Why conversational AI is now the new face of eCommerce

The race to embed conversational AI into commerce is accelerating, with platforms across India rolling out voice-led and AI-native shopping experiences, signalling what could be the next structural shift in how consumers discover and buy products.

Platforms like Meesho, for instance, have begun embedding conversational assistants such as Vaani as part of a broader push to make shopping more intuitive and accessible. The AI assistant is designed to enable users to search, discover, and evaluate products through natural language, reducing the need for multiple clicks and filters, while early adoption signals point to stronger engagement and higher conversion among users interacting with the feature.

At the same time, Swiggy is taking a more expansive approach by integrating conversational commerce across its ecosystem. Through its Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations, users can now order food, shop on Instamart, or book dining experiences directly via AI platforms like ChatGPT and Claude, allowing them to build carts, apply offers, and complete transactions through simple, intent-led prompts. The company has also moved toward multilingual, voice-led commerce, enabling users to interact in their preferred language.

Read more on AI infra's role in creating a marketing statement

Meanwhile, BigBasket, allows users to add items to their cart using simple voice commands such as ordering staples or daily essentials. 

Now, this has raised a larger question—can conversational AI truly become the next big thing in e-commerce?

Sini Magon, COO and Global Partner at Grapes Worldwide, believes the shift lies in how fundamentally it simplifies the shopping journey. “Conversational AI can make shopping more straightforward by bringing discovery, comparison and buying into a single flow. Rather than switching between multiple steps, people can ask, evaluate options and make a decision in one place. Its real influence will come down to how dependable and transparent the experience feels.”

How conversational AI is shaping Indian commerce

The ability to compress the entire funnel, from discovery to decision, into a single interaction is what sets conversational AI apart from previous shifts in digital commerce. 

Instead of navigating multiple pages, filters, and checkout steps, users can now express intent in natural language and receive curated, contextual outcomes almost instantly.

Building on this shift, Chirag Taneja, Founder & CEO, GoKwik, believes conversational AI goes far beyond incremental change. “Conversational AI isn’t just an upgrade; it’s a fundamental shift in how commerce is experienced because it attacks friction head-on,” he said.

He points out that while platforms like WhatsApp have already evolved from handling “Where Is My Order” (WISMO) queries and abandoned cart nudges into transactional layers, the broader e-commerce funnel remains inefficient. You ask a shopper to click an ad, navigate a site, and go through a multi-step checkout, a journey where nearly 75% of users drop off at the address or payment stage” .

Conversational AI eliminates this friction entirely. “When you remove the ‘work’ from shopping, conversion becomes a natural byproduct,” Taneja added, noting that GoKwik is already seeing up to a 40% reduction in support queries through AI-led interventions.

Echoing this, Udit Agarwal, Global Head of Partnerships and Marketing at Exotel, frames conversational AI as a critical layer in the evolution of e-commerce. “Conversational AI is rapidly becoming a critical layer in e-commerce because it addresses a fundamental gap, moving from transactional journeys to truly guided experiences.” 

He added that with real-time voice intelligence, conversations are no longer passive recordings, they are live data streams. “This allows businesses to detect intent, sentiment, and friction in the moment, and respond instantly whether through AI or by seamlessly involving a human agent when needed. We don’t see conversational AI as a replacement for existing platforms, but as an orchestration layer that sits across the entire shopping journey from discovery to support.”

Preeti Jain, Head of Product, bigbasket, said bigbasket is using voice-based backend product interfaces and support for their internal teams. "This allows users to follow the natural flow of conversation-based working style. bigbasket is working on enabling this for the consumers as well."

In markets like India, where interactions are contextual and multilingual, experts note that traditional interfaces built on clicks and forms often fall short. Conversational AI introduces a more natural way to discover, evaluate, and complete purchases.

What is also becoming clear is that this shift goes beyond user experience and is beginning to reshape how purchase intent itself is formed. 

Ali Zaidi, Senior VP, Media at Tonic Worldwide, points out that conversational AI is compressing discovery, comparison, and decision-making into a single interface, often before a user even visits a platform.

Several data also backs this, generative AI traffic to U.S. retail sites surged 4,700% year-on-year by July 2025, with AI-led users showing stronger engagement, longer visits, more page views, and lower bounce rates. By the 2025 holiday season, AI-driven referrals were not only significantly higher but also converted 31% better than other traffic sources. With 30–45% of consumers already using GenAI for research and product comparison, the shift is no longer speculative. Instead, AI is increasingly qualifying purchase intent even before the first click.

This has deeper implications for brands, said Zaidi. As consumers move from browsing multiple options to receiving a single, synthesised recommendation, visibility is no longer about frequency but relevance. In this environment, how a brand is represented across data, content, and reviews becomes far more critical than traditional search rankings.

Conversational interfaces are also likely to drive higher conversions by reducing friction and compressing decision-making, Magon noted. As recommendations become more contextual and immediate, users are more inclined to act, gradually shifting budgets toward platforms and formats that influence these AI-driven recommendations, with greater focus on data quality, content optimisation, and integration. At the same time, adoption is unlikely to be uniform. 

Experts have shared that conversational AI is best suited for high-intent, convenience-driven use cases, such as reorders or quick purchases, while browsing-led and discovery-heavy journeys are expected to continue on traditional interfaces.

Yet, in a market like India, the larger opportunity lies in access. Ankush Sabharwal, Founder & CEO, CoRover, says early signals already point to conversational AI becoming the control layer of commerce. Platforms are increasingly building assistants that handle the full shopping journey within a single interaction, while integrations across payments are enabling seamless, end-to-end transactions. “The trajectory is clear: traditional UI will coexist, but conversational AI will evolve into the primary interface, especially in mobile-first, voice-led economies like India,” he noted.

Adding to this, Maaz Ansari, Cofounder & CRO at Oriserve, said that instead of navigating multiple pages to search, filter, compare, and check out, users can now express intent in natural language and receive contextual, curated recommendations almost instantly, effectively merging the traditional shopping funnel into a single interaction. For India, this shift is even more significant. 

With a large base of users more comfortable in regional languages, conversational AI lowers entry barriers and makes e-commerce more accessible, particularly for first-time and non-metro users. It also enables real-time guidance, helping users make decisions, reducing drop-offs, and personalising journeys dynamically. 

The bigger question now is how far this shift will go. Will conversational AI evolve into the primary interface for commerce, or remain a powerful layer sitting alongside apps and marketplaces?