82% of top luxury buyers used AI before their last purchase

Dubai: The world’s biggest-spending luxury customers are already using artificial intelligence to decide what to buy, where to shop and which brands to consider, according to a new report by Bain & Company and Comité Colbert.

The fifth annual Luxury and Technology report found that 82% of top-tier luxury customers used an AI tool during their most recent purchase, compared with 28% among the lowest-spending luxury customers. The finding points to a major change in how wealthy shoppers discover products, compare brands and make decisions before they enter a boutique or complete a purchase online.

The report, titled Winning Over The Customer in the Age of AI, said luxury consumers are adopting AI faster than many luxury houses are deploying it at scale. Average use is particularly high in China at 64% and the US at 54%, while France recorded a more moderate adoption rate of 27%.

Luxury shoppers are using AI across channels, including before store visits. Nearly half of in-store shoppers, or 47%, used AI before visiting a boutique, showing that the technology is already influencing offline purchases.

Satisfaction levels are also high. According to the report, 97% of consumers who used AI in their luxury purchase journey said they intend to use it again for their next purchase.

The main benefits cited by shoppers were faster decision-making at 68%, greater confidence in quality and product details at 55%, and discovery of new brands or product options at 52%.

That creates a new challenge for luxury brands, which have traditionally controlled discovery through stores, advertising, events, editorial visibility and client relationships. AI search and recommendation tools are now becoming another route into the luxury purchase journey.

AI has moved higher on the boardroom agenda across the luxury industry, although large-scale impact remains limited.

Bain and Comité Colbert said 22% of luxury houses and groups now rank AI among their top three corporate priorities for the next three years, compared with 5% in 2024. Another 61% place AI among their top ten priorities, up from 50% in 2024.

Multi-brand groups tend to have clearer AI roadmaps than independent houses, while large luxury houses with revenues above €5 billion are more likely to have defined strategies than smaller players.

Deployment is also uneven. Large-scale use has grown fastest in support functions, rising from 6% in 2024 to 31% in 2026. Operational functions increased from 10% to 19% over the same period, while customer-facing functions moved more slowly, from 16% to 21%.

The report said fewer than 20% of luxury executives have seen significant impact from current AI deployments, suggesting that much of the industry is still moving from pilots to meaningful business use.

The report also pointed to a fresh risk for luxury brands. Customers using AI tools often begin with broad questions, not brand names.

A study conducted with meikai.ai found that around 70% of luxury-related prompts do not mention a specific brand, while 75% are focused on discovery or comparison. In that environment, the brands that show up in AI-generated answers may gain an advantage before the customer reaches a store, website or sales adviser.

The report found that 90% of URLs cited by large language models come from websites outside the brands themselves. That means luxury houses may not fully control how they are described, compared or recommended inside AI tools.

Large brands are not guaranteed an advantage. Among the 30 most visible luxury brands on large language models, 70% of luxury houses with revenues above €5 billion fail to capture visibility in line with their market share. Some houses with revenues below €1 billion perform above their economic weight, while multi-category luxury houses appear to face more pressure than specialised competitors.

Bain and Comité Colbert identified several areas where AI could reshape the luxury customer journey. These include conversational e-commerce, AI-powered personalisation, AI copilots for in-store advisers, and next-generation CRM and clienteling.

The most advanced customer-facing use case is AI support for client advisers, which keeps the human element of luxury while giving staff better product, customer and service information. Even there, only 9% of luxury houses have deployed it at scale with measurable impact, while 22% are rolling it out and seeing early results.

The report said luxury groups will need clearer governance, investment in talent, stronger technology infrastructure and better data-hosting capabilities if they want AI to become part of the customer experience rather than a limited internal tool.