Meta has recently announced new innovative tools that can help accelerate growth and incremental performance gains for e-commerce and retail businesses. As e-commerce sectors in India are driven by expansion in quick commerce and increasing online purchasing in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, these new ad tools and features can assist in driving growth for businesses in the industry.
Among the newly introduced omnichannel ads. This will help advertisers to display ads to reach potential nearby shoppers who most visit local shops. The platform is expanding access to the tools so more businesses can send customers to the nearest store with stock. It also directs to special offers, making in-store shopping even more appealing and driving more foot traffic. Initial testing revealed that used omnichannel advertisements experienced a 15% lower cost per acquisition (CPA) and a 12% increase in return on ad spend (ROAS) compared to traditional campaign efforts, which made them a cost-effective and profitable advertising option.
Meta recently organized the Marketing Summit E-commerce Edition in Mumbai and Bangalore, where top marketers gathered and explored emerging trends shaping India’s e-commerce industry.
Meghna Apparao, director of e-commerce and retail at Meta India, said, “ India’s e-commerce and retail landscape is being reshaped by offline retail players venturing online, the growth of quick commerce in leaps and bounds, and growing adoption of online shopping in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. With AI-driven personalization, Reels, creators, and messaging already driving phenomenal value, Meta’s emphasis on future-proof ad tools will be a dominant driver of growth. These technologies will allow brands to craft engaging buying experiences and maximize their business performance more effectively.”
Aishwarya Omprakash, Head of Marketing at Taneira, said, “In our Meta Omnichannel ads test, we observed a significant boost in performance, with 3.5 times more purchase conversions and a 4.3 times boost in return on ad spend (RAOS) compared to a purchase-optimized campaign. That’s a whole lot of proof of the power of a multi-touchpoint strategy, and we can’t wait to tap into even more of it“.
Meta is also expanding its AI-powered advertising solutions with the introduction of partnership ads to Advantage+ catalog ads, providing businesses with even more powerful marketing tools. Partnership ads allow brands to include content from creators, other businesses, and their brands in their ad campaigns. The largest Instagram creator base in the world is India, and over 4000 advertisers already have partnership ads; this collaboration is set to unleash new heights of engagement and growth.
Piyush Elavia, head of growth at Zepto, said, “By collaborating with creators through partnership ads, we effectively showcased our 10-minute delivery USP. This strategy led to an 18% reduction in customer acquisition cost (CAC) and a 33% increase in click-through rate (CTR).”
Meta is expanding AI-powered Advantage+ catalog ads, boosting ROAS by 14%, and developing generative AI features like virtual try-ons and background generation for e-commerce.
Anand Bhaskaran, head of digital marketing and marketing communications at BigBasket, said, “ To stay ahead with innovative marketing, we tested GenAI-powered catalog ads and saw promising outcomes. We expect this technology to make our business more efficient.
BigBasket ran a three-cell test for catalog ads, comparing background generation and image expansion with regular ads, noticing a 2.7% higher CTR and 3.4% lower CPI.
