Meta reveals how social media, creators and AI are changing festive shopping in India

Meta highlights its role in festive shopping as 9 in 10 purchases are influenced by its platforms.

Meta has introduced a new festive marketing playbook for brands in India, highlighting how shopping trends are shifting beyond Diwali and extending into the wedding season, Christmas and year-end sales. The Instagram maker says consumers are increasingly discovering products through creators, using artificial intelligence (AI) for shopping inspiration and moving from browsing to buying in shorter periods. Its Festive Accelerator 2026: CMO Playbook outlines how businesses can build demand before major sale events and maintain consumer interest long after the Diwali rush. The report also highlights the growing contribution of smaller cities to online shopping. Here's everything you need to know about Meta's latest festive playbook and what its findings reveal about India's changing shopping habits.

Meta festive playbook highlights social media, creators and AI

Meta says 86% of festive shoppers seek social media inspiration before buying, as its new playbook urges brands to plan campaigns across the wedding season and year-end sales.

By Sparsh Sharma

Sparsh Sharma is a Content Producer at Hindustan Times Digital Streams, where he covers consumer technology, gadgets, artificial intelligence and the latest trends shaping the digital world. His work focuses on creating research-driven, accessible digital content that helps readers make informed buying decisions and understand how technology is changing their everyday lives.

Before joining Hindustan Times, Sparsh spent over two and a half years at Times Network, where he worked across Times Now Tech and covered a wide range of technology stories, from features, news and product reviews to smartphones, gadgets, apps, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and emerging tech trends. During his time there, he closely followed the fast-moving consumer technology landscape and worked on making the latest developments easy to understand for everyday users.

Over the years, Sparsh has tested and reviewed multiple smartphones, televisions, audio products, wearables and a wide range of consumer gadgets. His approach to technology coverage goes beyond specifications and benchmark numbers. He is particularly interested in how products perform in real-world situations, how useful they actually are and whether they deliver on the promises made by manufacturers.

He is also fascinated by the growing world of artificial intelligence and loves experimenting with the latest AI tools to find new ways of making technology content more engaging. From creating visuals and charts to building diagrams and experimenting with new formats, he enjoys using AI to add a little more fun and context to his stories while keeping the information accurate and useful.

A graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Sparsh believes good technology journalism should make complicated things feel simple, relatable and useful.

Beyond the newsroom, Sparsh is a massive cricket fan and has been a Virat Kohli fanboy since his childhood.

Got an exciting technology story idea, product tip, or something you think deserves attention? Reach out to Sparsh at sparsh.sharma@htdigital.in.

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As per Meta's playbook, festive shopping is no longer limited to a single buying window. Around 85% of festive shoppers use Meta technologies weekly, while 86% look for inspiration on social media before making a purchase. The report also says that 60% of new online shoppers come from Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, pointing to the growing role of consumers outside India's largest cities.

The timing of purchases is changing, too. Meta identifies two key shopping periods: a planned buying phase that begins around six weeks before an occasion, followed by a last-minute surge in the final 48 hours. For brands, this means campaigns need to reach consumers early while remaining flexible enough to capture shoppers who make decisions closer to the deadline.

Creators and cultural content are another major part of the picture, Meta says cultural content creation on its platforms increases by 50% during the festive season, while social media engagement rises by 20% compared with regular periods. One in two festive shoppers also follows influencers or creators during this time.

The playbook recommends that businesses move beyond a single festive advertisement and develop different creative ideas across formats, languages and creators. Content that shows how a product can transform a moment reportedly receives 2.3 times more saves, suggesting that relatable storytelling can help products stand out beyond discount-led promotions.

AI is also becoming part of the shopping journey. Meta says 80% of users used AI for festive-season ideas and shopping. Its proposed full-funnel approach combines AI-powered tools for audience selection, creative development, placements, bidding and shopping to help brands respond to changing consumer interests.

Meta urges brands to plan beyond Diwali

Instead of starting a fresh campaign for every occasion, businesses can build on earlier interest using tools such as retargeting, Advantage+ Catalogue, WhatsApp CRM and broadcasts, and Reminder Ads.

Meghna Apparao, Director, E-Commerce & Retail (India), Meta, said, “Festive shopping has become a much more continuous and dynamic journey, spanning cultural moments, shopping occasions, and sale events well beyond Diwali. Consumers are discovering products earlier, moving fluidly between inspiration and purchase, and increasingly turning to creators and AI as part of that journey. For retailers and e-commerce brands, the opportunity is to stay relevant across the full festive arc. Our Festive Accelerator Playbook is designed to help brands plan for this entire journey, rather than treat each moment as a standalone opportunity.”