The world’s largest retail industry conference, NRF Retail’s Big Show 2026, opened on January 11 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York.
Amid a packed first day of panels and roundtables, the world’s largest luxury group, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), took the stage under the theme “The Fusion of Craft and Intelligence: How LVMH Is Redefining Luxury for the Modern Consumer.”
As AI becomes a shared language across industries, a fundamental question emerges for luxury: where should the line be drawn, what must be protected, and how far should innovation go? Rather than offering a checklist of initiatives, the session presented a philosophy—a way of thinking about AI that reflects luxury’s deepest values.
The speakers included Gonzague de Pirey, Chief Omnichannel & Data Officer at LVMH, and Soumia Hadjali, Global Senior Vice President of Client Development & Digital at Louis Vuitton. The session was moderated by Ali Furman, Partner at PwC.
AI Flattens Creativity—That Is Why Caution Matters
What stood out most clearly throughout the session was luxury’s distinctive tension around AI. At a time when efficiency, optimization, and automation are widely celebrated, luxury remains fundamentally incompatible with standardization. Aesthetics, craftsmanship, and narrative are easily crushed by the logic of scale.
De Pirey captured LVMH’s stance succinctly at the outset, describing a mindset shaped by both enthusiasm and restraint.
“Creativity is a very delicate topic. Of course, we approach AI with great enthusiasm—but equally with great caution. Because we know AI carries the risk of flattening creativity.”
What matters here is that LVMH does not treat AI as something to be embraced blindly, but as something that must be actively controlled. AI is not omnipotent; if anything, it is fragile and potentially dangerous. This is why experimentation must remain grounded in constant testing and learning.
“We are very pragmatic. Together with universities and maisons such as Louis Vuitton, we are embracing this topic of AI and creativity through continuous testing and learning.”
AI Gives Time Back to Creation
Moderator Ali Furman next turned to something less tangible: the distinct feeling one experiences upon stepping into a Louis Vuitton store. The sense of being welcomed, of having one’s personal story acknowledged. Technology is present—but never foregrounded.
“When you enter a Louis Vuitton store, you feel something. Technology is there, but it remains in the background.”
Against this backdrop, she posed a crucial question: where does Louis Vuitton draw the line in using AI to enhance creativity?
Hadjali’s answer was unequivocal.
“At Louis Vuitton, the boundary is very clear. AI will never replace creativity. AI is here to amplify it.”
AI’s role is not to mass-produce creativity, but to accelerate exploration—allowing humans to refocus on what truly matters.
“By visualizing materials or testing colors, we can dedicate more time to exploration, experimentation, emotion, craftsmanship, and the narrative behind the product.”
This philosophy extends beyond design studios to the retail floor. For client advisors, AI is framed not as a replacement but as an augmentation.
“For client advisors, this is not about automation—it’s about augmentation. It allows them to focus less on screens and more on building real relationships with clients.”
AI should never take center stage. Its purpose is to give people more time with people. In luxury, where value resides in the human touch, AI must strengthen—not dilute—that essence.
“In our industry, luxury, this human touch is where the true value lies.”
Agentic Commerce as a System of Intimacy
One of the most animated discussions of the session centered on agentic commerce—a next-generation commerce model in which AI autonomously understands customer intent and context to propose purchases and experiences. While the concept has gained rapid attention across retail, many companies remain in experimental mode.
Furman noted that LVMH—and particularly Louis Vuitton—stands out in how it approaches this space. What intrigued her was how Louis Vuitton seeks to transform what is typically a transactional domain into one centered on intimacy.
As Hadjali explained, Louis Vuitton operates an expansive universe.
“We manage a very rich ecosystem—from our store network and website to the LV app, cafés, restaurants, and exhibitions.”
Agentic commerce, in this context, is about orchestrating the entire ecosystem around a single customer.
“What we mean is orchestrating this entire ecosystem around one customer. Every client is different. When you have millions of customers, this becomes a question of scale.”
She went on to define agentic commerce as a form of digital concierge, rooted in continuity and emotional coherence.
“Agentic commerce is a natural extension of the special relationships our industry has always built with clients. It connects the dots to create a consistent story rather than fragmented touchpoints. Intimacy is the real key.”
She illustrated the idea with a concrete example:
“For a wedding anniversary, Louis Vuitton might not only suggest a wardrobe, but also reserve an exhibition visit or a restaurant table.”
The goal is not to optimize transactions, but to accompany meaningful moments in a client’s life. AI enables this intimacy to scale—freeing human advisors to focus where their impact matters most.
“Our client advisors alone cannot reach every customer. AI allows us to scale, so advisors can truly focus on our most important clients.”
What Must Be Protected Is Not the Group—But Each Maison’s DNA
Furman also probed the difficulty of moving from pilot projects to scale—particularly for a group as complex as LVMH. De Pirey responded by rejecting the notion of a single “LVMH style,” emphasizing instead the primacy of each maison’s individuality.
“It is absolutely critical that every maison retains its own singularity and culture.”
Even if systems are shared behind the scenes, expression, vocabulary, and tone of voice must remain unique.
“Each maison must preserve its own DNA—its way of speaking, its tone, its language.”
Scale, he argued, only works when projects align with clear strategic priorities. Trend-driven experiments or gimmicks rarely succeed.
“Every AI initiative must align with a maison’s strategic priorities. When you build gimmicks, scaling almost always fails.”
Responsible AI as Trust—Not Governance
As AI initiatives scale, the question shifts from what to how. For LVMH, the answer centers on trust—more than speed or technical sophistication.
For de Pirey, responsible AI is not about compliance frameworks or checklists, but about building foundations that employees and clients can trust.
“In the end, we built the entire infrastructure to deploy AI the right way. Why? For trust.”
Trust must come first from employees, and ultimately extend to clients.
“Our employees must trust and adopt these systems. More importantly, our clients must continue to trust our brands.”
This trust depends on preserving each maison’s cultural specificity. The way Louis Vuitton speaks to clients differs fundamentally from Loewe, Tiffany & Co., or Sephora—and AI must respect those differences.
“Louis Vuitton speaks to clients very differently from Loewe, Tiffany, or Sephora. AI must never erase those distinctions.”
Why Louis Vuitton Made “Focus” a KPI
As AI capabilities expand, so do the number of possible initiatives. This abundance makes focus essential—not as a slogan, but as a discipline. That reality explains why Louis Vuitton made focus a core KPI.
Hadjali spoke candidly about the risk of overextension.
“We all tend to try to do too much at once.”
To counter this, Louis Vuitton applies three questions to every AI initiative:
“First, how big is the opportunity? Second, does it truly elevate the client experience? Third, do we have the right to win?”
Only initiatives that pass all three move forward.
Crucially, focus does not mean doing less.
“Focus doesn’t mean doing fewer things. It means doing the most important things exceptionally well.”
Under this framework, Louis Vuitton organizes AI initiatives into four pillars: enhancing creativity, data-driven client acquisition, elevating client experience, and operational excellence.
Hadjali summarized it simply: imagine better, attract better, serve better, and execute better.
Adoption is the ultimate KPI.
“If an initiative isn’t fully adopted, we stop it.”
AI is not an end in itself. Only what is used—and what deepens the brand-client relationship—deserves to endure.
From “Expanding” to “Accompanying”: Rethinking Startup Collaboration
As companies navigate AI development, a key question emerges: what to build internally and what to delegate. De Pirey outlined LVMH’s approach through three pillars of open innovation—universities, hyperscalers (such as Google, SAP, and Salesforce), and startups.
The relationship with startups, in particular, has evolved significantly.
“When we began our AI journey four years ago, we opened the doors too widely. Today, we start with one maison, one market, sometimes even one store.”
Only proven initiatives advance to deeper integration—eventually becoming native to the group’s ecosystem.
This three-stage process is embodied by La Maison des Startups at Station F in Paris, where startups are not treated as vendors, but as long-term partners accompanied step by step.
In Two Years, Success Is Not Revenue—It Is Desirability
To close the session, the panel was asked to define success two years from now. De Pirey first described a future where employees across borders and functions fully embrace AI. Then he turned to luxury’s most critical metric.
“In luxury, the most important measure is desirability. If AI helps strengthen people’s desire for our brands, that is absolute success.”
Short-term revenue or efficiency is not the yardstick. What matters is whether desire and aspiration grow deeper and more enduring.
Finally, he emphasized one more condition for success.
“LVMH must remain a place where people want to work—where everyone wants to work for Louis Vuitton or our maisons.”
By stepping beyond the conventional narrative of AI as a tool for efficiency, LVMH reframes AI as a system designed to protect and amplify humanity and intimacy. What LVMH presented at NRF was not a future where technology mechanizes luxury—but one where it makes luxury more human than ever.
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