On 11/30/2022, OpenAI ChatGPT casually launched with a Twitter post (now X) from Sam Altman. Five days later, the tool already had more than 1 million users, making it one of the fastest-growing online platforms. This sparked an unprecedented AI arms race across many industries. Online retailers in particular are not unaffected by the upheavals brought about by the new technology. But how do eCommerce decision-makers in Europe assess the situation themselves and how much budget do they invest in AI? To find out, FactFinder surveyed 300 of them about the current use of AI in their company. The results of the survey are now available, summarized in a 20-page trend report. The report provides exciting insights into the current state, impact, investments and trends in the European eCommerce landscape. The results of the study are intended to serve as a basis for retailers’ future business decisions.

Key findings include:

• Investment in AI is increasing despite economic headwinds.
• 86% of eCommerce decision-makers want to increase their AI investments compared to the previous year.
• 76% of decision-makers have achieved an increase in revenue of 11% or more through the use of AI.
• The use of AI in merchandising, search, and personalization leads to the largest increases in sales for online stores on average.
• With advances in Large Language Models (LLM), it is likely that AI will make its way into the entire eCommerce value chain – from customer acquisition to fulfillment.
• 62% of decision-makers believe that AI will increase the size of their eCommerce teams, not shrink them.
• The top three areas where AI has improved outcomes in eCommerce are: (1) Customer Support, (2) Search & Recommendations, (3) Automation.

These results clearly show that eCommerce decision-makers are seeing the positive impact of using AI technology. But exactly how much are these industry leaders investing in the emerging AI technology? These and many other findings can be found in the 20-page trend report.