WhatsApp Is India’s Shopping Hub: 72% Of Product Discovery Is On The App

NEW DELHI- Social media platforms are influencing 77 per cent of retail purchase decisions in India, with Meta platforms accounting for 96 per cent of social-led product discovery, according to a report released on February 25.

The report by Meta and the Retailers Association of India said short-form video and creators are accelerating product discovery, with 97 per cent of consumers watching short videos daily and 60 per cent of time spent on Facebook and Instagram devoted to video content.

It noted that 72 per cent of product discovery takes place on the messaging platform WhatsApp.

“Retailers using Business Messaging and Click-to-WhatsApp campaigns are seeing a 61 per cent average improvement in return on ad spend, a 62 per cent increase in leads generated, and 22 per cent higher order values, reinforcing the role of conversational commerce in driving acquisition and sales,” the report said.

“Omnichannel shoppers are more valuable, spending 2.5 times more than single-channel shoppers and up to 73 per cent more when engaging across multiple touchpoints,” it added.

The report also highlighted that “Meta’s AI-led shopping tools like Omnichannel Optimization now optimize digital campaigns to drive verifiable in-store sales.”

“There has been a fundamental shift in retail: consumers no longer move between online and offline; they operate across both at once. Discovery, influence, and purchase now happen through content, creators, conversations, and stores, often in the same journey,” said Hitesh Bhatt, Director,  Marketing & Communications, Retailers Association of India.

According to the report, Indian consumers are increasingly adopting a “phygital” shopping behavior, with more than half researching products online before buying in-store and a similar proportion researching in-store before purchasing online. (IANS)