Agentic AI set to transform pricing strategies in grocery sector

Grocers must get ready to compete for two fundamentally different types of online shoppers, Bain & Company has claimed: humans and AI agents. That may mean rethinking some of the basics of pricing and promotion, which were founded on human psychology alone – although at present, interest among consumers for agentic shopping remains muted – with two-thirds of UK residents telling the consultancy they were not excited for even partially automated store experiences.

AI shopping agents have had a mixed reception so far. While hype around the technology quickly saw supermarkets around the world role out chatbots to recommend recipes, or assist in purchases, while in the back office many have sought to use the technology for supply chain agility and dynamic pricing – results have been muted.

Online retailer Instacart cut short an experiment in AI pricing amid furious customer backlash – with shoppers finding the same item could have different prices in the app, even within the same store, undermining trust at a moment when families are facing a sustained cost of living crisis. Meanwhile, on the customer-facing end, the initial novelty of automated recommendations for customers did not survive contact with the reality of ant poison flavoured jelly, and other delectable generative output.

Even so, a number of consulting firms – who have been prominent cheerleaders for AI’s ‘potential’ since ChatGPT went public late in 2022 – are insistent that actually, the technology could be very useful in the retail sector. Earlier in 2026, McKinsey & Company claimed that consumers were accelerating their use of AI for making routine purchases – meaning retailers needed to once again reimagine the role of physical stores (in a way that is somehow different to how they reimagined that role following the advent of ecommerce). Now, fellow MBB member Bain & Company has followed this up, with the claim that agentic AI is about to transform the grocery sector.

While the report concedes that the shift will be “complicated by the cost-of-living pressures that have made affordability a priority across the sector”, Bain’s researchers insist that “grocery pricing and promotions can be successfully rebooted for the agentic AI era through a combination of tactical and strategic moves.”

The researchers noted, “Grocers need to prepare for a world in which their online customers order more frequently and across a wider range of banners due to the introduction of agentic AI. That shift is likely to put further pressure on basket size and the industry’s already slim profit margins. Executive teams should not delay action in the hope that the threat will only solidify if shoppers give AI agents the power to check out autonomously. The impact on basket building is likely to be significant even if agents are only working on a partially delegated basis. And that semi-autonomous moment is very much upon us.”

But this will require large investments into a technology which has already shown time and again that returns are a rarity. And the question remains if customer appetite is really there. Bain polled close to 4,000 consumers across Europe and North America, and found that despite the hype, the majority of consumers are still not even ‘excited’ about outsourcing grocery shopping to an AI agent.

In the UK, just 30% said they would be interested in letting a bot take responsibility for their weekly shop, while that fell to 25% for full outsourcing. Even in the most optimistic market, the US, only 37% of consumers said they were excited about partial outsourcing. Meanwhile, in the more reserved markets of France and Germany, neither partial nor full outsourcing saw excitement climb above 28%.

Breaking down the number of respondents who were ‘excited’ into more detail paints an even more deflating picture for advocates of an automated shopping experience. No market polled saw a full fifth of respondents say they were ‘very excited’. While the US came closest – at 17% – Europe took a more guarded approach. Just 11% of UK respondents said they were ‘very excited’ for partial outsourcing grocery duties to AI tools. Meanwhile, a telling 19% said they were ‘somewhat excited’ – not exactly feverish enthusiasm.