Artificial intelligence (AI) in European e-commerce - statistics and facts
With the European market of artificial intelligence estimated to be worth 43 billion euros in 2024 , new opportunities have opened for e-commerce companies able to innovate. European online shoppers like to engage themselves with the enhanced online experience that AI offers, but they still have reservations about data privacy.
AI is already at the core of applications processing customer data to provide a hyper-personalized shopping experience. That includes optimizing search results and pricing. Marketing professionals working in the retail industry believe AI might unlock previously unseen insights from customer data, producing higher customer engagement and loyalty to brands. An even higher number of them admitted AI saves time they would usually spend on marketing campaigns. Less than seven percent of surveyed European companies considered AI applications for fraud protection, a threat they might underestimate seeing the dimension of e-commerce fraud globally.
AI adoption in European e-commerce will depend on companies’ capability to invest, as well as on the level of efficiency in meeting consumers’ needs. In the region that produced the first comprehensive regulation on the use of artificial intelligence, online retailers must not ignore the privacy risks posed by AI.
Business adoption so far
In 2023, less than 15 percent of wholesale and retail trade companies used AI-powered tools in the EU. The figure aligns with the number of B2C e-commerce enterprises reporting to have already fully implemented AI technology in their operations, although enterprises based in Germany had a higher rate of full implementation. However, the share of companies experimenting with or considering using AI exceeds 70 percent in several countries. Following the ranking of e-commerce segments by revenue, AI solutions are likely to be implemented in fashion e-commerce, as data from Italy shows.AI is already at the core of applications processing customer data to provide a hyper-personalized shopping experience. That includes optimizing search results and pricing. Marketing professionals working in the retail industry believe AI might unlock previously unseen insights from customer data, producing higher customer engagement and loyalty to brands. An even higher number of them admitted AI saves time they would usually spend on marketing campaigns. Less than seven percent of surveyed European companies considered AI applications for fraud protection, a threat they might underestimate seeing the dimension of e-commerce fraud globally.
AI in the customer experience
European shoppers are not too happy with the current level of AI capabilities, as roughly 90 percent of them think AI hardly enhances the overall shopping experience. They also do not find AI-driven product recommendations very useful and nearly 60 percent of consumers just ignored them. However, they understood how pervasive AI is going to be, as over half of them believe AI-based product recommendations will be standard practice by 2050. Shoppers’ attitude towards chatbots is more positive, with Italian and Spanish shoppers being the most eager to engage with chatbots powered with generative AI technology.AI adoption in European e-commerce will depend on companies’ capability to invest, as well as on the level of efficiency in meeting consumers’ needs. In the region that produced the first comprehensive regulation on the use of artificial intelligence, online retailers must not ignore the privacy risks posed by AI.
