Reel deal: The next big thing in online shopping is playing on your screen
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E-commerce platforms in India are leveraging video content to enhance product discovery and customer engagement. Creator-led videos provide a new shopping experience, combining entertainment with direct purchasing options. Consumers in tier 2 cities are particularly benefiting from this innovative approach to shopping. Companies like Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra are adopting these technologies to boost sales. This shift may result in a significant increase in online shoppers in the coming years.
You might open your phone just to watch a few reels, only to find yourself shopping for a kurta, a skincare product or a gadget minutes later. For e-commerce companies, that shift from scrolling to spending is becoming a big business opportunity.Indians are increasingly discovering products through videos before making purchases online, as e-commerce companies like Amazon and Flipksrt turn to creator-led content, live demonstrations and shoppable clips to drive sales, The Times of India's (TOI) Asmita Dey has reported.
The trend is gaining traction among Gen Z consumers and shoppers in smaller cities.
Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and Meesho are building video-led shopping experiences that combine product discovery with the option to buy directly from the content. These formats include live commerce, where creators demonstrate products in real time, and shoppable videos that let consumers purchase items through embedded links without leaving the video.
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The scale of the opportunity is also reflected in Meesho's content-commerce business. The company said the net merchandise value generated through its content-commerce ecosystem rose 152% year on year over the 12 months ended August 2026. It had 160,000 active creators, around 90% of whom had fewer than 10,000 followers. Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities accounted for 66% of content-commerce orders, according to the company.
Social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube helped popularise influencer-led product discovery, prompting e-commerce companies to introduce similar features within their own apps.
For Bengaluru-based IT professional Sanjeet Singh, influencer reels play a big role in discovering products. “Reels give me an idea of what the product is,” TOI quoted Singh as saying.
Amazon launched its Live feature in 2022, while Myntra and Meesho entered the space later. Creator-led discovery has influenced the shopping journeys of nearly two crore consumers on Amazon so far in 2026, the company said. Meesho reported a more than 140% increase in active order-generating content to 1.7 million in the first quarter of FY27.
The trend could also bring more consumers online. A joint study by Deloitte and Google published in April estimated that creator-led commerce could contribute nearly $25 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) by 2030.
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“Creator content will scale significantly, with creator-owned storefronts and online videos becoming instantly shoppable. Eventually, these formats will also help onboard 50-60 million new online shoppers from tier 2 markets by effectively addressing key barriers around trust, product understanding, and quality,” analysts said in the report, as cited by TOI.
How e-commerce companies are using videos
Amazon has expanded beyond live product demonstrations and creator recommendations to offer short-form shoppable videos within its shopping journey.“Short-form shopping videos complement live commerce and help keep product discovery contextual and engaging. The video format helps customers understand how a product works, see it in a real-life context, compare options, ask questions and move directly towards purchase,” said Nidhi Thakkar, head of social commerce, emerging countries at Amazon, as per TOI.
Nearly 70% of creator-led purchases on Amazon's marketplace have come from non-metro cities, including Bathinda, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore and Dehradun, the company said.
“This reflects the role regional creators are playing in helping customers discover products through content that is relevant to their language, context and communities,” Thakkar added.
Myntra launched Ultimate Glam Clan (UGC), a shopper-creator programme for fashion and beauty content, in August 2024. It had more than eight million sign-ups and 12 million cumulative pieces of content as of September 2026, the company said. In July 2025, Myntra also launched Glamstream, which combines creator-led videos, entertainment and shopping within its app.
“Video is increasingly becoming an important part of the discovery journey, helping consumers explore fashion and beauty through creator recommendations, styling inspiration and realworld context. Users engaging with social commerce content convert around 10% better than those who do not, highlighting the role of content in influencing purchase decisions,” TOI quoted Deepash Jain, vice-president, marketing, Myntra, as saying.
The format has helped platforms move beyond traditional catalogue-based shopping, Jain added.
The push is extending beyond e-commerce apps to video platforms themselves. YouTube expanded its shopping affiliate programme in India in September to include Amazon, Meesho, AJIO, Snapdeal and Tata CLiQ, among other retail partners. The platform also reported 450 million logged-in Indian users searching for shopping-related content and a 55% year-on-year rise in shopping-related watch time.
Flipkart's video commerce offering includes short-form clips, live shopping, creator-led demonstrations, question-and-answer sessions, gamified formats and in-video purchase options.
“Shopping in India is increasingly being shaped by what consumers watch, share and trust,” said Ramesh Gururaja, senior vice-president, consumer products and growth, FCC, Ads and Cleartrip at Flipkart.
With nearly 70% of Amazon’s creator-led purchases coming from non-metro cities, regional content is emerging as an important part of the video-commerce push.
(With inputs from TOI)
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Figures reflect the source report and its stated period. This article is for information and is not investment advice.
