Meta names three trends in Indian e-commerce: AI, video and chat-based sales

At its Marketing Summit E-Commerce edition, Meta identified three key trends that will reshape online retail in India: AI-powered discovery, a video-first format and the dominance of chat in sales. The trends reflect a fundamental shift in how Indian consumers search for, research and buy products.

AI learns to know you

Personalized AI is no longer optional; it is becoming a necessity. Instead of typing a query into a search bar, machine-learning systems analyze your preferences, browsing history, time of day and even the season, then surface products you are likely to like. This shortens the path from interest to purchase and raises conversion by 20-30%, according to analysts. By comparison, shoppers used to do the searching; now products find the shopper. The system acts like a store assistant who remembers all your past purchases and knows your taste.

Personalization does not stop at product results. AI is starting to learn how you like to see information: one person wants details about the material, another wants the price right away, a third cares about the delivery date. Each shopper sees their own interface.

Video replaces the product description

Short videos (10-30 seconds) have displaced photographs. Consumers want to see a product in action, from different angles, in real hands. With TikTok and Instagram Reels so popular, video is moving from entertainment to an e-commerce standard. Brands that don't shoot video lose out on conversion. Meta notes that Reels and Shorts are 3-4 times more effective than static photos at capturing attention. A shopper spends 5-10 seconds watching a video and immediately understands whether they need the product. Video doesn't lie: people see the real size and the real color under real lighting.

For brands, this means retraining. Expensive studio photo shoots no longer pay off. A phone, natural light and a few takes are enough. Authenticity beats professionalism.

• Demonstrating the product in a real setting
• Fast editing and dynamic transitions
• Multiple views and angles of the product
• Authenticity instead of studio staging
• Integration with Reels, Shorts and TikTok Shop

Chats are the new queue at the seller's counter

Old contact forms and email inboxes are fading away. Instead of filling in fields and waiting for a reply, people simply open a chat in WhatsApp, Instagram DM or Messenger and write to the seller. Meta finds that conversational commerce is more convenient: questions about size, price, delivery and availability are settled in a dialogue, quickly and naturally. The seller can see your purchase history and give personal advice.

This reduces friction at purchase. The customer doesn't leave the site, doesn't lose interest and resolves questions right in the chat. Trust grows because the seller's live response is visible. For people who are wary of phone calls, this is an ideal format: asynchronous, not pushy, and it leaves time to think through an answer.

What this means

For businesses in India, this means preparing for three fundamental shifts at once. First: invest in AI recommendations on your site or app so you don't get lost in the crowd of competitors. Second: start producing video content; it doesn't have to be expensive, and a phone with natural light will do. Third: put people (or bots) in chats to answer questions in real time.

Old catalogs and web forms still work, but they are no longer competitive against this trio. Brands that adapt quickly will dominate. Those that hesitate will lose market share.

*Meta is designated an extremist organization and banned in Russia.