How Brands Are Adapting For ‘Now Consumers’ In The Omnichannel Age

When the Covid waves hit the Indian shores, life had come to a screeching halt, and after the ravager receded, life limped back to normalcy. A lot had changed between the two, but one fundamental aspect changed forever: it’s the way we shop. 

With India set to have more than 1.5 Bn smartphone users and over 1.2 Bn people going online, a brand without an omnichannel strategy that offers a seamless experience across physical and virtual channels looks outdated, if not incompetent. 

The dynamics are influenced by a surge in consumer spending, driven by rising incomes, a young and energetic workforce, and rapid urbanisation. The figures speak for themselves. India’s consumer spending is likely to surge by 46%, taking the $2.4 Tn consumer economy to $4.3 Tn by 2030, when it will be the second-largest market in the world. But as convenience, personalisation, and authenticity become non-negotiables, India’s D2C brands face an entirely new challenge: how to deliver faster, smarter, and consistently across channels.

Inc42 and Vinculum Group came together for the Delhi NCR edition of their ongoing roundtable series, Building The Next Consumer Engine. The discussion brought together leaders from some of India’s most innovative consumer brands to explore the forces shaping tomorrow’s commerce landscape — from customer expectations and fulfilment strategies to data intelligence and AI-led personalisation.

The session, moderated by Commercify360 founder and CEO Renu Bisht, explored the core theme: How Brands Are Adapting For ‘Now Consumers’ In The Omnichannel Age. 

The speakers included:

• Varun Sachdeva, head of ecommerce at boAt
• Prerna Kalra, cofounder of Daalchini
• Ruhani Aggarwal, cofounder and CBO of INCLUD
• Anuj Nevatia, cofounder and director at Bacca Bucci
• Manish Modi, CPO of Hair Originals
• Himanshu Mehta, head of D2C and marketing at Lifelong
• Divij Bajaj, founder of Power Gummies
• Ashwarya Garg, cofounder of HYPD
• Venkat Nott, founder and CEO of Vinculum Group

From New Normal To ‘Now Consumer’

Armed with digital payments, logistics networks, and instant gratification platforms, the Indian consumer demands the same immediacy across every category, from lifestyle to electronics. 

Sachdeva of boAt described how this shift in consumer behaviour is redefining growth strategies. He observed that while tier-one cities remain crucial, the next wave of adoption comes from smaller markets where “patience is eroding fast”.

This, according to Sachdeva, is paving the way for the evolution of the ‘now consumer’. “Until last year, 85% of our sales came from Tier I, but this festive season, Tier II and beyond contributed nearly 30% through quick commerce.”

The notion that convenience is only an urban trait is fading fast. Kalra of Daalchini, whose vending-machine startup operates across cities and campuses, found that consumers in smaller towns are often early adopters of digital technology.

“We launched in cities like Jamnagar and Jharsuguda, expecting low UPI adoption,” Kalra said. “But Tier III customers amazed us with their comfort with digital payments and the quality of feedback we received.”

For Nevatia of Bacca Bucci, the modern consumer is defined not just by impatience but by emotional intelligence. Brands, he said, must anticipate moods as much as needs.

“They expect you to be predictive based on their emotions at a given time,” he said. “At the time of Diwali, they expect you to have pooja and aarti kits on the top blanket homepage. If there’s an India-Pakistan match, they expect your brand to know what to say, not just what to sell.”

This generation of consumers has gone omnichannel and at the same time is expressive and deeply connected to culture. They buy products that mirror their lifestyle and identity and expect brands to keep up.

Fulfilment At The Speed Of Expectation

If discovery is driven by emotion, delivery is led by discipline. The conversation turned quickly towards how rising expectations around speed, convenience and consistency are reshaping fulfilment and logistics.

For Nott of Vinculum Group, which powers fulfilment for many D2C and quick commerce players, the challenge is less about infrastructure and more about synchronisation. “Everyone wants it immediately, and it’s not just the young consumers. The real challenge is ensuring a consistent experience across every channel, not just delivering fast.” 

Hair Originals’ Modi shared that the need-it-now mindset has even expanded into premium segments. His hair extension brand sells items priced above INR 7,000 but still sees significant traction through instant-delivery apps.

“Nearly 30% of our revenue now comes from quick commerce,” he said. “It shows customers want it now, with no compromise on quality.”

As competition intensifies, fulfilment has become the new marketing — the proof of promise after the ad ends.

Consumer Brands Ride On Data, AI 

As the discussion moved to data intelligence, the table acknowledged that AI’s impact depends less on sophisticated algorithms and more on the quality and completeness of the data that feeds them. Most consumer brands today operate across multiple channels, each generating its own silo of customer signals. This fragmentation, several founders noted, is the most significant barrier preventing AI from delivering its full commercial value.

“AI becomes powerful only when brands can unify their data. Today, consumer information sits across D2C, marketplaces and quick commerce, but unless you bring it into a single pipeline, AI can’t deliver meaningful predictions or ROI. The real challenge isn’t the algorithm — it is stitching fragmented data into one intelligent system,” said Garg of HYPD.

Another major theme that emerged was the growing role of AI in catalogue optimisation, a function that has traditionally required heavy manual effort but now offers some of the clearest, most immediate ROI for consumer brands. Founders noted that product titles, bullet points, descriptions, creatives and image enhancements directly influence both search visibility and conversion, especially on marketplaces where competition is intense and algorithms are unforgiving. 

“We’ve been experimenting aggressively with catalogue AI, from titles and bullet points to product descriptions and images. On average, AI-led optimisation has lifted performance by 3-6%, and on some key SKUs, we’ve seen growth as high as 15-17% within a month,” said Mehta of Lifelong. 

Aggarwal of INCLUD pointed out that building the right stack is no longer optional – it’s foundational to scaling a modern consumer brand. But deciding whether to build in-house or outsource remains one of the most strategic and contested decisions for early-stage teams. This tension between speed and ownership surfaced repeatedly during the discussion, highlighting the operational trade-offs startups must navigate before they reach meaningful scale.

“Building an in-house tech stack is expensive and time-intensive, and most investors today don’t have the patience for long testing cycles. Outsourcing becomes unavoidable in the early stages, even if the best execution eventually happens in-house. The real dilemma is knowing when you’ve scaled enough to make that shift — there’s no clear answer,” said Aggarwal. 

An Omnichannel Platform Is Critical 

As the Delhi NCR edition drew to a close, one insight resonated across the table — the future of India’s consumer brands will be built on omnichannel intelligence. Customers today don’t think in channels; they move fluidly across D2C sites, marketplaces, quick commerce apps and offline stores, expecting the same speed, relevance and service everywhere. For brands, this means success will no longer hinge on dominating a single channel but on orchestrating a seamless experience across all channels — with unified data, consistent inventory visibility, and integrated operations forming the backbone.

The leaders agreed that the next consumer engine won’t be powered by isolated growth levers, but by brands that can harmonise discovery, delivery, and engagement into a continuous journey. Those that master omnichannel will not only meet consumer expectations but also anticipate their needs, turning every interaction into an opportunity for loyalty and long-term value.