AI Now Opens New Potential For Consumers

Robots with artificial intelligence are already booming in shopping centers (photo: x @JharedOnChain)

JAKARTA - China's retailers and exporters, amid an era of rapidly reviving artificial intelligence (AI) that changes consumer behavior around the world, need to adopt an AI-based mechanism to stay superior and strengthen their position in the global market, industry executives say.

"Consumer behavior is now much more complex, and the way they shop has changed. Therefore, marketing strategies must also adapt to the diverse behavior of users," said Diarmuid Gill, Chief Technology Officer of trading media company Criteo, quoted by VOI from China Daily.

According to a report released by Omnicom Media Group in October 2025 on changes in consumer behavior, as many as 65 percent of consumers now hope to get their ideal answers through a summary generated by AI.

Consumers most often use AI in the early stages of shopping trips, such as getting to know products, finding various choices, or just looking for inspiration for major phases in the purchase process mentioned in the report.

"We observe this trend clearly through click monitoring, sessions, and conversations on our platform," Gill said. He added that the current implementation of AI is mostly used in product discovery and price comparison stages, while the final stages of purchasing decision making have not fully developed.

"As AI becomes an important partner on consumer shopping trips, brands need to immediately implement an AI agent-based marketing strategy to take advantage of this huge growth opportunity," he added.

In July 2025, China's State Council (Kabinet) issued new guidelines for advancing the AI Plus initiative, which has explicitly prompted the implementation of broad AI agents in various sectors, including trade.

In the future, Criteo plans to launch an agentic AI solution in China in the coming months. In addition, the company also opens up opportunities for cooperation with large language model service providers (LLM) from China to achieve mutually beneficial results.

"China is the third largest market for Criteo in the Asia-Pacific region and has an important strategic meaning for our global strategy," said Szi-Wei Lo, Managing Director of Criteo Asia-Pacific.

"We understand very well the opportunities and challenges facing Chinese companies in expanding abroad, and we see how the retail and e-commerce ecosystems develop at an unprecedented pace," he added.

AI user base in China is also experiencing rapid growth. As of June 2025, the number of users reached 515 million people, with a penetration rate of 36.5 percent, according to data from the China Internet Network Information Center released in October.

"If the previous decade was marked by the construction of an information highway', then the next decade would be marked by the implementation of intelligent agents operating on it," said Zhong Xinlong, a researcher at the China Center for Information Industry Development.