PENNY Marketing Chief on AI, Trust and the New Rules of Discovery
Digital marketing is no longer a separate channel but the backbone connecting every consumer touchpoint, says Lucian Pavel, Marketing Director at discount retailer PENNY. In an interview with Forbes Romania, Pavel outlined how artificial intelligence assistants like ChatGPT and Gemini are fundamentally altering the way shoppers discover brands and products.
Receiving a direct recommendation from an AI system, he argued, is now just as important as ranking high in traditional search results. For retailers, the critical question becomes: how do you get recommended by an AI? Reputation, data quality, and content relevance will count ever more, and brands that understand this mechanism early stand to gain a real advantage.
In Romania, where government austerity measures have squeezed purchasing power, PENNY initially doubled down on price messages. However, the company quickly realized that price alone does not build loyalty. “Consumers are looking for safety and predictability, not just punctual offers,” Pavel said. The retailer therefore rebalanced its communication towards real value: competitive prices paired with consistency and transparency. In uncertain times, trust in a brand matters as much as the number on the label.
Where Retail Marketing Meets the AI Era
AI-Driven Discovery Becomes the New Storefront
Pavel's warning reflects a structural shift: as more consumers ask questions directly to AI assistants and accept synthetic answers without checking alternatives, the number of brand touchpoints shrinks and the decision is concentrated in a single moment. For retailers, this means that visibility now depends on being included in an AI's final recommendation. Building the necessary digital reputation and authoritative content is no longer optional; it is a precondition for staying in the consumer's consideration set.
From Price to Trust Under Economic Pressure
The Romanian retail market is price-sensitive, yet PENNY's experience shows that even in a discount environment, a pure price play erodes loyalty. The shift toward safety and predictability suggests that consumers are factoring in reliability and brand integrity when household budgets are tight. For discounters, this creates room to differentiate beyond the cheapest sticker, but it also raises the bar: any inconsistency between promised value and actual experience can damage trust quickly.
Rethinking Agency Relationships for a Real-Time World
Pavel noted that the retailer's expectations from media agencies have changed dramatically. The company no longer wants static plans but partners capable of working with real-time data and offering recommendations before they are asked. AI integration is expected to be visible in speed and quality of deliverables, not just mentioned in presentations. This mirrors a wider trend in retail media, where data-driven, performance-oriented collaboration is replacing traditional campaign cycles.
Strategic Moves for Retailers in an AI-First Consumer Journey
For retailers and marketing leaders, Pavel's insights point to several concrete shifts:
- Audit AI discoverability: Assess whether your brand, products and content are likely to appear in AI-generated answers. Focus on structured data, authoritative content and consistent digital reputation, as these are the inputs that influence AI recommendations.
- Treat retail media as a performance channel: Link investment directly to purchase behavior using CRM and performance marketing, not just awareness metrics. The strongest returns come when messages reach the consumer at the moment of decision with relevant data.
- Rebalance messaging under inflation: If household budgets are under stress, do not rely solely on price deals. Pair competitive pricing with repeated proof of consistency and transparency to build the predictability that consumers now demand.
- Reset agency expectations: Move from static quarterly plans to partnerships that deliver real-time recommendations and demonstrable use of AI to accelerate output. The new standard is speed and quality backed by live data, not slideware.
Risk & Opportunity Assessment
| Commercial Risk | Low | PENNY’s active shift toward value-based messaging under economic pressure appears calibrated to maintain sales, though sustained austerity could still compress margins if price competition intensifies. |
| Competitive Risk | High | Retailers that fail to adapt to AI-driven discovery risk losing visibility when consumers accept synthetic recommendations. Early adopters like PENNY may build durable brand authority in an environment where touchpoints shrink. |
| Regulatory Risk | Low | No immediate regulatory change is discussed, though broader data privacy and AI transparency rules could eventually affect how retailers use consumer data for personalization and recommendations. |
| Reputation Risk | Medium | Pavel emphasizes that trust is as important as price. Any gap between the promised consistency/transparency and the actual customer experience would erode the loyalty the retailer is trying to build during economic hardship. |
| Technology Disruption | Transformational | AI assistants changing the discovery flow from a list of links to a single synthetic answer fundamentally rewires the top of the marketing funnel. Visibility in AI recommendation engines becomes as essential as search engine optimization has been for two decades. |
| Commercial Opportunity | High | Brands that invest early in AI-visible content and real-time data capabilities can capture disproportionate mindshare as consumers shift to AI-assisted purchase journeys, especially in price-conscious segments where trust can tip the decision. |
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