MAM
Beauty, food delivery & grocery are most purchased online categories in India: Report
Mumbai: Live shopping and conversational commerce are gaining popularity in India, with nearly nine out of 10 people saying they enjoyed the shopping experience, as per a report released by global data and measurement-driven media agency Essence on Monday. Beauty (39 per cent), food delivery/ takeaway (30 per cent), and grocery (29 per cent) were the most purchased categories online in the country, stated the report. More than half of the respondents spent between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000 on average on a single transaction on social media, even as there is a growing preference for newer payment methods such as digital wallets and mobile payments.
88 per cent of the respondents said they are likely to buy via social media, as per the report which aims to help brands unlock the potential of social commerce. Essence has unveiled its first-ever social commerce report, which investigates the rapidly growing trend of consumers buying products and services directly on social platforms. The report illustrates the significant opportunity brands have in social commerce, with three out of four people surveyed globally saying they are likely or highly likely to buy through social media in the future.
According to the Essence survey, 41 per cent of respondents worldwide made purchases or intend to make purchases involving social platforms. While social media platforms have always provided an environment for buyers and sellers to interact, the survey demonstrates a shift towards organised commerce on platforms. Increasingly, social commerce enables discovery, browsing and purchasing to take place on one platform without the need to interact with any external websites or applications. Ultimately, it creates a seamless experience with fewer clicks and higher potential revenue and conversion rates.
Global Trends
China, unsurprisingly, is the leader in social commerce, which is forecast to account for 13 per cent of total e-commerce sales in 2021, the report indicated. According to the Essence survey, almost 80 per cent of consumers in China purchased items on social media. India came a close third after Singapore followed by Indonesia, with 49 per cent of consumers.
Transaction Value
In most countries, the average transaction value on social commerce is higher than the average transaction value on e-commerce transactions. Respondents in Japan recorded the highest average transaction value, between $96.74 to $483.67 for social commerce, followed by the United States, which had an average transaction value between $101 and $200.
The higher value transactions look to be driven primarily by men (35 per cent) and by millennials in the 25 to 44 age segment (72 per cent), noted the report. Both the male and the 25 to 44 age segments are skewed towards the purchase of higher-value categories such as hardware, home cleaning, luxury, and furniture.
Live Shopping and Streaming
Social innovations have propelled the growth of virtual shopping. Live shopping and conversational commerce experiences increase the propensity to buy on social media. Four out of five respondents are likely to buy on social media if they have watched a livestream or participated in conversational commerce. Livestreaming has emerged as a major factor in luxury social e-commerce.
“We expect that the future of online shopping – and not just social commerce – will be discovery-driven. Customers tend to be exposed to new and innovative products as they browse more on social media or encounter algorithmically mediated recommendations from friends and family on social platforms,” said Essence technology and e-commerce senior director Aniket Basu. “E-commerce is maturing as a field, with social media giving brands and retailers new ways to reach audiences and new growth opportunities. In this environment, social commerce serves as a key future-proofing method for the next five years and beyond.”
While the use of livestreaming in e-commerce was primarily centred in the Asian market, it is now commonplace worldwide. Luxury brands including Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Burberry all launched their Fall or Winter 2021 shows by livestreaming worldwide. Brands such as L’Oréal are also driving growth in the luxury beauty segment, partly because social media enables the brand to interact with consumers, influencers, beauty advisers and salespeople on the same platform. These innovations and collaborations are driving sales of luxury items both online and offline.
The research indicates that most consumers enjoy the livestream shopping experience, with almost half (43 per cent) of respondents claiming to have enjoyed it and 39 per cent of respondents highly enjoyed it. These statistics held up not only in China, but also in other markets where social commerce is still in its infancy. Globally, 85 per cent of the respondents who watched shopping livestreams report that they are more likely to purchase via social media.
MAM
ASCI study uncovers how Gen Alpha navigates ads in endless digital feeds
‘What the Sigma?’ ethnographic report maps blurred boundaries between content and commerce for 7–15-year-olds.
MUMBAI: Gen Alpha isn’t scrolling through the internet, they’re living rent-free inside its never-ending dopamine drip, and the ads have already moved in next door. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Academy, partnering with Futurebrands Consulting, has published ‘What the Sigma?’, an immersive ethnographic study that maps how Indian children aged 7–15 (Generation Alpha) consume, interpret and live alongside media and commercial messaging in a hyper-digital environment.
The research draws on in-home interviews, sibling and peer conversations, and discussions with parents, teachers, counsellors, psychologists, marketers and kidfluencers across six cities. It examines not only what children watch but how algorithms, content creators, peers and parents shape their relationship with the constant stream of shorts, vlogs, gameplay, memes, sponsored posts and ‘kid-ified’ adult material.
Five core themes emerged:
- Discontinuous Generation, Gen Alpha is not growing up alongside the internet, they are growing up inside it. Cultural references, humour, aesthetics and language sync globally in real time, often leaving adults functionally illiterate in their children’s world. A reference that lands instantly for a 10-year-old in Mumbai or Visakhapatnam feels opaque or disjointed to most parents.
- Authority Vacuum, Parents and teachers frequently lose cultural fluency in digital spaces. The algorithm responsive, inexhaustible and perfectly attuned to preferences becomes the most attentive presence in many children’s daily lives. Rules around screen time feel increasingly difficult to enforce when adults cannot fully see or understand the content landscape.
- Digital as Society, Online and offline no longer exist as separate realms, they form one continuous reality. The phone is not a tool children pick up; it is the primary social environment they inhabit.
- Great Media Mukbang, Content flows as an ambient, boundary-less, multi-sensorial stream. Entertainment, advertising, commerce, gameplay, memes and vlogs merge into one undifferentiated feed. The line between active choice and passive absorption has largely collapsed.
- Blurred Ad Recognition, Children aged 7–12 typically recognise only the most overt advertising formats. Influencer promotions, gaming integrations and vlog sponsorships often register as organic entertainment. Children aged 13–15 show greater ad literacy but remain highly susceptible to narrative-integrated, passion-driven and emotionally resonant brand messaging. Discernment remains low across the board in a non-stop stream.
ASCI CEO and secretary general Manisha Kapoor said, “ASCI Academy’s study is an investigation into the content life of Generation Alpha not to judge them but to understand them. Their cultural reference points seem disjointed from those of earlier generations. Insights on how they perceive advertising is the first step towards building more responsible engagement frameworks, given that they are the youngest media consumers in our country right now.”
Futurebrands Consulting founder and director Santosh Desai added, “While earlier generations have been exposed to digital media, for this generation it is the world they inhabit. This report explores not only what they watch but how they are being shaped by algorithms, content and advertising.”
The study proposes four adaptive, principles-led pathways:
- Universal signposting of commercial intent using design principles that make advertising recognisable even to young audiences.
- Ecosystem-wide responsibility shared among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents.
- Future-ready safeguards built directly into children’s content experiences rather than as optional background settings.
- Formal media and advertising literacy embedded in school curricula to teach age-appropriate understanding of persuasion and commercial intent.
In a feed that never pauses, Gen Alpha isn’t merely watching content, they’re swimming in an ocean where entertainment, commerce and identity swirl together. The real question isn’t whether they can spot an ad; it’s whether the adults building the ocean can agree on where the lifeguards should stand.
