{"id":23635,"date":"2026-04-30T21:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/23635\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T21:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:33:08","slug":"ai-reshapes-retail-experience-content-sustainability-take-center-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/23635\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Reshapes Retail: Experience, Content & Sustainability Take Center Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBERLIN \u2014 Artificial intelligence<\/a> dominated discussion at the World Retail<\/a> Congress, but it was not the only theme. Across two days of panels, retailers and brands repeatedly returned to the questions of how technology, physical experience and shifting consumer expectations are reshaping the industry.<\/p>\n

\n\tAI was most top of mind, with speakers frequently joking that no session could be held without mentioning it. But behind the buzzword was a more substantive shift. Executives described AI as both a major growth opportunity and a source of disruption, fundamentally altering how consumers discover, evaluate and engage with brands and retailers.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe technology has already begun to reshape the customer journey, becoming the entry point for customers across sectors, including department stores, luxury brands and sports.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s also increasingly influencing brand perception, putting retailers and brands on the back foot and forced to rethink long-standing strategies around marketing, customer acquisition and brand storytelling.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat shift was most clearly articulated by David Roth, chairman of brand analytics company BAV-WPP, who said large language models (LLMs) are already reshaping how consumers discover and evaluate retail<\/a> brands.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEvery AI has an opinion of your brand today,\u201d he said, adding that this perception was increasingly influencing purchasing decisions.<\/p>\n

\n\tConsumer behavior is shifting rapidly. Seventeen percent of shoppers now start product searches with tools such as ChatGPT or Claude, bypassing Google altogether, according to WPP\u2019s data.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat number jumps to 47 percent among Gen-Zers, highlighting the speed at which AI-driven discovery had boomed among younger consumers. Roth added that AI-driven discovery could account for an estimated $750 billion in retail revenue by 2028.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis shift has already begun to reshape marketing effectiveness and investment priorities for brands, as AI has effectively become independent arbiters of brand reputation. In essence, the machines are judging you.<\/p>\n

\n\tLLMs form opinions based on combing sources, including reviews, forums like Reddit and editorial content. Much of that can be fragmented information, such as past negative reviews of problems that have since been addressed. \u201cYour own website probably accounts for as little as just 5 percent of what all these models are drawing on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a result, brand narratives are increasingly constructed outside companies\u2019 and marketers\u2019 direct control. Brands have to switch gears quickly from SEO to narrative optimization \u2014 not just making sure they are seen by LLMs but that they can frame their storytelling within the AI engines.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoth added that 89 percent of retail CEOs said that AI-powered search is the shift that worries them the most.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe discovery moments that are absolutely vital for new customer acquisitions, for new products, those discovery moments that many retailers have built their entire business on are now being overtaken by algorithms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat was emphasized across sessions, as many panels discussed how customers are now showing up with significantly more information, having done reams of research beforehand on brand and product.<\/p>\n

\n\tRetailers currently focus too heavily on conversion, said Kat Thomas, marketer and author of \u201cWeapons of Mass Confidence,\u201d which explores how AI can impact women\u2019s behavioral and consumer choices.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cConfidence is the consideration point around who enters a category. You\u2019re not going to convert them if they\u2019re not showing up with interest and feel that it\u2019s for them,\u201d she said. Categories with tension points such as expensive luxury items, or research-heavy items such as tech<\/a> or electronics, can be \u201cemotionally loaded.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI would urge retailers not just to think about conversion, but to think about audience expansion to a wider set of potential customers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tSports can be one of those emotionally charged sectors. Ellie Norman, chief marketing officer of Formula E racing, added that growth depends on expanding the market beyond the small proportion of active buyers and using inclusive storytelling. Changing their positioning has resulted in their audience being 47 percent women \u2014 \u201cunusually high for motorsport,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe storytelling we\u2019re putting around that is very much aligned into being purpose driven, accessible, welcoming, and from that, there is a 40 percent increase in spend\u201d on merch as well as high-end tickets and packages. That wider audience also appeals to sponsors, which is another revenue driver for the brand.<\/p>\n

\n\tBrick-and-mortar stores are increasingly being used to validate decisions that have already been made online.<\/p>\n

\n\tCustomers \u201care leveling up from a knowledge sense,\u201d added Thomas, which means the shift for retailers will be experience and service. \u201cThey want a more human experience, and they want all the information that they gathered to be validated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAcross the conference, as much buzz as there was about AI as a tool and how it automated tasks such as stock management, the focus was repeatedly on the growing importance of \u201csoft skills\u201d for the future of sales and retention. With tasks such as stock now automated, soft skills such as emotional intelligence will become more important.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNowadays, the sales associate needs to move at the speed of the customer,\u201d said Richard Butler, vice president of North America stores at Coach<\/a>. He called the new approach \u201cco-navigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe sales associates being able to not only navigate the process with the customer, but become part of it,\u201d he said. Sales associates are now encouraged to recommend the best lighting, take photos for customers or assist in an unboxing moment for social media.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat requires also emotional intelligence of the sales associate, knowing how to navigate in between these selling behaviors and navigation behaviors. It takes cultural fluency, so not only knowing like what is selling in the brand, what is trending online, what is blowing up on TikTok, but also what\u2019s going on in the larger market, and being kind of that fashion know it all, so that they can share those exciting things with their customer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added that Coach<\/a> research shows that over 70 percent of Gen Z shop IRL weekly, and they want experiences outside of the digital world.<\/p>\n

\n\tTimo Weber, CEO of KaDeWe, said AI is only accelerating the shift that began post-pandemic, when the retailer had to reframe the department store as a \u201cthird space\u201d for socializing rather than simply buying.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe department store will open a gym, yoga and Pilates studio in mid-May. \u201cAre we earning a lot of money with it? No. Fortunately, we have 60,000 square meters to fit experiences, and you can\u2019t do it just with another shelf of clothes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe store\u2019s F&B play is now the main foot traffic driver, with 70 percent of people coming through the front doors heading to the top floor restaurants.<\/p>\n

\n\tKaDeWe is also turning their windows over to artists instead of brands during Berlin Gallery Weekend, again to assert itself as a cultural space.<\/p>\n

\n\tSelfridges<\/a> Group CEO Andr\u00e9 Maeder emphasized a similarly experience-driven strategy, positioning department stores as curated cultural platforms. He said the group was moving toward what he described as a \u201cretail media company,\u201d with cinemas, restaurants, exhibitions and a newly launched members\u2019 club designed to extend dwell time and deepen engagement. He said that the future department store would act more like a destination for lifestyle and social interaction than a conventional retailer.<\/p>\n

\n\tChristian Louboutin CEO Alexis Mourot focused on brand discipline and selective growth. He said innovation needed to be balanced with protecting brand equity and added that the \u201cpower of saying no,\u201d is central to maintaining the Louboutin identity, particularly with collaborations or category expansion.<\/p>\n

\n\tAcross the panel, speakers agreed that luxury growth increasingly depended on emotional value, cultural relevance, and elevated physical environments, rather than product alone.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother key theme was the importance of curation. Department stores in particular were described as operating increasingly as edited spaces, where much of the decision making has already been done by staff. Maeder used the example of pepper mills \u2014 the department store used to offer 70 while now that is down to just 10 choices.<\/p>\n

\t\tSustainability Is Still in the Mix\t<\/p>\n

\n\tElsewhere, sustainability remained a key topic, though the heat around it has cooled from recent years, with companies moving away from headline-setting targets and into the nitty gritty of execution.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat means broad ambition to operational change by embedding sustainability into product design, sourcing and supply chains. This includes scaling the use of lower-impact materials, improving traceability and investing in circular models such as resale and recycling.<\/p>\n

\n\tExecutives including H&M chief financial officer Adam Karlsson and Zalando vice president of sustainability Pascal Brun agreed that there is ongoing tension between affordability and environmental progress, and it\u2019s particularly acute for mass-market players. Delivering sustainable products at scale, while maintaining competitive pricing is an ongoing structural challenge \u2014 especially against the backdrop of global uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs publicly traded companies, they are also beholden to shareholders. However, they argued that large retailers have a responsibility as well as the leverage to drive systemic change.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe just open up sustainability not being a risk mitigation or compliance issue, but rather a way to protect and create value for the long term. And when we look at it, it\u2019s no longer about whether we should do it. It\u2019s rather how we do it, and that has helped us a lot not to think of it as an \u2018either\/or\u2019; it\u2019s a \u2018rather than.\u2019 We need to both earn profits and we need to excite customers,\u201d said Karlsson.<\/p>\n

\n\tTechnology and data were highlighted as critical tools in this transition, enabling better tracking of environmental impact and more informed decision-making. But speakers cautioned that digital solutions alone would not be enough without internal accountability and alignment across teams.<\/p>\n

\n\tRegulation and consumer expectations were also accelerating the pace of change. Transparency, in particular, was emerging as a key sticking point, with brands under increasing pressure to demonstrate measurable progress rather than rely on claims that consumers perceive as greenwashing.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe discussion underscored a wider shift in retail: long-term competitiveness would depend not just on growth, but on the ability to decouple that growth from environmental impact \u2014 turning sustainability from a cost center into a driver of resilience and value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BERLIN \u2014 Artificial intelligence dominated discussion at the World Retail Congress, but it was not the only theme.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,16210,1379,16211,781],"class_list":{"0":"post-23635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ai","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-coach","11":"tag-retail","12":"tag-selfridges","13":"tag-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}