Berlin, 13th April 2026 – 7Learnings, the leading AI-powered retail optimization platform, has contributed to the newly released Bitkom whitepaper, “AI Trends in E-Commerce”. The report arrives as a representative Bitkom survey reveals that 61% of retailers now view Artificial Intelligence as a critical factor for maintaining a competitive advantage.

While the industry’s attention has been mainly focused on generative AI and “Agentic Commerce” (where autonomous agents handle shopping tasks), 7Learnings argues that the most immediate and profound impact on the bottom line comes from automating core business decisions.

In his featured section, Felix Hoffmann, Co-Founder and CEO of 7Learnings, outlines why retailers must move beyond simple language models and “rules of thumb” to integrate predictive and optimization-based AI.

“The automation of decisions may not make the same headlines as ChatGPT, but it will revolutionize the way modern e-commerce companies operate over the next five years,” said Felix Hoffmann. “For critical decisions, especially in e-commerce, companies need robust, explainable systems based on predictive analytics and mathematical optimization.”

Key insights from the 7Learnings contribution include:

  • Looking past LLMs: While Large Language Models (LLMs) excel at content and interaction, they lack the transparency and optimization logic required to manage complex business decision-making.
  • Predictive analytics: True decision automation relies on machine learning to forecast outcomes, such as customer demand or return probabilities, with high precision.
  • Dynamic pricing: Retailers can improve margins by moving from intuition and rule-based logic to systems that dynamically determine the optimal discount level per product, channel, and timeframe.
  • Structured approach: Businesses should prioritize automating high-impact, complex decisions, such as pricing and marketing spend, while keeping human expertise central to strategy and system oversight.

The Bitkom whitepaper provides a comprehensive look at the future of retail, covering everything from virtual fitting rooms to the rise of AI shopping assistants that negotiate terms directly with brands. 7Learnings’ contribution serves as a roadmap for retailers looking to turn these technological trends into measurable growth.

The full whitepaper, featuring 7Learnings’ complete analysis, is available for download at bitkom.org. 

About 7Learnings

7Learnings provides an AI-powered retail optimization platform for B2C companies, pioneering the overarching optimization of pricing, performance marketing, and product ordering. With 7Learnings’ machine learning algorithm, retailers and brands can predict the impact of pricing decisions, determine the optimal price for all products, and reduce manual labor by up to 80 percent. The solution has been rigorously tested in numerous A/B experiments and consistently delivers measurable performance improvements and profit increases of more than ten percent.

7Learnings was founded in Berlin in 2019 by Felix Hoffmann, Eiko van Hettinga, and Martin Nowak. Its clients include international companies such as Westwing, Bonprix, Tom Tailor, Tamaris, and DK Company.

About Bitkom

Bitkom is Germany’s digital association. Founded 1999 in Berlin, we represent more than 2,300 companies of the digital economy. Membership spans more than 1,000 SMEs, including half of the 40 DAX companies over 700 startups and virtually all global players.