Just over two years after its US launch in September 2023, TikTok Shop has reshaped the social commerce landscape, turning short-form entertainment into a structured shopping engine. With the platform ranking No. three in Morning Consult’s 2025 purchase-consideration report and reportedly driving over $500 million in sales, its rise has triggered renewed scrutiny of how content platforms convert attention into transactions. The $500 million sales figure is unattributed in the current copy and requires a verified source.
According to a report by eMarketer, TikTok Shop now commands 18.2% of total social commerce in the US, with that share expected to reach 24.1% by 2027. The report further states that TikTok Shop’s e-commerce growth will increase by double digits through the end of its forecast period in 2029. Its sales are projected to surpass $20 billion in 2026 and exceed $30 billion in 2028, according to eMarketer.
The contrast with Instagram is increasingly stark. Despite boasting over two billion monthly active users globally, and a deep and expanding footprint in India, Instagram’s social commerce journey remains a work in progress. The two billion user figure should be attributed to an official Meta disclosure or industry source for verification.
Instagram has introduced shoppable posts, product tags and Reels-driven shopping features. What it has not fully established in India is the frictionless “watch, want, buy” loop that TikTok Shop has operationalised in the US. In India’s mobile-first, price-sensitive market, the absence of an integrated checkout and fulfilment layer continues to shape user behaviour.
This raises a strategic question for brands and platforms alike: can Instagram leverage its cultural dominance and creator ecosystem to convert habitual scrolling into measurable commerce, or will India’s structural realities slow that transition?
Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, ReBid, believes Instagram has the distribution strength to replicate social commerce behaviour in India, but in a distinctly localised format rather than a replication of the US-led TikTok Shop model.
According to Dingra, India already has a large and highly engaged Instagram user base, with Reels deeply embedded in everyday content consumption. Product discovery through creators feels organic, particularly across categories such as beauty, fashion, electronics and home. However, Indian consumers continue to view Instagram primarily as a discovery and influence platform rather than a destination for completing transactions.
“Unlike TikTok Shop in the US, where checkout, logistics, and returns are tightly integrated within the platform, Instagram in India still operates through fragmented journeys: DMs, external links, or redirects to marketplaces. This breaks the impulse-buy loop,” he notes.
He adds that while Instagram is capable of driving high-intent discovery and consideration at scale in India, it will remain a powerful pre-commerce engine unless in-app checkout, strong trust signals and seamless post-purchase support are fully integrated. Only then, he argues, can it evolve into a true end-to-end social commerce platform.
Aditya Aima, Managing Director, Growth Markets and Co-MD, India and MENA, AnyMind Group, offers a more critical perspective, suggesting that Instagram’s algorithm is fundamentally optimised for virality rather than commerce.
He explains that Reels prioritise watch time, shares, saves and reach, while commerce depends on intent signals such as product close-ups, price replays, direct messages and user queries. As a result, content can achieve high visibility without translating into sales.
Aima points out that brands are witnessing cost per mille (CPM) increases of 20–25% year on year in competitive categories, without corresponding improvements in conversion visibility. The 20–25% increase requires a cited source or clarification on whether it is internal data. “For India’s predominantly SMB (small and medium-sized business)-driven D2C ecosystem, this imbalance is unsustainable.”
He argues that these businesses require predictable Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), something search-led platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart can deliver, but Instagram currently struggles to match.
He also highlights a deeper issue around trust. “Instagram’s trust architecture doesn’t reflect how Indians actually shop. Nearly 80% of social commerce buyers rely on peer influence, yet the algorithm continues to reward polished, aspirational content that often feels distant and less relatable,” Aima notes. The 80% figure requires attribution to a study or report.
In practice, he adds, raw in-home product demonstrations showing both benefits and limitations tend to convert better than highly stylised creatives. For Instagram to scale commerce in India, he suggests, the platform would need to recalibrate incentives toward community credibility rather than celebrity-led virality.
Yasin Hamidani, Director, Media Care Brand Solutions, observes that while Indian consumers are actively discovering products through Reels, the final purchase typically happens outside the app. He attributes this gap to habit and trust.
“Indian users are comfortable browsing and engaging with products on Instagram, but remain hesitant to complete transactions within the platform,” Hamidani explains. “Logistics complexity, returns management, and post-purchase support lie beyond Instagram’s core strengths. There’s also the risk that over-commercialisation could dilute the user experience,” he adds.
The tension between monetisation and user experience remains central. Social platforms that push commerce too aggressively risk eroding the very engagement that makes them attractive to advertisers.
Ambika Sharma, Founder and Chief Strategist, Pulp Strategy, argues that Instagram has strong potential to drive social commerce in India, but it will not, and cannot, be a TikTok Shop clone. TikTok, she notes, conditioned users to see content and commerce as a single, seamless action, a behavioural shift that has not yet taken root on Instagram in India.
According to Sharma, the core challenge is not technology but behaviour and friction. India’s commerce ecosystem remains fragmented across payment preferences, logistics reliability, return policies and customer support expectations. Instagram also continues to face challenges around consistent attribution and a reliable post-purchase experience, both of which are essential for scaling commerce.
“For Instagram to evolve into a serious commerce platform, it must integrate deeply with messaging, fulfilment and after-sales workflows, not merely add shopping features,” Sharma explains. Until then, she adds, Instagram will remain a powerful driver of influence and discovery rather than a true commerce destination.
In India, Instagram’s social commerce trajectory is not constrained by reach or creator momentum, but by trust, integration and consumer behaviour. TikTok Shop demonstrates how seamlessly entertainment can convert into transactions when checkout, logistics and post-purchase support are embedded within the platform. Replicating that model in India, however, would require not only product innovation but structural alignment with a complex, price-sensitive and trust-driven market.
Before publication, the following figures require clear attribution: the $500 million sales claim; Instagram’s two billion monthly active users; the 20–25% year-on-year CPM increase; and the 80% peer-influence statistic.
