Mumbai: India’s e-commerce landscape is undergoing a fundamental transformation — driven by advances in artificial intelligence, video-first discovery, and conversational messaging. The traditional search-and-transact model is giving way to a dynamic, scroll-led discovery ecosystem that is reshaping how people shop across the country, including in Tier-2 and Tier-3 geographies.
At the 2026 Meta Marketing Summit E-Commerce edition, held across Bengaluru and Mumbai and attended by e-commerce leaders from across India, one message rang clear: the future of shopping is not typed into a search bar — it is found in a scroll, sparked by a creator, closed on a messaging surface, and powered beneath it all by AI.
Meghna Apparao, Director, E-commerce & Retail, Meta (India), said, “India has no off-season for shopping anymore. Quick commerce and micro-festive moments have turned shopping into a permanent state — not an event, but a reflex. The journey has shifted from search-and-buy to discover-and-feel, driven by AI recommendations, short-form video, and conversational messaging. For brands, the mandate is simple: if you are not always on, you are already behind. With AI-powered tools and products such as Partnership Ads, GenAI-powered creative, and shoppable Reels, we’re helping businesses of all sizes turn that moment of inspiration into a transaction — faster, smarter, and at scale.”
AI: The New Shopping Engine
AI is now the growth engine behind modern e-commerce marketing — improving relevance, automation, and measurable performance across discovery through conversion. With Instagram and Facebook emerging as the leading destinations for product and brand discovery among Indian shoppers, Meta has launched a series of new AI-powered tools to help brands create more effective campaigns.
Marketers can now upload an image or video as their featured creative, with Meta’s AI automatically including products from a brand catalogue as a carousel where likely to improve performance. Meta is also exploring UGC-style video creation with avatars and voiceovers alongside studio-style generation, alongside generative AI voiceover translation capabilities now available for more advertisers — making it easier for businesses to connect with consumers in their preferred language.
Meta has also expanded the beta availability of the Meta AI Business Assistant to advertisers and agencies, living directly within tools including Ads Manager, Meta Business Suite, and Business Support Home. Meta Ads AI Connectors have also been launched in open beta, enabling businesses to create, manage, and analyse campaigns directly in the third-party AI tools they already use.
The Videofication of Indian Shopping
Short-form video is emerging as one of the most potent forces reshaping how consumers discover, evaluate, and purchase products in India. What once took days of deliberation now takes seconds on the back of Reels and creator-led content. As per a Meta-commissioned IPSOS study, Reels across Meta platforms emerged as India’s leading short-form video platform with 92% of users preferring it over other surveyed formats, while Instagram Reels saw 33% higher engagement for creators compared to other platforms. Meta also emerged as the leading platform for brand discovery, with 80% of Indians discovering new brands on its platforms.
India’s leading marketplaces are already leaning into this videofication trend.
Arpan Biswas, Chief Marketing Officer, Ajio, said, “Adopting Catalog Product Video as a business-as-usual strategy has embedded video-led discovery into our always-on media approach, driving approximately 20% higher efficiency. We are now set to test GenCPV to scale videofication across our entire catalog.”
Khushboo Baderiya, Director, Performance Marketing, MarTech, Myntra, said, “While we have historically used third-party tools to create Catalog Product Video templates, we are now excited to test the GENCPV templates available on Meta to further enhance our video-first discovery.”
Manoj Jain, CMO, Reliance Digital, said, “Reliance Digital has embraced a Reels-forward strategy, leveraging it to drive brand awareness and business outcomes on Meta. Central to this is our collaboration with regional creators on Meta, enabling authentic connections that resonate with diverse communities, delivering stronger engagement and measurable impact, making Meta an important pillar in our marketing strategy.”
Mahesh Nallapati, AVP Strategy, Shein, said, “Embracing Dynamic Media has allowed us to let machine learning decide whether to serve a video or an image based on individual customer responsiveness, ensuring our creatives are always delivered in the most engaging and efficient format.”
Meta has also announced new tools enabling creators to create shoppable moments of discovery by sharing products from a brand’s catalogue directly in their Reels, alongside the expansion of Reels Trending Ads inventory with new content categories including TV and Movies, Travel, Business, Finance and Investments.
From Chat to Checkout — WhatsApp as a Commerce Platform
Bridging the gap between discovery and transaction is the rapid ascent of paid messaging — particularly WhatsApp, which is evolving into an end-to-end commerce platform. With 72% of product discovery now happening on WhatsApp, the platform facilitates two-way conversations supporting everything from personalised recommendations to post-purchase service.
As per a Retail Whitepaper released jointly by Meta and the Retailers Association of India (RAI), this personalised path from discovery to repeat purchase is proving highly effective — with retailers seeing a 61% average improvement in return on ad spend and a 62% increase in leads generated. Nearly 60% of users are likely to buy a product after seeing an offer on WhatsApp.
As AI, videofication, and conversational messaging continue to converge, they are setting the stage for the next era of shopping in India — interactive, intelligent, and deeply connected, promising an exciting journey ahead for both brands and consumers navigating this rapidly evolving digital marketplace.
