1 hr ago
India’s Live Commerce Shows Promise Despite Conversion and Scale Challenges
Live commerce means watching something online and buying products or services without leaving the video or app.
JioHotstar recently worked with Swiggy so people could order food while watching live cricket.
The feature reached 37 million users in more than 690 cities.
Experts believe this is convenient because viewers do not need to switch between apps.
They also say live videos can make products easier to understand because a real person demonstrates them.
Fashion and beauty are especially important areas for this type of shopping.
India’s live commerce market is growing quickly, but it is still not an everyday habit for most shoppers.
Different languages, many platforms and small order sizes make the market difficult to manage.
Experts say better technology, creator partnerships and measurement could help it grow.
JioHotstar and Swiggy enabled 37 million users across more than 690 cities to order food during live cricket streams.
Experts say in-app commerce can improve convenience by letting viewers act on their interests without leaving content.
India’s live commerce market generated about $4.82 billion in 2024 and could exceed $140 billion by 2033.
Creators, product demonstrations, entertainment and urgency are helping drive live commerce, particularly in fashion and beauty.
Fragmented platforms, regional languages, low average order values and inconsistent revenue remain major barriers to scaling live commerce.
- Who
- JioHotstar, Swiggy, e-commerce companies, creators, brands and live-commerce experts are involved.
- What
- Companies are developing live-commerce formats that connect livestreamed content with shopping or food ordering.
- Where
- The activity is taking place across India, including tier-II and tier-III markets and more than 690 cities.
- When
- JioHotstar and Swiggy introduced the cricket-streaming food-ordering feature earlier this year; the market generated about $4.82 billion in 2024.
- Why
- The goal is to make purchases more convenient, reduce app-switching, connect content spending to sales and capture immediate consumer demand.
Growth Potential
Market Limitations
Consumer adoption
Growth Potential
The JioHotstar-Swiggy response suggests consumers value ordering without leaving live content, including in tier-II and tier-III markets.
Market Limitations
Experts describe Indian live commerce as formative rather than fully developed, with experimentation not yet becoming everyday consumer behavior.
Business value
Growth Potential
Live commerce can shorten the path from product discovery to purchase and make content spending easier to connect with measurable sales.
Market Limitations
E-commerce experiments by Flipkart and Myntra have faced difficulty converting audience engagement into consistent revenue.
Scalability
Growth Potential
India’s large creator economy, shopper base and mobile-first audience provide substantial room for expansion across regions and income levels.
Market Limitations
India’s multilingual, fragmented ecosystem requires stronger creator-brand matching, better measurement and technology that can extend content across languages and time zones.
Key facts
- JioHotstar-Swiggy reach
- The integrated food-ordering feature served 37 million users across more than 690 cities.
- Indian creators
- A Boston Consulting Group report estimates that India has 2 million to 2.5 million creators influencing $350 billion to $400 billion in annual spending.
- E-retail shoppers
- India has an estimated 280 million to 300 million e-retail shoppers.
- 2024 market revenue
- India’s live-commerce market generated approximately $4.82 billion in 2024.
- Projected growth
- The market is projected to grow at a 46% compound annual growth rate through the early 2030s and exceed $140 billion by 2033.
- Leading category
- Fashion and apparel are described as India’s largest live-commerce category.
- Key challenges
- Fragmented platforms, regional languages, low average order values, split platform behavior and difficulty converting engagement into recurring revenue hinder growth.
Quotes
Viren Vesuwala
Lead for strategic partnerships and alliances at White Rivers Media
“Consumers expect to participate, interact and act on their interests without stepping away from the content. In-app commerce is part of this shift, and its value lies in making the experience more convenient for the consumer.”
financialexpress.com
“The driver isn’t the livestream format itself, but rather India’s fast-growing creator economy and a shopper who still trusts a person demonstrating a product more than a page of reviews”
financialexpress.com
Sources
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