Bunnings is rolling out ‘Buddy’, a new AI-powered agentic shopping assistant, for customers this week. (Source: Getty)
Hardware giant Bunnings will become the first major retailer in Australia to launch an agentic shopping assistant for customers. Bunnings will roll out ‘Buddy’ from this week, which it says will herald a “new generation of AI-powered shopping”.
Buddy will act as a “helpful team member online”, Bunnings said, guiding customers through projects, answering complex questions and helping them find what they need. Customers can type or take a photo of a handwritten list for Buddy to find the items and add them to their cart in seconds.
Bunnings confirmed to Yahoo Finance that while Buddy can add items to the cart, customers will ultimately still need to approve or remove pending what they want.
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Bunnings managing director Mike Schneider said the move supported evolving customer behaviours and teams.
“Our customers come to Bunnings with projects big and small, and Buddy is designed to help make those projects easier to plan and get started,” he said.
“This is about embracing and using AI in a practical, responsible way to complement the advice and service our team provides every day, while giving customers more options that suit how they want to interact with us.”
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Buddy can also anticipate what customers need next and find products for different needs and budgets. (Source: Bunnings)
Parent company Wesfarmers, who also owns iconic brands like Kmart and Priceline, announced it had struck multi-year partnerships with Microsoft and Google to embed AI services across its businesses in February.
Bunnings will be the first Aussie retailer to launch a shopping agent using Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience technology, and one of the first retailers globally.
Google Cloud Australia and New Zealand Vice President Paul Migliorini said AI was at its most powerful when it was solving everyday problems.
Here’s an example of Buddy’s response to a customer wanting to build a veggie patch. (Source: Bunnings)
“We’re combining the best of our AI and infrastructure with Bunnings’ deep product expertise to create a true expert helper that meets customers right where they are — whether they type or share an image—making it easier to get started on projects,” he said.
Bunnings has assured customers that while it marks a new generation of shopping, the experience will feel familiar as Buddy draws on the retailer’s existing content library and expertise of team members.
The tool will roll out on the Bunnings website this week, replacing the current Ask Bunnings AI tool with broader access over the coming weeks.
Some of Australia’s biggest companies have announced plans to introduce agentic shopping assistants, but Bunnings will be the first to do so at scale for customers.
Woolworths announced a partnership with Google to incorporate agentic AI into its ‘Olive’ chatbot, which is due to start in Australia later this year.
Currently, the AI chatbot mostly answers questions, resolves problems or directs shoppers to get more information. Soon, it will be able to plan meals, interpret handwritten recipes, apply loyalty discounts and put suggested items into online shopping baskets.
Coles announced a deal with OpenAI, owner of ChatGPT, last year with a plan to roll out AI tools across its internal corporate workforce early this year. It also flagged plans to see how the AI could reshape shopping experiences.
Woolies’ AI chatbot Olive sparked controversy recently after it went rogue and started talking to some customers about its “mother” when they were trying to arrange for a delivery.
Bunnings’ AI chatbot, Ask Bunnings AI, also came under fire last year after it gave a customer illegal electrical advice on how to rewire an extension cord.
It comes as payment giants Visa and Mastercard roll out agentic payments technology, Agent Pay and Intelligent Commerce. Mastercard completed Australia’s first authenticated agentic transactions earlier this year.
Research from PayPal last year found 78 per cent of people expected AI assistants would become a mainstream part of online shopping.
Unlike generative AI, which responds to prompts or commands, agentic AI acts as an autonomous agent and can accomplish specific goals.
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