WhatsApp is increasingly becoming a powerful customer acquisition channel for India’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, challenging its traditional role as a platform primarily used for customer retention and support.
According to a report by GoKwik, 83% of orders generated through WhatsApp during the October-December festive quarter came from first-time customers, highlighting the platform’s growing influence in attracting new buyers. The study also found that brands leveraging WhatsApp marketing tools on GoKwik’s network achieved median gross merchandise value (GMV) growth that was 2.25 times higher than brands that did not utilise such tools.
Chirag Taneja, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of GoKwik, said the strongest-performing brands on WhatsApp were not necessarily sending a greater volume of messages. Instead, they were increasingly relying on artificial intelligence to determine the most relevant message, recipient and timing. According to Taneja, the shift from broad-based messaging to AI-driven contextual commerce is creating a significant performance advantage for brands adopting these technologies.
The report analysed 26 billion messages sent by more than 1,800 D2C brands over a four-quarter period. It found that automated customer engagement journeys, including abandoned-cart reminders, order updates and loyalty programme prompts, generated average click-through rates of 11.1%. In comparison, conventional broadcast campaigns recorded an average click-through rate of just 2.6%.
The findings point to a widening gap between brands employing targeted automation and those continuing to depend on mass messaging strategies.
Fashion brands, which contributed the largest share of WhatsApp-driven revenue on the network, recorded conversion rates almost 2.5 times higher than the category average among top-performing companies.
The growing importance of WhatsApp comes as Indian D2C brands seek more cost-effective methods of acquiring customers amid rising digital marketing expenses and intensifying competition across online retail markets.
The report also highlighted increasing adoption of AI-powered customer service solutions. Bot-led query resolution rates rose to 73.4% during the year, up from 67.1% previously. Automated systems are now handling a larger proportion of routine customer requests, including order tracking, returns management and responses to frequently asked questions.
The findings suggest that WhatsApp is evolving beyond its traditional communications role into a broader commerce platform. However, the report indicates that the greatest benefits are currently being realised by brands that have invested in AI-driven personalisation, audience segmentation and automated customer engagement strategies.
Bharat Tex Special Report 2026 
