The journey is widening, not shrinking
India is heading into a festive shopping season expected to generate INR 1.2 lakh crore in Gross Merchandise Value, according to estimates shared at ET DigiPlus Fest 2026. The larger change for marketers may be how shoppers arrive at a purchase.
Ankhee Bhakoo, Director, Google Customer Solutions, Google, said AI has not simply compressed the journey; it has made it “wider, deeper, and infinitely more creative.” Before AI, a typical consumer used around 5.5 touchpoints. Bhakoo now puts that number at nearly 13, spread across four behaviours she calls searching, streaming, scrolling and shopping.
That matters for media planning because a campaign built on the old linear funnel can miss the moments where shoppers compare, watch and decide.
What the numbers show
- 5.5 to nearly 13: the consumer journey’s expansion, according to Google.
- 87%: share of AI Mode or AI Overviews users who report faster, more confident decisions.
- 45%: of YouTube Shorts viewers who do not open Instagram Reels.
- 1.6x: the reported ROI lift for brands running Google and YouTube together versus paid social.
Visual content is doing more of the early work. Bhakoo said eight in ten shoppers use visual content to spark product discovery. YouTube AI Spotlight and Affiliate Partnership Boost are aimed at turning creator content into cultural-moment and performance campaigns.
A festive playbook in three moves
Bhakoo’s framework moves from awareness to localised storytelling to high-intent conversion: spark demand with YouTube, scale regional creative with Google AI Asset Studio, and convert shoppers through AI Max, Commerce Media Network and PMax for Store Goals.
The localisation point is especially India-relevant. Bhakoo argued that India is many Indias, and that the era of the “one national campaign, one size fits all” is over. AI Asset Studio can produce brand-compliant regional variations; AI Max is designed to match product listings to conversational queries and bring high-intent traffic to a brand’s site.
Quick commerce and physical retail also fit into the loop. The Commerce Media Network Suite connects with quick-commerce platforms, while PMax for Store Goals helps measure offline outcomes.
What marketers should do now
Start by auditing whether your plan covers all four behaviours. A brand absent from Shorts may be invisible to a large audience; creative that stays in one language may miss regional intent; and Google and YouTube planned separately can leave the reported 1.6x ROI lift on the table.
Before peak season shrinks decision windows, test AI-assisted localisation and commerce formats now.
Source: ETBrandEquity.com
