MAM
Smytten’s consumer survey unveils key insights for D2C brands in India
Mumbai: Smytten, India’s largest tech-enabled D2C product discovery and trial platform conducted a large-scale consumer survey to provide key insights into consumer behavior and decision-making. The survey collected data from 15,000 Indian customers across various demographics, via Smytten Pulse, the country’s first AI and machine learning-backed platform for D2C brands.
Through their comprehensive analysis, Smytten has delved into the key factors that influence how customers evaluate brands and the drivers and barriers for their purchase. The study further dissects consumer behavior across five focus categories – personal care, makeup, fragrances, health & wellness and food & beverages – to provide key insights on basket expansion and category-focused implications to build and optimize business strategies.
The Indian D2C industry is at its peak, with the market size of more than 800 D2C brands and a projection to be a 100 billion US dollar industry. In this dynamic space, a brand has to solve for the modern Indian consumers’ ever evolving needs and build a strategy that will make them become a disruptor.
According to Smytten’s survey, consumers’ purchase behavior is influenced by various factors such as price, effectiveness, transparency and authenticity. Additionally, the survey found that consumers are increasingly interested in products that align with their belief for “function over emotion,” especially when it comes to the ingredients being used.
Smytten’s survey also shed light on the importance of customer experience, when it comes to consumers shopping directly from the brand’s websites. Brands that can provide attractive deals, free or low delivery fee, product information and a hassle-free shopping experience are likely to gain a competitive edge.
Smytten Pulse co-founder Swagata Sarangi said that, “We wanted to build a platform for the next generation of founders who are truly going to disrupt the consumer brand space. With Smytten Pulse, you can now get consumer data at your fingertips within 72 hours. Gain information on emerging trends from over 15 million users driven by AI, track how the consumer basket is moving on a real time basis and find insights cut across demographics and psychographics.This research was the first large scale survey conducted, and we’re elated to share the insights with everyone in the D2C space.”
The key findings are across all five categories:
. In the Personal Care category, 93 percent of consumers actively seek verbalisers like dermatologist verifications, detailed information on how the product formulation works, suitability for all skin types and brand authenticity.
. 33.3 percent consumers take supplements daily with half of them willing to pay more for ready to consume protein. This makes Health & Wellness a category with a lot of potential for growth.
. At least one in three consumers who shop online are buying new brands every month in the Food & Beverages category. DIY meal kits with recipes and pre-portioned ingredients are growing in demand.
. In the fragrance category, India has seen 100 percent in purchase frequency in the last year with 96 percent of the consumers buying Fragrances from an online marketplace instead of a brand website.
. Lipsticks emerge as the most dynamic subcategory in the Makeup category with at least 50 percent of makeup consumers purchasing a new lipstick once every two months at an average price of INR 491.
It is interesting to note that 63 percent of the consumers are willing to try products before purchasing, given the newer innovations available across categories like fragrance capsules/wipes, DIY salon kits, beauty edibles, ayurvedic juices, plant based meals, etc.
This report is a must-read for all brands that aim to become future winners in the D2C space. To read the detailed version of the Emerging Consumer & D2C Trends report,
Embed link www.pulse.smytten.com.
The Smytten Pulse Survey was conducted with 15,000 men and women between the ages of 18-45 years across Tier one and Tier two cities & towns.
Brands
GUEST COLUMN: Beyond layoffs, India emerges as creative-tech hub
Shift in hiring and AI-led workflows is reshaping global media and marketing
MUMBAI:The global narrative around layoffs in media and technology may suggest contraction, but a deeper transformation is reshaping how creative and tech capabilities are built and deployed. For Sanjil Zaveri, general manager – India at Brandtech+, this shift is less about decline and more about redistribution, one that is positioning India at the centre of a new global operating model. In this piece, Zaveri explores how integrated workflows, AI-powered production, and evolving talent demands are redefining the creative-tech ecosystem, why India is emerging as a strategic hub for global content and innovation, and what this means for the future of media, marketing, and talent.
The global headlines around layoffs in technology and media continue to dominate industry conversations. From platform restructuring to reduced marketing spends, the narrative suggests a slowdown across the creative and digital ecosystem.
But beneath these headlines, a different shift is underway, one that is quietly redefining how creative and technology work is delivered globally.
Hiring is not disappearing; it is being redistributed. And India is increasingly at the centre of this transition.
A structural shift in the creative-tech ecosystem
The media and marketing landscape is undergoing a fundamental reset. Brands today are moving away from fragmented agency models and siloed teams toward more integrated, agile structures.
Creative, technology, and media are no longer operating in isolation. Campaigns are now built through connected workflows, where ideation, production, and optimisation happen simultaneously.
This shift is forcing organisations to rethink where and how teams are built. Increasingly, the focus is on capability, speed, and scalability, rather than geography alone.
India’s emergence as a creative-tech hub
India’s role in this evolving ecosystem has expanded significantly.
Traditionally positioned as a backend execution market, India is now playing a far more central role in global campaign delivery. Teams based here contribute not just to production, but also to strategy, content development, and performance optimisation.
This is particularly relevant in a market where content velocity has increased dramatically. With the rise of digital platforms, OTT, and always-on marketing, brands require high volumes of creative assets without compromising on quality.
Industry insights from Ernst & Young point to India’s growing strength as a global content hub, while NASSCOM continues to highlight the scale and depth of the country’s digital talent pool. Together, these factors create a compelling case for India as a foundation for more efficient, integrated content ecosystems serving global markets.
A global company’s perspective on India
At Brandtech+, this shift is already shaping how we operate.
As a global organisation working across creative, marketing, and technology, our talent strategy is increasingly driven by capability rather than location. India has therefore become a key market for both scale and strategic talent.
In the first quarter of this year, we have significantly accelerated hiring in India across creative, technology, and operations roles, moving well ahead of plan and continuing to build strong momentum. We are actively hiring across multiple functions, with India playing a central role in delivering integrated creativetech solutions for global brands.
These signals reflect a broader change in how global companies view India, not as a delivery centre, but as a hub for connected creative, data, and technology capabilities.
“While much of the global narrative is centred on contraction, what we are seeing in India is a different kind of growth,” says Sanjil Zaveri. “As a global company, we are investing in talent that can work across creative, data, and technology, because that is where the future of marketing is headed.”
AI and the new content economy
Artificial intelligence is playing a critical role in enabling this transformation.
In today’s media environment, the demand for content has scaled exponentially. Brands are expected to create, adapt, and optimise creative assets across multiple platforms in real time. The scale of this demand would be difficult to sustain through traditional production models alone.
AI is helping make this possible.
Rather than replacing roles, AI is streamlining workflows, automating repetitive tasks, accelerating production timelines, and enabling faster experimentation. This allows creative and strategy teams to focus on higher-value outputs.
“AI removes the mundane and elevates the meaningful,” says Zaveri. “It allows teams to focus on ideas and storytelling, while technology drives efficiency.”
For media platforms and advertisers, this is redefining how campaigns are built, moving from linear production cycles to continuous, data-driven content creation.
What this means for media talent
For professionals across media, advertising, and digital, this shift is redefining skill requirements.
The traditional boundaries between creative, media planning, and technology are blurring. Content creators are expected to understand performance metrics. Media professionals are working more closely with data, platforms, and automation. Collaboration across disciplines is becoming a core skill.
This is creating demand for hybrid talent, professionals who can operate across disciplines and adapt to rapidly changing workflows.
India’s talent ecosystem is particularly well suited to this environment. With strong capabilities across content, design, engineering, and analytics, the market offers a unique combination of scale and versatility.
Importantly, global exposure is no longer tied to relocation. Professionals in India are increasingly working on international brands and campaigns, collaborating with teams across markets in real time.
Looking ahead: India at the centre of the reset
What we are witnessing today is not a temporary phase; it is a structural reset in the global creative-tech ecosystem.
Layoffs may continue to shape short-term narratives, but they do not capture where long-term growth is being built. That growth lies in new operating models, integrated workflows, and markets that can deliver both scale and innovation.
India is firmly at the centre of this transformation.
As global media and marketing organisations continue to evolve, India’s role will only become more critical, not as a support market, but as a strategic hub for content, creativity, and technology-led innovation.
The future of creative-tech will be defined by collaboration, speed, and adaptability. And increasingly, it will be shaped from India.
Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect our own.
