers are leading the change, with 70% of 25–34-year-olds saying they would make the switch. 

Bernadette Nixon, CEO at Algolia, commented: “Almost half of consumers already use AI to help them decide what household items to buy. Retailers need to ensure their websites offer equally smart and intuitive experiences, or risk losing customers to third-party AI platforms. 

“This is especially important for younger families. Consumers in their late twenties and early thirties are entering peak spending years – starting households, buying homes, and raising children. Supermarkets that fail to engage them now risk losing them just as their lifetime value is set to climb.” 

High-value customers are particularly at risk. Two-thirds (67%) of those earning over £75,000 and 61% of those spending more than £150 weekly, say they would switch to AI tools, putting supermarkets in danger of losing their most profitable and loyal shoppers. 

Rising demand for AI shopping tools

The data also shows strong demand for supermarket-owned shopping tools. Some 42% of shoppers said they would choose a supermarket offering AI-powered features, such as recipe ingredient finders or cheaper product swaps, while 44% said they would value conversational search – for example, “show me healthy snacks for toddlers” – to make their online shop easier.

Half of shoppers have abandoned an online shop due to difficulties finding products or making substitutions and 31% said time-consuming scrolling was their biggest frustration. 

Nixon added: “Shoppers have told us exactly where supermarkets are falling short: hard-to-find products, clunky search, and limited substitutions. By building AI-powered search, conversational assistants and smarter swaps directly into their platforms, supermarkets can remove those pain points and give customers reasons to stay loyal.”