Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a growing strategic focus for luxury companies as consumers increasingly use AI tools during purchasing decisions, although many brands are still working to move beyond experimentation, according to a report by Bain & Company and Comité Colbert.

The report said 22% of luxury houses and groups now rank AI among their top three corporate priorities for the next three years, up from 5% in 2024, while 61% place it among their top ten priorities.

AI adoption strategies vary across the industry, with larger luxury groups generally having more developed plans than independent brands, the report said. Companies with annual revenues above 5 billion euros also tend to have more defined AI strategies than smaller players.

According to the report, luxury consumers are adopting AI tools at a faster pace than many brands, with usage highest in China and the US, where 64% and 54% of consumers respectively reported using AI during luxury purchases. In France, adoption stood at 27%.

The report found that 82% of top-tier luxury customers had used an AI tool during their most recent purchase, compared with 28% among lower-spending luxury consumers. 

Nearly half of customers who shopped in stores used AI before visiting a boutique, while 97% said they planned to use AI again for future luxury purchases, it stated.

The main benefits cited by consumers included faster decision-making, improved confidence in product information and discovering new brands or products.

Despite rising interest, AI deployment across luxury companies remains uneven. The report said large-scale adoption has increased mainly in support functions, where usage rose to 31% in 2026 from 6% in 2024, while customer-facing applications grew more slowly to 21% from 16%.

The report also highlighted the growing importance of visibility on generative AI platforms, with around 70% of luxury-related prompts not naming a specific brand initially. 

It said 90% of URLs cited by large language models come from sources outside the brands' own websites, creating a new challenge for luxury companies seeking digital visibility.

Bain and Comité Colbert identified conversational commerce, AI-powered personalisation, AI tools for in-store advisers and next-generation customer relationship management as areas that could reshape the luxury buying experience.

However, adoption remains cautious, with only 9% of luxury houses having deployed AI assistance tools for client advisers at scale with measurable impact, the report said.

The report concluded that luxury companies need clearer strategies, governance structures and investment in technology infrastructure and talent to turn AI experimentation into business results, it added.-TradeArabia News Service