Artificial intelligence (AI) in e-commerce in France - statistics & facts
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The artificial intelligence (AI) market is thriving in France, with a forecast value of nearly 25 billion euros by 2031. Likewise, the startup ecosystem has doubled in funding and the number of enterprises since 2018. In 2024, retail businesses adopted AI technologies for text processing and data analysis mostly, although task automation and assistance in decision-making have also been growing in recent years.
In the luxury sector, French enterprises adopted AI to enhance the customer experience. While experimenting in marketing campaigns tops the ranking of AI-powered projects thanks to the fast production of marketing content, the analysis of customer data has been deployed at a much larger scale. Over one-quarter of French professionals from the luxury industry used AI for customer segmentation in 2024.
In France, the question is not whether AI is effectively implemented, but rather whether it can provide a significantly better customer experience. In 2024, the vast majority of shoppers did not see huge improvements in their user experience, doubting AI agents would do a better job than human ones. A glance at online retail’s top retention factors suggests there is not much AI tools can bring substantial changes to. However, 80 percent of French shoppers were likely to change retailers when customer support was not available in their language – an almost no-brainer for most GenAI-based tools, but a significant effort for human-based customer service.
AI adoption in French e-commerce
Generative AI is the main enabler of content personalization in online retail, with roughly one in three big retailers 1489095 reporting this use case in France. Alongside greater efficiency in operations, Gen AI tools were behind shopping assistants and customer support. Survey findings from the B2B e-commerce sector showed that AI chatbots were useful but unlikely to help complete a purchase transaction.In the luxury sector, French enterprises adopted AI to enhance the customer experience. While experimenting in marketing campaigns tops the ranking of AI-powered projects thanks to the fast production of marketing content, the analysis of customer data has been deployed at a much larger scale. Over one-quarter of French professionals from the luxury industry used AI for customer segmentation in 2024.
Consumers’ opinions
Roughly one-third of online shoppers valued AI-powered personalization, with Millennials showing the highest preference rates. A much higher percentage of shoppers and over 40 percent of Gen Z consumers expected AI to improve pre-purchase aspects of their customer journey, such as providing real-time information on product availability. Lastly, delivery tracking remains a nice-to-have feature in the world of AI-enhanced features of e-commerce.In France, the question is not whether AI is effectively implemented, but rather whether it can provide a significantly better customer experience. In 2024, the vast majority of shoppers did not see huge improvements in their user experience, doubting AI agents would do a better job than human ones. A glance at online retail’s top retention factors suggests there is not much AI tools can bring substantial changes to. However, 80 percent of French shoppers were likely to change retailers when customer support was not available in their language – an almost no-brainer for most GenAI-based tools, but a significant effort for human-based customer service.
