Influencers shape online and offline purchases across India

New Delhi: Influencer marketing is playing an increasingly vital role in the way Indian consumers discover and purchase products, according to a new study by GWI commissioned by Meta. 

The research highlights how national-level influencers are now among the most impactful drivers of both product awareness and conversion across the country.

The findings show that six in ten Indian shoppers follow national influencers, and this group has the strongest effect on influencing what consumers choose to buy. Their impact extends across digital and physical retail, indicating that content creators are shaping decisions far beyond online platforms alone.

“Indian shoppers today are social-first, mobile-first, and video-first irrespective of whether the purchase happens offline or online,” said Meghna Apparao, Director, E-commerce and Retail (India) at Meta. “With consumers increasingly relying on Reels, messaging, and influencer content to discover and evaluate products, offline retailers have an opportunity to reach their customers across multiple touch points simultaneously and harness the power of our platforms to build unique online and phygital experiences that also move metrics across the funnel.”

Short-form video content, particularly Reels and two-to-three-minute brand videos, also proves to be a powerful tool in driving consumer action. The study notes that three in ten viewers end up purchasing products after watching brand content, highlighting the growing role of visual storytelling in digital commerce.

“At Tanishq, we’ve always believed in meeting our customers where they are — both online and offline. Meta’s solutions like Click to WhatsApp (CTWA) have helped us in that journey. By combining conversational commerce with tailored messaging, we’ve seen over 14x offline ROAS. What’s even more exciting is the potential of Meta’s omnichannel ads — allowing us to drive both online and in-store sales through a single, unified campaign. As one of the first to test the solution with offline CAPI, we’re seeing a 40% jump in ROAS for online purchases and an improvement in offline purchases. Meta’s retail solutions are helping us not just drive omni sales — but truly connect with our customers, wherever they are in their buying journey,” said Pelki Tshering, Chief Marketing Officer, Tanishq.

The study also found that platforms like WhatsApp are contributing significantly to purchase intent. Around 60% of users say they are likely to buy a product after receiving a promotional offer via WhatsApp, suggesting that direct messaging plays a key role in the overall retail funnel.

“In our pilot campaign utilizing Meta’s omnichannel ads, we observed a significant boost in performance, achieving 3.5x higher purchase conversions and 4.3x higher Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) compared to campaigns optimized solely for purchases. This encouraging outcome reinforces the value of a multi-touchpoint strategy, and we’re excited to take this experiment further in the coming year,” said Aishwarya Omprakash, Head of Marketing, Taneira.