NRF 2026: LVMH puts "quiet tech" to work
LVMH is using technology to reimagine luxury for the modern consumer without stealing the spotlight from craft, reports Miya Knights, Retail Technology Publisher
Luxury may trade on heritage and human connection. Still, luxury designer brands housed by LVMH used its NRF 2026 keynote earlier this week to argue that winning brands in the next era of luxury retail will be those that can operationalise intelligence at scale, while keeping technology largely out of sight.
In "Where craft meets intelligence: How LVMH is reimagining luxury for the modern consumer," Gonzague de Pirey, LVMH Chief Omnichannel and Data Officer, and Soumia Hadjali, Louis Vuitton Global Senior Vice President, Client Development & Digital (pictured right and centre above, respectively), outlined how the group is embedding AI and data across its maisons to elevate creativity, empower store teams and deepen client relationships.
"Everywhere but visible nowhere"
De Pirey framed LVMH's approach as a deliberate inversion of the tech industry's instinct to foreground innovation. Luxury, he said, remains rooted in artisanship and the client-advisor relationship, and that should dictate how artificial intelligence (AI) is used.
"If we want to develop successful technology, the technology needs to be everywhere but visible nowhere," he told attendees, describing LVMH's philosophy as "quiet tech" designed to: "serve the human essence of luxury."
That thinking is consistent with the group's broader, human-centric AI strategy, described internally as "mAIson," built to support LVMH's decentralised structure of 75 autonomous brands (or "maisons") while maintaining what makes each one distinctive.
Creativity, amplified, not automated
Hadjali was equally explicit that LVMH is positioning AI as a creative accelerant rather than a substitute for artistry.
"AI never replaces the creativity, and it amplifies it," she said, citing studio use cases such as faster exploration of materials and colours, freeing up more time for "emotions, craftsmanship and the narrative".
The same principle applies on the shopfloor. For client advisors, she added: "It's more about augmentation, not automation." AI surfaces client preferences and intent so advisors can "focus on the relationship, not on the screen".
This 'behind-the-scenes' style is also central to LVMH's data foundation work with major partners. The group has publicly detailed its multi-year build of a shared data and AI platform, which is designed to enable collaboration across maisons and preserve autonomy and service standards.
"Connected dots" create coherent journeys
Hadjali's most concrete vision for AI-driven clienteling was about moving luxury from a series of discrete touchpoints to a continuous, context-rich relationship.
"It's not only about understanding what the client buys, but also who they are, where they live, what really influences and inspires them," she said. "So it's about, once again, connecting the dots, creating a coherent, expected experience, not fragmented, and with a continuous story."
The ambition is to orchestrate services around key life moments, blending product, experience, hospitality and access, while retaining the brand's signature intimacy at scale.
Scaling AI across 75 maisons
De Pirey was candid about what does and doesn't scale in a federated luxury group. The key, he said, is to anchor AI in each maison's strategic priorities and to resist the temptation to chase novelty.
"Each time we have started to develop a bit gimmicky thing, or things that are side topics, basically we fail to scale," he said. "On the contrary, where we have piloted projects… to serve business needs that have tangible results, then the scale was not that difficult."
He also stressed that responsible AI governance is non-negotiable, describing a group-level framework and named officers. "Why do we do all of that? It is for the trust," he said—first for employees adopting AI in their workflows, and even more importantly for clients continuing to trust LVMH brands.
That emphasis aligns with external reporting on LVMH's responsible AI approach, including the existence of a LVMH charter focused on principles such as fairness, privacy and explainability—and the practical challenge of translating central principles into localised practice across maisons.
Making intelligence usable
While LVMH kept the keynote focused on outcomes rather than architecture, the group's recent partner and media briefings point to a growing role for internal AI assistants and agents. For example, LVMH has discussed employee-facing AI agents, often referred to as MaIA, and the use of conversational interfaces that help client advisors rapidly retrieve client and product context.
Likewise, the group has referenced its broader data platform work—sometimes described as Atom—including integrations tailored to market ecosystems (such as China) while maintaining a group-wide view of customer relationships.
Measuring what matters
Hadjali closed on a practical point many retailers will recognise: transformation only counts if it's of use.
LVMH, she said, has made "dashboard adoption" a central key performance indicator (KPI), noting that the board owner may stop initiatives if they are not fully adopted. This approach reflects what she described as AI's "learning curve" and the need to continuously prove value.
De Pirey set an equally luxury-specific North Star for the next phase of AI development by LVMH: "If we are able, thanks to AI, to increase the desire of people for our brands, that will be the absolute key for success," he said.
At NRF 2026, LVMH's message was clear: the most powerful retail AI may be the kind customers barely notice. It quietly optimises creative, advisor and store team processes to deliver what luxury ultimately sells: time, attention and meaning.
