AI emerges as a strategic priority for luxury as accelerating consumer use challenges industry to reinvent customer discovery and experience--Bain & Company and Comité Colbert

Strategic role of AI in luxury confirmed as 22% of luxury houses now rank it among their top three corporate priorities, up from just 5% in 2024 Luxury houses accelerate AI deployment with adoption up five-fold in support functions and nearly doubled in operational functions; adoption in customer-facing functions grows much more slowly Luxury consumers are enthusiastic AI users: 82% of top-tier customers used AI in recent purchase journeys. Reinventing the luxury discovery and experience emerges as a major opportunity Artificial intelligence has established itself as a key strategic priority for the global luxury sector, and is increasingly used for luxury purchases by its consumers, according to the 5th edition of the annual Luxury and Technology report from Bain & Company and the Comité Colbert, released today.Key findings from the report, Winning Over The Customer in the Age of AI: A New Horizon for Luxury, highlight the development of AI in the luxury industry. Bain and Comité Colbert report that 22% of luxury houses and groups rank the technology among their top three corporate priorities for the next three years, compared with only 5% in 2024, while 61% place it among their top ten priorities (up from 50% in 2024).However, the report also finds that maturity of AI strategies in the luxury sector varies significantly depending on companies' organizational structure. Multi-brand groups generally have more clearly defined AI roadmaps than independent houses, and their subsidiaries typically benefit from this momentum. Size is also a key factor: large luxury houses with revenues exceeding €5 billion tend to have more clearly articulated AI strategies than smaller players, the findings reveal.Luxury consumers adopting AI faster than brandsThe report highlights a strong signal that luxury customers are already using AI extensively in their purchasing journeys. Average use is particularly high in China (64%) and the US (54%), while France reports a more moderate adoption rate of 27%. Across all nationalities, top-tier luxury customers are the most intensive users, with 82% of them having used an AI tool during their most recent purchase, compared with 28% for the lowest spending segment of luxury customers.Regardless of the purchasing channel, customers are incorporating AI into their shopping journey, the report notes. Nearly half (47%) of in-store shoppers thus used AI before visiting a boutique. User satisfaction is nearly universal: 97% intend to use AI again for their next luxury purchase. Reported benefits include faster decision-making (68%), greater confidence in quality and product details (55%), and discovery of new brands or product options (52%).Accelerating Deployment, but Limited Impact So FarWhile AI adoption increased across all functions within luxury groups between 2024 and 2026, the gap between experimentation and real adoption remains substantial. Large-scale deployment is currently concentrated mainly in businesses' support functions, where adoption jumped from 6% in 2024 to 31% in 2026, and in operational functions, where adoption rose from 10% to 19% over the same period. Adoption in customer-facing functions has progressed more slowly, increasing from 16% in 2024 to 21% in 2026. For now, the reported benefits from existing AI deployments remain relatively modest. With fewer than 20% of luxury executives reporting that they have observed a significant impact, the report concludes that the luxury industry's central challenge on AI use is now to move beyond experimentation and achieve transformation at scale.Visibility on generative AI engines: a strategic challenge for the industryA first-of-its-kind analysis conducted with meikai.ai as part of the report also examines the visibility of luxury brands on general-purpose AI engines and highlights a new competitive battleground. Approximately 70% of luxury-related prompts do not mention a specific brand to start with, while 75% are discovery- or comparison-oriented. In this environment, 90% of the URLs cited by large language models (LLMs) originate from websites outside the brands themselves.For luxury houses, the AI visibility equation is complex, the report cautions. Among the top 30 most visible luxury brands on LLMs, 70% of large houses with revenues exceeding €5 billion fail to capture a fair share of visibility relative to their market share. Conversely, some houses with revenues below €1 billion significantly outperform their economic weight. Multi-category luxury houses also seem disadvantaged relative to specialized competitors.Reinventing customer experience through AI: between opportunity and cautionBeyond Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), the report identifies four other major AI-driven innovations that could redefine the luxury customer journey:Conversational e-commerce AI-powered personalization AI copilots for in-store advisors Next-generation CRM and clientelingWhile luxury houses recognize the opportunities, deployment remains highly cautious. The most advanced application is AI assistance for client advisors, which best reconciles the human dimension of luxury with the benefits of technology. But only 9% of luxury houses have deployed this at scale with measurable impact, while 22% are currently rolling it out and seeing early results.Meaningful digital transformation cannot simply be declared, Bain concludes. Instead, it requires a clear vision, appropriate governance, and committed investment in talent and technology infrastructure, particularly data-hosting capabilities.Bénédicte Épinay, managing director of the Comité Colbert, commented: "AI represents a dual promise for the luxury sector: operational efficiency today and growth through the reinvention of the customer experience tomorrow. Capturing this dual promise requires vision and close collaboration between business leaders and technology teams."Joëlle de Montgolfier, executive vice-president for Bain & Company's global Retail & Luxury practice and co-author of the study, added: "Luxury houses face a twofold urgency: moving from broad internal experimentation to real business impact, and building their presence within the new discovery environments represented by generative AI engines, as customers adopt AI at an accelerating pace. AI is no longer a distant prospect—it is already shaping and influencing the customer purchasing journey."Media contactsFor questions or to request an interview, please contact:Bain & Company:Gary Duncan (London) — Email: [email protected]Dan Pinkney (Boston) — Email: [email protected]Comité Colbert:Odile Idkowiak — [email protected]

AI emerges as a strategic priority for luxury as accelerating consumer use challenges industry to reinvent customer discovery and experience--Bain & Company and Comité Colbert

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