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<\/p>\n If 2015 was the year India learned to shop online, 2025 is the year India learned to shop from each other.<\/p>\n Suddenly, your friend, your cousin, your favourite YouTuber, that girl on Instagram with perfect eyeliner, and that guy on Shorts who reviews T-shirts for a living. They are all unofficial personal shoppers for millions. And India\u2019s biggest digital giants are leaning all the way in.<\/p>\n According to BCG\u2019s From Content to Commerce: Mapping India\u2019s Creator Economy<\/a><\/i> report, India now has 2-2.5 million monetised creators with more than 1,000 followers, influencing over 30 per cent of all shoppers and shaping USD 350-400 billion of consumer spending annually.<\/p>\n This influence stretches far beyond Gen Z or the metros. Creator-driven decisions now cut across genders, age groups, and Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, underscoring a behavioural shift in how India consumes content and makes buying decisions.<\/p>\n Myntra<\/a> bets big on social commerce<\/a> and it\u2019s paying off<\/b><\/p>\n Myntra<\/a>\u2019s social commerce<\/a> strategy has morphed into a full-fledged growth engine, contributing 10 per cent of the platform\u2019s revenue, with a 50 per cent jump in just four months. The platform now hosts India\u2019s largest content-commerce fashion ecosystem \u2014 a blend of creator-led videos, UGC (user generated content), livestream shopping and a fast-expanding affiliate network.<\/p>\n Its creator ecosystem has scaled at a staggering pace with 3.5 million shopper-creators, two-thirds of them Gen Z, who collectively power a fast-growing stream of content-led discovery. The platform has already amassed over 3 million UGC posts, supported by over 160,000 off-app influencers who generate a massive 9 billion impressions every month.<\/p>\n And these creators are earning. As Myntra told ET Online<\/i>, the shopper-creator base is expanding 20 per cent every month, with individuals earning an average of INR 3,000-4,000 through affiliate-driven discovery and engagement. Creator posts are up 80 per cent, and video content has surged 240 per cent. Crucially, conversion rates from social commerce are now 28 per cent higher than the platform average.<\/p>\n Myntra now plans to triple its creator base and double revenue from content-led commerce.<\/p>\n Snapchat\u2019s Gen Z engine is firing too<\/b><\/p>\n While Instagram and YouTube dominate mainstream commerce, Snapchat has quietly built one of India\u2019s most active Gen Z creator ecosystems.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past two years, Snapchat has seen remarkable growth in creator activity and content supply,\u201d Saket Jha Saurabh, Director & Head \u2013 Content & AR Partnerships at Snap Inc<\/a>, tells ET Online<\/i>. Time spent watching content has doubled, Snap Stars \u2014 the platform\u2019s top creators \u2014 have grown 1.5x, and Spotlight posts have increased four times year-over-year.<\/p>\n For brands, Snapchat\u2019s value lies in its audience. \u201cCreators are the new search for Gen Z, with 70 per cent of Gen Zers using creator channels as search destinations,\u201d Saurabh says. With omni-channel purchase journeys increasingly influenced by friends, family and peer creators, Snapchat\u2019s \u201cauthentic, low-pressure design and community-driven culture\u201d stands out.<\/p>\n This surge isn\u2019t just engagement, it\u2019s income too. Snap Stars are benefiting from revenue-share programmes and rising brand demand for influencer marketing. Affiliate marketing is emerging as a promising new frontier, with platforms like Wishlink and Haulpack working closely with creators active on Snapchat.<\/p>\n Snapchat recently also partnered with Nykaa to launch the Snap Star Incubator Program, a six-month initiative to identify and mentor 75 emerging beauty creators with training, support, and brand-building opportunities.<\/p>\n India\u2019s creator-commerce boom is industry-wide<\/b><\/p>\n Across the tech landscape, platforms are racing to organise, monetise, and support India\u2019s creator class.<\/p>\n In its 2025 Meta Digital Utsav festive playbook, Meta Platforms<\/a> said nearly half of festive shoppers now follow influencers or creators, while about two-thirds believe brands that partner with credible creators are more trustworthy. The company noted that creator-led content is increasingly shaping purchase decisions during the season, with more than 30 per cent of shoppers relying on influencer reviews and buying guides to discover deals and make informed choices.<\/p>\n YouTube, during its Impact Summit earlier in November, said its ecosystem contributed more than INR 16,000 crore to India\u2019s GDP, supporting 9.3 lakh full-time equivalent jobs. Shopping-related watch time in India has jumped over 250 per cent year-over-year, and in July 2025 alone, over 200 million logged-in users performed shopping-related searches on YouTube.<\/p>\n The platform\u2019s Shopping Affiliate<\/a> programme is expanding rapidly \u2014 40 per cent of eligible creators in India have joined, and its Gross Merchandise Volume is growing five-fold year-over-year, driven by partners like Nykaa, Purplle, Flipkart<\/a> and Myntra.<\/p>\n Amazon<\/a> India is witnessing a similar surge. Its Influencer Program now includes over 1.25 lakh creators, a scale Zahid Khan, Director, Shopping Experience at Amazon<\/a> India, describes as \u201ca reflection of how creators are transforming the way India discovers products.\u201d<\/p>\n Khan tells ET Online<\/i> that creators today want more than affiliate links. \u201cThey want tools, visibility, and a path to build sustainable businesses. Through the Amazon Influencer Program, we give creators the ability to recommend products, earn commissions, and even get featured across Amazon.in,\u201d he says. \u201cMany of them have evolved into advanced roles over time.\u201d<\/p>\n To support this evolution, Amazon recently launched the Tech Influencer Program (TIP), which gives tech creators early access to launches, preferential commissions, production studios, training resources, and brand partnerships. \u201cTIP is designed to empower tech creators across India,\u201d Khan says. \u201cWe want to enable them with everything they need to build and scale their businesses \u2014 from access to deals and products to specialised content tools.\u201d<\/p>\n Creators are also earning more consistently. Khan explains it simply: \u201cInfluencers can monetise their social media content by sharing their storefront URL or affiliate links. When followers make qualifying purchases, creators earn commissions based on what gets sold.\u201d He adds that Amazon\u2019s backend is deliberately transparent, offering dashboards where creators can track performance across livestreams, engagements and affiliate sales.<\/p>\n Amazon is also doubling down on discoverability. \u201cWe may surface the content creators post on their storefronts to Amazon shoppers,\u201d Khan says. \u201cThis helps them reach new customers, build followers, and earn even from audiences outside their social platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Khan, \u201cCreator-led discovery influenced nearly 2 crore consumers on Amazon.in this year, and nearly 70 per cent of those purchases came from non-metro cities like Bathinda, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore and Dehradun.\u201d During the festive season alone, 40 lakh customers discovered products through creators, with lifestyle, electronics, beauty and home categories leading the pack.<\/p>\n What people are buying is also shifting. Khan notes that tech, fashion, beauty, and home categories now drive the strongest engagement. \u201cAudiences respond deeply to expert-led live sessions, topical series and interactive shopping formats,\u201d he says. \u201cThese formats bring products to life and bridge the gap between inspiration and purchase.\u201d<\/p>\n Flipkart<\/a> is building cities for creators, literally<\/b><\/p>\n If Myntra is betting on culture and Amazon on scale, Flipkart is investing in infrastructure.<\/p>\n Neha Agrahari, Senior Director, Video Commerce, Flipkart, tells ET Online<\/i> that the company\u2019s Creator Cities \u2014 18,000 sq. ft. production hubs across Mumbai, Bangalore and Gurgaon \u2014 offer creators access to studios, production experts, training, and tools. Every month, over 300 production specialists and 200 creators work out of these spaces, creating content for brands across fashion, beauty, personal care and home decor.<\/p>\n Beyond the metros, Flipkart\u2019s in-app platform Creator Hood is helping Tier 2 and 3 creators access monetisation and training, Agrahari added.<\/p>\n Meesho<\/a>‘s creator club is powering the ‘everyday influencer’<\/b><\/p>\n
Welcome to the era of creator-led commerce, where the \u201cAdd to Cart\u201d button is increasingly powered by someone\u2019s charm, camera, and ring light.<\/p>\n
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