Meta and the Retailers Association of India (RAI) have unveiled a comprehensive whitepaper documenting how artificial intelligence, short-form video, creators and WhatsApp are converging to power omnichannel shopping journeys across India’s digital and physical retail channels. The report reveals social media now influences 77% of all retail brand and product discovery, with Meta platforms commanding a dominant 96% share of this activity. Omnichannel shoppers prove significantly more valuable, spending 2.5 times more than single-channel consumers and up to 73% more when engaging across multiple touchpoints throughout their purchase journey.
Social Media and Creators Reshape Discovery
India’s retail ecosystem has fundamentally shifted from traditional search-based transactions to scroll-led discovery, fundamentally altering how brands capture attention and build intent. An overwhelming 97% of consumers now watch short-form video content daily, with 60% of total time spent on Facebook and Instagram consumed by video formats. Creator-led campaigns deliver measurable performance: 71% higher brand intent lift, 19% lower customer acquisition costs, and 71% of viewers making purchases within days of encountering creator content on Meta platforms.
Reliance Digital exemplifies this trend through its Reels-forward strategy leveraging regional micro and nano creators to forge authentic connections across India’s diverse markets, driving both engagement and measurable business outcomes. Meta’s AI-powered Omnichannel Optimization tool further amplifies results, delivering over fourfold improvements in omnichannel return on ad spend for Indian retailers integrating digital discovery with physical store performance.
The report highlights increasingly fluid “phygital” consumer behaviour, with more than 50% researching products online before in-store purchases and a comparable proportion browsing physical stores before completing online transactions. Retailers successfully integrating in-store sales data with Meta advertising measurement achieve 2-5x ROAS uplift alongside up to ninefold incremental sales growth, demonstrating how unified data bridges digital campaigns to tangible offline revenue.
WhatsApp Powers Conversational Commerce
WhatsApp has emerged as a transformative commerce engine connecting discovery, evaluation, purchase and post-purchase service within seamless conversations. The platform now facilitates 72% of product discovery among Indian shoppers, underscoring its evolution from messaging utility to retail powerhouse. Retailers deploying Business Messaging and Click-to-WhatsApp campaigns report 61% average ROAS improvement, 62% increase in leads generated, and 22% higher average order values.
Meghna Apparao, Meta’s Director of E-Commerce & Retail (India), outlined three strategic pillars for retail leaders: harnessing Reels and creators for authentic storytelling, implementing omnichannel performance marketing across platforms, and leveraging WhatsApp for personalised customer interactions and transactions. Hitesh Bhatt, RAI’s Director of Marketing & Communications, emphasised that modern consumers no longer toggle between online and offline channels but operate fluidly across both simultaneously.
Croma’s CMO Amit Agarwal credited Meta’s AI solutions with fundamentally elevating their omnichannel execution, enabling offline data activation across all touchpoints to optimise customer journeys, drive incremental footfall and unlock sustained revenue growth across online and offline channels.
