AI and luxury: New battle for visibility on ChatGPT

For decades, luxury houses have mastered their image down to the finest detail. Every customer touchpoint, from advertising and window displays to boutiques, social media and runway shows, was meticulously scripted. This dynamic is now changing.

According to the fifth edition of the 'Luxury & Technology' study, published June 30 by the Comité Colbert and Bain & Company, artificial intelligence is no longer just a new internal tool. It is gradually becoming a new channel for brand discovery, forcing houses to rethink their visibility strategy far beyond traditional search engines.

This is a particularly crucial development, as consumers appear to be adopting the technology faster than the companies themselves.

Customers have already adopted AI

The figure is undoubtedly the most revealing of the study. Among top luxury clients, 82 percent report having used an AI tool during their last purchase. They use it to compare products; discover new brands; get recommendations; or prepare for their boutique visit. Even among consumers who ultimately bought in-store, nearly one in two had consulted an AI beforehand.

In other words, a part of the customer journey no longer begins on Instagram, Google or in a flagship boutique. It now starts with a conversation with a conversational agent.

A stated priority, but with few results so far

In 2024, 22 percent of luxury houses now place artificial intelligence among their top three corporate priorities, compared to only 5 percent two years earlier. More broadly, 61 percent now include it in their top ten strategic priorities.

However, the transformation remains largely unfinished.

Since 2024, the deployment of AI has progressed significantly in support functions, such as procurement, finance, human resources and operations, where productivity gains are most immediate. In contrast, customer-facing applications are advancing much more slowly. Crucially, fewer than one in five executives believe that AI projects have already had a significant impact on the business.

New battle: from AEO to the end of 'commodity content'

This is probably the main takeaway from this study, which aligns with the analyses shared by experts at the WAN-IFRA conference in Marseille. The industry is no longer just talking about SEO, but about AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), which is optimisation for answer engines.

According to Bain & Company, nearly 70 percent of luxury-related queries to generative AI do not mention any brand. Users ask, for example, which bag to buy or what watch to give as a gift, without mentioning a specific name. Furthermore, 90 percent of the links cited by the models direct to third-party sites rather than official brand websites.

During the conference in Marseille, search expert Jan-Willem Bobbink pointed out that “When an AI answer appears at the top of a search, a website loses an average of 40 percent of the traffic it would have captured if it were in the top five traditional results.”

'Commodity content' trap

This transition creates a clear distinction between two types of content:

Cold or 'commodity content': Basic buying guides, generic tip lists and in-depth articles with no unique historical value are the hardest hit. AI summarises them perfectly, depriving brands of clicks.
High-value experiential content (non-commodity content): As expert Clara Soteras highlighted at the WAN-IFRA conference, the key to surviving AI is to produce content based on unique perspectives, behind-the-scenes insights and authentic field expertise, which algorithms cannot invent.

Great return of fundamentals: AEO is still SEO

However, the challenge is not to reinvent the wheel. Behind the jargon of GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), the rules for optimising for ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini remain the same as for Google: a clear editorial structure with short paragraphs and precise subheadings; structured data; and strong brand authority. As Jan-Willem Bobbink ironically summarised to publishers: “It’s classic SEO with 50 percent more expensive packaging. It’s exactly the same thing.”

For luxury houses, historical advertising power is no longer enough. To exist in the AI era, they must become indispensable sources of authority, widely cited by third parties, to ensure that the 'conversations' of conversational agents are in their favour.

Not all houses start with the same advantages

The study also reveals an unexpected phenomenon. A house's economic power no longer automatically guarantees its visibility with AI.

Among the thirty most visible houses in generative engines, 70 percent of groups with revenues over 5 billion euros capture less visibility than their actual market share. Conversely, some houses with revenues under one billion euros manage to significantly outperform.

In other words, AI could redraw the balance of power and redefine the competitive landscape.

In this environment, several factors could gradually become as important as advertising power. These include the quality of published content; editorial richness; a presence on reference sites; and the ability to be cited by credible sources.

This development explains why some brands have already started reworking the editorial content of their product descriptions to improve their visibility in ChatGPT or Perplexity.

Towards a more conversational luxury

Beyond visibility, Bain and the Comité Colbert identify four major uses likely to permanently transform the customer experience: conversational commerce, AI-assisted personalisation, copilots for in-store advisors and a new generation of CRM and clienteling tools.

The common thread of these innovations is that they do not seek to replace the human relationship, but to enrich it.

At this stage, the most advanced application remains assisting in-store sales staff, providing them with real-time information on a customer's preferences, available stock or personalised recommendations. This application improves service without undermining the central role of the advisor.

New battle of influence

Ultimately, this study is less about the emergence of artificial intelligence in luxury and more about a shift in prescriptive power.

For a long time, houses sought to appear on the first page of Google or in social media feeds. Tomorrow, they will also have to convince AI models to recommend them when a user asks which coat to buy, what watch to give or which house best embodies a certain craftsmanship.

The battle for desirability now begins in a conversation.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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