IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v87y2025ics096969892500195x.html

Redefining consumer experience through artificial intelligence in the luxury retail sector

Author

Listed:
  • Cenizo, Coral

Abstract

Artificial intelligence has established itself as a central driver of business transformation, standing out for its capacity to automate processes, personalize services, and optimize strategic decision-making. In the luxury sector, its incorporation presents a particular complexity, as it requires a delicate balance between technological efficiency and the preservation of the symbolic, aesthetic, and emotional values that shape brand identity. This study aims to explore how professionals within the luxury sector perceive the integration of artificial intelligence and what conditions they consider necessary for the technology to be adopted without compromising exclusivity or the distinctive customer experience. The research followed a qualitative, exploratory methodology, based on semi-structured interviews with experts from various fields related to luxury management, technological innovation, and brand experience. Findings indicate that the acceptance of artificial intelligence in the luxury context depends on its ability to integrate invisibly, reinforce the narrative and emotional dimensions of the experience, and function as a relational infrastructure rather than an autonomous tool. Key strategies identified include its curatorial role in personalization processes and its cross-functional incorporation into collaborative organizational dynamics. From a practical standpoint, these results offer guidance for implementing advanced technologies in environments where cultural and symbolic sensitivity is essential to perceived value. The value of this study lies in proposing an alternative understanding of artificial intelligence as a symbolic mediator rather than a purely technical solution, thereby offering new insights for its application in identity-rich contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Cenizo, Coral, 2025. "Redefining consumer experience through artificial intelligence in the luxury retail sector," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:87:y:2025:i:c:s096969892500195x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104416
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096969892500195X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104416?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Le Qi & Eunju Ko & Minjung Cho, 2025. "AI chatbots with visual search: Impact on luxury fashion shopping behavior," Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 99-117, April.
    2. Hoyer, Wayne D. & Kroschke, Mirja & Schmitt, Bernd & Kraume, Karsten & Shankar, Venkatesh, 2020. "Transforming the Customer Experience Through New Technologies," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 57-71.
    3. Micael-Lee Johnstone & Lay Tan, 2015. "Exploring the Gap Between Consumers’ Green Rhetoric and Purchasing Behaviour," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 311-328, December.
    4. Grewal, Dhruv & Roggeveen, Anne L. & Nordfält, Jens, 2017. "The Future of Retailing," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 1-6.
    5. Rahman, Muhammad Sabbir & Bag, Surajit & Hossain, Md Afnan & Abdel Fattah, Fadi Abdel Muniem & Gani, Mohammad Osman & Rana, Nripendra P., 2023. "The new wave of AI-powered luxury brands online shopping experience: The role of digital multisensory cues and customers’ engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    6. Shahzad, Muhammad Farrukh & Xu, Shuo & An, Xin & Javed, Iqra, 2024. "Assessing the impact of AI-chatbot service quality on user e-brand loyalty through chatbot user trust, experience and electronic word of mouth," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Li, Jiarui & Kang, Jiyun, 2025. "Less stress, fewer delays: The role of sophisticated AI in mitigating decision fatigue and purchase postponement in luxury retail," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    8. Benjamin Saunders & Julius Sim & Tom Kingstone & Shula Baker & Jackie Waterfield & Bernadette Bartlam & Heather Burroughs & Clare Jinks, 2018. "Saturation in qualitative research: exploring its conceptualization and operationalization," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1893-1907, July.
    9. Dion, Delphine & Arnould, Eric, 2011. "Retail Luxury Strategy: Assembling Charisma through Art and Magic," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(4), pages 502-520.
    10. Wided Batat, 2019. "The New Luxury Experience," Management for Professionals, Springer, number 978-3-030-01671-5, October.
    11. repec:hal:journl:hal-04808430 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Xin Song & Carole Bonanni, 2024. "AI-Driven Business Model: How AI-Powered Try-On Technology Is Refining the Luxury Shopping Experience and Customer Satisfaction," Post-Print hal-05081129, HAL.
    13. Kauppinen-Räisänen, Hannele & Mühlbacher, Hans & Taishoff, Marika, 2020. "Exploring consumers’ subjective shopping experiences in directly operated luxury brand stores," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    14. Wided Batat, 2019. "The New Experiential Luxury Marketing Model," Management for Professionals, in: The New Luxury Experience, chapter 2, pages 33-53, Springer.
    15. Eric J. Arnould & Craig J. Thompson, 2005. "Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty Years of Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 31(4), pages 868-882, March.
    16. Thomas, Veronica L. & Bock, Dora E. & Mangus, Stephanie M. & Mohammadi, Setare, 2024. "Wearing your success on your sleeve: How salesperson luxury brand consumption affects consumers’ perceptions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 100(4), pages 532-548.
    17. Lidan Xu & Ravi Mehta, 2022. "Technology devalues luxury? Exploring consumer responses to AI-designed luxury products," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 1135-1152, November.
    18. Elodie de Boissieu & Patricia Baudier, 2023. "The perceived credibility of human-like social robots: virtual influencers in a luxury and multicultural context," Post-Print hal-04314353, HAL.
    19. Ko, Eunju & Costello, John P. & Taylor, Charles R., 2019. "What is a luxury brand? A new definition and review of the literature," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 405-413.
    20. Park, JungKun & Ahn, Suhyoung, 2024. "Traditional vs. AI-generated brand personalities: Impact on brand preference and purchase intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    21. Dubois, Anna & Gadde, Lars-Erik, 2002. "Systematic combining: an abductive approach to case research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(7), pages 553-560, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qadri, Usman Ahmad & Ahmed Moustafa, Alsadig Mohamed & Waqas, Muhammad, 2026. "When and how AI personalization drives sustainable purchases: The roles of relevance, privacy, and transparency in eco-friendly advertising," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Javornik, Ana & Duffy, Katherine & Rokka, Joonas & Scholz, Joachim & Nobbs, Karinna & Motala, Anisa & Goldenberg, Adriana, 2021. "Strategic approaches to augmented reality deployment by luxury brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 284-292.
    2. Nawres, Darragi & Nedra, Bahri-Ammari & Yousaf, Anish & Mishra, Abhishek, 2024. "The role of augmented reality in shaping purchase intentions and WOM for luxury products," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    3. Mbaye Fall Diallo & Norchène Ben Dahmane Mouelhi & Mahesh Gadekar & Marie Schill, 2021. "CSR Actions, Brand Value, and Willingness to Pay a Premium Price for Luxury Brands: Does Long-Term Orientation Matter?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 241-260, March.
    4. Rubal Rathi & Ruchi Garg & Aakanksha Kataria & Ritu Chhikara, 2022. "Evolution of luxury marketing landscape: a bibliometric analysis and future directions," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(3), pages 241-257, May.
    5. Joy, Annamma & Wang, Jeff Jianfeng & Chan, Tsang-Sing & Sherry, John F. & Cui, Geng, 2014. "M(Art)Worlds: Consumer Perceptions of How Luxury Brand Stores Become Art Institutions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 347-364.
    6. Simoni, Michele & Sorrentino, Annarita & Venturini, Luca, 2025. "Metaverse as content or container? Exploring the future of customer experience in tourism," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    7. Gian Luca Gregori & Silvia Cardinali & Meri Travaglini, 2013. "Imprese calzaturiere e competitivit? nel mercato mondiale: il caso di una media luxury brand company," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2013(3), pages 151-168.
    8. Ekström, Karin M. & Jönsson, Håkan, 2022. "Orchestrating retail in small cities," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    9. Alex Hiller & Tony Woodall, 2019. "Everything Flows: A Pragmatist Perspective of Trade-Offs and Value in Ethical Consumption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(4), pages 893-912, July.
    10. Roggeveen, Anne L. & Grewal, Dhruv & Karsberg, John & Noble, Stephanie M. & Nordfält, Jens & Patrick, Vanessa M. & Schweiger, Elisa & Soysal, Gonca & Dillard, Annemarie & Cooper, Nora & Olson, Richard, 2021. "Forging meaningful consumer-brand relationships through creative merchandise offerings and innovative merchandising strategies," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 81-98.
    11. Sharma, Amalesh & Soni, Mauli & Borah, Sourav Bikash & Haque, Tanjum, 2022. "From silos to synergies: A systematic review of luxury in marketing research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 893-907.
    12. Ruth N. Bolton & Anders Gustafsson & Crina O. Tarasi & Lars Witell, 2022. "Designing satisfying service encounters: website versus store touchpoints," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 85-107, January.
    13. Han, Sang-Lin & Kim, Kihyung, 2020. "Role of consumption values in the luxury brand experience: Moderating effects of category and the generation gap," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    14. Mostaghel, Rana & Oghazi, Pejvak & Parida, Vinit & Sohrabpour, Vahid, 2022. "Digitalization driven retail business model innovation: Evaluation of past and avenues for future research trends," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 134-145.
    15. Yang, Jing & Lee, Susanna S., 2026. "Caught in the Act: Natural recognition of deepfake UGC ad, expectancy violation and consumer responses," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    16. Eric Tafani & Franck Vigneron & Audrey Azoulay & Sandrine Crener & Abdul Zahid, 2024. "The Influence of Culture and Gender in Luxury Brand Consumption: A Comparison Across Western and Eastern Culture Consumers," Post-Print hal-04781578, HAL.
    17. Eric Tafani & Franck Vigneron & Audrey Azoulay & Sandrine Crener & Abdul Zahid, 2024. "The Influence Of Culture And Gender In Luxury Brand Consumption: A Comparison Across Western And Eastern Culture Consumers," Post-Print hal-04775219, HAL.
    18. Petersen, Daniel Agerbech & Goodall, Keith, 2025. "Leadership development in the cross-cultural context of China: Who really cares?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(3).
    19. Fernandez-Vidal, Jorge & Gonzalez, Reyes & Gasco, Jose & Llopis, Juan, 2022. "Digitalization and corporate transformation: The case of European oil & gas firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    20. Eva Daniela Cvik & Radka MacGregor Pelikánová, 2021. "The Significance of CSR During COVID-19 Pandemic in the Luxury Fashion Industry - A Front-Line Case Study," European Journal of Business Science and Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 109-126.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:87:y:2025:i:c:s096969892500195x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.