Woolworths upgraded its Olive assistant to plan meals, build baskets and suggest cheaper swaps, while Bunnings expands its Buddy assistant. When an AI builds the shopping list, the AI becomes the new gatekeeper between every brand and the shopper.
When the assistant builds the basket, the assistant decides what goes in it. That is a new gatekeeper between every brand and the shopper.
Two of Australia's biggest retailers just put AI assistants between themselves and the customer. Woolworths has upgraded Olive, its in-app assistant, to plan your weekly meals, build your shopping list and suggest cheaper swaps. Bunnings is expanding Buddy, a Google Cloud-powered assistant aimed at helping customers through DIY projects. The grocery shop and the hardware run are both getting an AI layer that sits between the shopper and the shelf.
The Woolworths detail is the one to watch. Olive, now powered by Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise, can generate a weekly meal plan from your preferences, identify specials and smart swaps to cut the bill and turn a photographed handwritten list or recipe into a digital basket with a new Snap and Shop feature. It is rolling out to app pickup and delivery customers through July. The customer still approves every item before checkout. Woolworths put the agentic version of Olive in front of its own 200,000 staff before letting it near shoppers.
Why it matters
If an AI builds the shopping list and suggests the cheaper alternative, your brand is no longer competing for a human eye scanning a shelf. It is competing to be the product the assistant recommends. The shelf is being replaced by an algorithm's suggestion, and the rules for winning that placement are not the rules of the physical aisle.
For Australian brands that sell through these retailers, this is the early edge of a real shift. The retailer's AI becomes the new point of influence, and right now nobody knows exactly how it picks. Get curious early.
The number of Woolworths staff who got the agentic version of Olive before customers did.
What to do about it
The aisle is getting an algorithm. Work out how it thinks before your competitors do.