8 Jul, 2026
Written by
Agnes Durand
At the 8th edition of CJ's Fashion Afternoon in Paris this June, Marguerite Le Rolland, Global insights Manager-Fashion for Euromonitor International examined how AI is reshaping fashion and beauty commerce and transforming everything from product discovery and customer engagement to conversion and demand forecasting. She also outlined what some top brands and merchants are implementing and what those programs reveal about the next phase of digital shopping. Here is a summary of what she said.
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Online commerce already accounts for 32% of global fashion, apparel, and footwear sales, according to Euromonitor International. In Europe, that figure reaches 33%, while the UK is approaching 40%. Fashion may still rely heavily on physical experiences, but digital commerce is capturing and increasingly large share of consumer spending.
However, the story is no longer simply about online vs offline shopping. The way consumers discover products online is changing.
New paths to discovery and purchase
For more than a decade, digital shopping revolved around search. Consumers entered keywords, compared products, read reviews, and completed a purchase. Then social commerce introduced a new dynamic. Discovery became increasingly driven by recommendations, content, and algorithms rather than deliberate searches. And now, LLMs and dedicated AI commerce agents are introducing further change.
“Shopping is moving from search-based discovery to suggestion-based discovery.”
Marguerite Le Rolland, Euromonitor International
Few examples illustrate this evolution more clearly than TikTok Shop. According to Euromonitor International, the platform grew from virtually no presence in 2021 to become the third-largest global ecommerce retailer in 2025. It is capturing 8% global ecommerce market share and rising.
Consumers increasingly encounter products because they have been recommended, surfaced, or curated for them rather than through their personally initiated searches.
Product discovery is becoming conversational
Generative AI is now extending this recommendation-driven model.
Rather than typing a series of keywords, consumers can describe exactly what they need. A shopper can ask for an outfit for a summer wedding, a skincare product within a specific budget or a pair of shoes suited to a particular occasion. The interaction feels closer to a conversation than a search query.
Consumer behaviour is already reflecting this shift. Euromonitor reports that 28% of LLM users already use these tools to find better product recommendations. Around a quarter expect more personalised recommendations and services while a similar proportion use AI to summarise customer reviews before making a purchase decision.
“AI is becoming the new shelf.”
Marguerite Le Rolland, Euromonitor International
That statement captures a broader change taking place across digital commerce . Visibility is no longer determined solely by search rankings. Brands increasingly need content, reviews and product information that AI systems can surface, interpret, and recommend with confidence.
Euromonitor highlighted that ChatGPT usage grew by more than 200% between 2024 and 2025 and that the platform reached 900 million weekly users worldwide by February 2026.
Retailers are already moving beyond experimentation
Much of the discussion around AI remains focused on future possibilities. However, several retailers are already turning those possibilities into commercial applications
JD Sports recently signed a global agreement with Stripe and CommerceTools to support AI-enabled checkout experiences in the United States. The initiative will allow consumers to move from product discovery to purchase directly within AI environments such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot.
“AI is no longer influencing discovery alone. Its role in conversion and checkout is already beginning to emerge.”
Marguerite Le Rolland, Euromonitor International
Beauty has long relied on personalised advice and making it a natural area for AI innovation.
Euromonitor highlighted L'Oréal's Beauty Genius platform as an example of how brands are moving beyond simple product recommendations. The platform acts as a beauty advisor capable of remembering previous purchases, preferences and behaviours while incorporating augmented reality to help consumers visualise products before buying.
“Consumers expect AI to act more like a personal shopping assistant than a search engine.”
Marguerite Le Rolland, Euromonitor International
The significance lies less in the technology itself and more in the changing expectations it reflects. Consumers increasingly expect recommendations that understand context not just keywords.
Some of the most impactful AI applications are happening away from the consumer-facing experience.
Zara analyses more than three million social media images every day to identify emerging trends and anticipate demand across markets. Rather than relying primarily on historical data, the retailer can use current consumer behaviour to inform merchandising and product decisions.
“For Zara, AI functions like a giant focus group that never stops.”
Marguerite Le Rolland, Euromonitor International
For an industry where timing often determines commercial performance, the ability to identify signals earlier creates a considerable advantage.
Among the examples presented, Zalando offers the clearest view of how AI can influence multiple parts of the commerce journey simultaneously.
The retailer has invested in AI-powered shopping assistants that help customers build outfits and find products for specific occasions. More recently, it has expanded AI across content creation, localisation, and customer experience.
According to Euromonitor, Zalando has publicly linked these initiatives to improved conversion rates, fewer returns, and greater operational efficiency. AI is helping the retailer scale content across markets while maintaining consistency and controlling costs.
“AI can improve conversion, reduce returns and help retailers scale content across markets.”
Marguerite Le Rolland, Euromonitor International
The Zalando approach demonstrates how AI can influence discovery, engagement, conversion, and operations within a unified strategy.
The most striking observation from Euromonitor's research is that AI is changing far more than technology.
It is changing expectations. Consumers are increasingly looking for recommendations that reflect their preferences, purchasing intent and individual context. They expect relevant suggestions, trustworthy information and experiences that help them make decisions more efficiently.
“Brands are increasingly competing on relevance, trust and the quality of the guidance they provide.”
Marguerite Le Rolland, Euromonitor Internation
The examples from JD Sports, L'Oréal, Zara, and Zalando suggest that this shift is already underway.
AI is becoming embedded across the customer journey, influencing how products are discovered, evaluated, and purchased. The brands moving first are not treating AI as a standalone initiative. They are weaving it into the way commerce itself operates.
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