How Brands Drive Growth and Lower Costs with Google AI

Google AI tools are driving higher sales at significantly lower costs for retail and banking brands including bonprix and Deutsche Bank, according to executive presentations at the DMEXCO conference held in September 2026, Lebensmittelzeitung reported. Dan Taylor, Vice President Global Ads at Google, stated during his keynote address that Google now records over 5 trillion search queries annually.

How Google AI Shapes Retail Purchasing Journeys

The increasing prominence of artificial intelligence in commerce is reflected in consumer behavior across Germany. A Google-commissioned Ipsos study conducted in July 2025 indicates that Google or YouTube plays a decisive role in 74 percent of purchase processes where consumers discover new brands or products. Bernd Fauser, Managing Director DACH Partners at Google, explained on the Commerce Stage that brief keywords are evolving into complex, conversational purchase intents.

This shift is supported by Google’s Shopping Graph, which manages 60 billion products and updates availability and prices minutely. A separate Ipsos study commissioned by Google in December 2025 shows that consumers using AI engage in up to ten touchpoints with a brand, which is roughly three times the number recorded without AI interaction.

Bonprix Achieves Measurable Growth Through AI Max

Retailer bonprix demonstrated concrete business outcomes using these tools on the Center Stage at the DMEXCO conference. Dr. Nicolai Johannsen, Chief Marketing Officer of bonprix, described AI Max as an instrument for profitable growth, stating, If you are able to give customers helpful answers, this can be turned into real business value.

If you are able to give customers helpful answers, this can be turned into real business value.

Dr. Nicolai Johannsen, bonprix

Using AI Max and its live catalog, bonprix reported a 44 percent increase in new customers, a 22 percent reduction in acquisition costs, and a 15.3 percent higher conversion rate. Meanwhile, YouTube reached 57 million monthly users in Germany as of September 2025 according to Gemius data cited by Google, with more than 20.7 million accessing the platform via Connected TV. YouTube Affiliate Shopping launched in Germany in mid-September 2025, allowing creators to tag products directly in videos with ten initial partner brands, including bonprix.

Deutsche Bank Transforms Marketing Into a Profit Center

Deutsche Bank has pursued its artificial intelligence transformation with Google for six years, aiming to handle over 70 percent of retail banking new business digitally and remotely by 2028. Dominik Hennen, Head of Personal Banking Germany at Deutsche Bank, spoke during a fireside chat with Philipp Justus, Country Manager Germany at Google, about countering a new market competitor by deploying AI-driven performance marketing through Google.

The strategy secured 60,000 new customers within six weeks at an acquisition cost roughly 44 percent lower than the market average. Hennen argued for a shift in corporate control structures, noting, Marketing is often seen as a cost item in the profit and loss account. But it must be a profit center.

Marketing is often seen as a cost item in the profit and loss account. But it must be a profit center.

Dominik Hennen, Deutsche Bank

Rather than relying on fixed annual budgets, the bank utilizes breathable budgets that self-refinance through the contribution margins of new customers.

Open Questions Remain Regarding AI Adoption Speeds

Adoption rates among commercial enterprises continue to vary widely across the retail and banking sectors. While Google executives point to metrics indicating that every euro invested in search yields an average return of six euros based on a global analysis of 143 conversion lift studies conducted between January 2021 and July 2024, the exact timeline and capital required for every traditional retailer to replicate the multi-channel results achieved by bonprix and Deutsche Bank remain unquantified by independent market data.