Shoppers ditch Australian brands over poor site search

Elastic has published consumer research suggesting poor on-site search is driving Australian online shoppers away from brands. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said they have abandoned a favourite retailer after an unsatisfactory search experience.

The survey of 1,020 Australian online shoppers found 72% had abandoned a brand because of poor website search functionality. More than half (55%) said they would pay more on a competitor's site if the search experience was better.

The findings suggest shoppers are re-evaluating digital experiences, with search increasingly influencing conversion, brand loyalty, and repeat eCommerce revenue. They also indicate consumers are comparing retail search bars with the generative AI tools they use elsewhere.

Search fallout

When search fails, customers appear quick to leave. The research found 62% of shoppers turn to external search engines when a retailer's on-site search does not produce useful results. Of those shoppers, 78% said they were redirected to competitor brands.

The research also suggests a single failed attempt can have lasting consequences. It found 11% of respondents said they would permanently abandon a brand after just one failed search experience.

The survey describes a market where convenience has become a differentiator that customers associate with value. More than half of respondents said they would accept a higher price elsewhere if they could find products more easily. For retailers, that behaviour implies an immediate commercial penalty when customers struggle with product discovery and navigation.

Changing queries

The research points to a change in how consumers use search tools. Among shoppers aged 25 to 34, 52% said they now use full-sentence, natural-language queries rather than keywords. This age group was also among the most likely to pay more on a competitor's site or permanently leave a brand based on the search experience.

Expectations are also shifting beyond text. The survey found 76% of shoppers want photo or voice search options, with 28% describing them as a potential "game-changer".

Elastic linked these expectations to the broader uptake of generative AI in consumer tools. In the survey, 62% of shoppers said they expect or wish brand search bars were as intelligent as ChatGPT. It also found 60% instantly judge brands as "technologically behind" when shown irrelevant results.

Loyalty pressure

Frustration with search is also showing up in consumer sentiment. The research found 56% of shoppers had abandoned a brand temporarily or permanently because they could not find what they wanted within seconds.

It also found 69% of Australian shoppers said they had shouted at a website search bar when results failed them. Shoppers aged 35 to 44 reported the highest frustration levels, while 17% of those aged 65 and over also said they had shouted when filters failed.

The survey ranked poor search quality as the third biggest reason customers never return to a website, behind data breaches and bad customer service.

Retail response

Jeremy Pell, Elastic's Country Manager ANZ, said retailers should treat search as a commercial function rather than a background feature.

"Your search bar has become your biggest competitor's best salesperson," Pell said. "Search is no longer a utility feature. It is a revenue driver. Retailers that cannot understand customer intent across structured and the messy, unstructured data trapped in PDFs, emails, images and text messages, that traditional systems can't easily read, are actively directing shoppers to competitors."

Elastic sells search software and positions it as part of a broader "Search AI" approach. Its technology uses a unified context layer that combines commerce data-such as product details, customer reviews, and high-resolution images-with AI outputs.

Pell said natural language and relevance are becoming baseline expectations in retail search.

"The brands that will win in 2026 and beyond are those that treat search as a strategic revenue driver, not a technical afterthought," he said. "AI-powered search that understands natural language, learns from behaviour, and delivers instant relevance is table stakes. Customers are fleeing now. The question is whether you're ready to stem the tide."

The survey was conducted in February 2026 using the Pureprofile research panel, with quotas applied to reflect Australian Bureau of Statistics population proportions based on the 2021 Census.