Author: Aadarsh Patel | EQMint

India’s e-commerce industry could be heading towards its next major shift, and this time, shopping is becoming more interactive.

Live commerce, also known as live shopping, combines livestreaming with online shopping. A creator, celebrity or brand representative showcases products during a live broadcast while viewers can interact, ask questions and purchase the products in real time.

The format has already become a major commerce trend in markets such as China and is now attracting growing attention from brands globally.

What Is Live Commerce?

Live commerce essentially turns a shopping experience into a live event.

Instead of visiting an e-commerce website, searching for a product and reading its description, consumers can watch someone demonstrate the product live.

A beauty creator could test a makeup product, a fashion influencer could try different outfits, or a tech creator could demonstrate a new gadget.

Viewers can then ask questions through the livestream and make a purchase while watching.

Content, entertainment and commerce come together on one screen.

Why Is Live Shopping Different?

Traditional e-commerce is largely passive. Consumers browse products and decide whether to buy.

Live commerce adds interaction to the process.

A host can explain how a product works, demonstrate its features, respond to questions and create urgency through limited-time offers.

This can make the purchase journey feel less like browsing an online catalogue and more like shopping with someone you trust.

That interaction is particularly useful for categories such as beauty, fashion, electronics, food and lifestyle products, where seeing a product in action can influence purchasing decisions.

Why Could It Be The Next Big Thing In Indian E-Commerce?

India already has the ingredients needed for live commerce to grow.

The country has a massive social media audience, a rapidly expanding creator economy and consumers who increasingly discover products through short-form videos and influencers.

Live commerce could bring these three trends together.

Instead of a creator simply posting a sponsored Instagram Reel and directing followers to a website, the creator could host a live session where products are demonstrated and sold immediately.

For brands, this creates a direct connection between discovery and purchase.

Creators Could Become Digital Shopfronts

One of the biggest changes could be the role of influencers.

Creators may increasingly move beyond sponsored posts and become actual sales channels for brands.

A creator with a highly engaged audience could host regular shopping sessions, introduce new products, answer customer questions and generate sales directly from their community.

This could also benefit smaller Indian brands that may not have the budgets of large companies.

Instead of spending heavily on traditional advertising, a brand could partner with a relevant creator and turn their audience into potential customers.

India Still Has A Long Way To Go

Despite its potential, live commerce is not yet a mainstream shopping habit in India.

Brands need to figure out what type of content works, which creators can actually drive purchases and how to keep livestreams entertaining rather than turning them into extended advertisements.

Consumer trust will also be important.

The success of live commerce will ultimately depend on whether viewers see livestreams as useful and entertaining shopping experiences rather than just another form of advertising.

The Opportunity For Indian Startups

The growth of live commerce could create opportunities beyond selling products.

Startups could build technology for livestream shopping, including creator-brand marketplaces, interactive video tools, payment integrations, inventory management, audience analytics and live-commerce platforms.

This means the opportunity may not simply belong to e-commerce companies.

It could extend across India’s creator economy, advertising, fintech and startup ecosystem.

Is Live Commerce The Future?

Live commerce is still developing in India, but the concept represents a larger change in how consumers discover products.

The traditional journey of search → compare → purchase is increasingly being joined by watch → interact → buy.

As Indian consumers spend more time watching creators and discovering products through social media, the boundary between entertainment and shopping could become increasingly blurred.

For Indian brands, live commerce may still be an emerging experiment. But if adoption accelerates, the companies and creators that learn how to make shopping entertaining could have an early advantage.

The next generation of e-commerce may not just be about what consumers buy. It could be about what they watch while deciding to buy it.

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