EuroCommerce Rewiring Retail in Europe: The AI Imperative

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming retail and wholesale across Europe, transforming how businesses engage with customers, manage operations and drive growth. As innovation accelerates and global competition intensifies, retailers face an urgent challenge: moving from experimentation to large-scale AI adoption.

To explore this shift, EuroCommerce and McKinsey & Company have published Rewiring Retail in Europe: The AI Imperative, a new report examining how AI is changing the sector and where the greatest opportunities lie.

The report highlights the evolution from analytical AI and generative AI to the emerging era of agentic AI, where autonomous systems will increasingly support decision-making, transactions and personalised shopping experiences.

Among the key findings:

AI could generate €240–320 billion in value for European retail.
End-to-end AI transformation could increase operating profits by 4–10 percentage points.
61% of European consumers already use AI tools to discover and evaluate products.
The greatest untapped opportunities lie in commercial functions such as pricing, promotions and assortment optimisation.
Sustained investment will be essential for retailers seeking to remain competitive.

The report provides practical insights for business leaders, policymakers and stakeholders on how Europe can harness AI to strengthen innovation, competitiveness and resilience across the retail and wholesale ecosystem.

EuroCommerce Rewiring retail in Europe Report

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EuroCommerce Rewiring Retail in Europe: The AI Imperative

EuroCommerce Rewiring retail in Europe Report

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