When 2025 kicked off, we put out eight predictions for how ecommerce would move through the year. By December, the market had delivered on almost every one of them, and often faster than expected.

As predicted, seed-stage ecommerce startups held investor attention, even as late-stage funding stayed selective. The omnichannel shift moved from boardroom intent to operational reality. Quick commerce redrew the entire demand map, changed FMCG playbooks and forced every large ecommerce platform to rethink time, distance and convenience as core levers. The scale achieved by Myntra 30 minutes delivery and Flipkart Minutes being the classic example here.

The public markets also turned into a central storyline. Meesho, boAt, Zepto and Curefoods lined up their IPO plans. Shiprocket and Shadowfax joined the queue with their draft filings. Capillary Technologies listed, signalling that ecommerce infrastructure firms may reach the public markets sooner than once assumed. Also, there is no denying the fact that more and more ecommerce companies are now getting ready to join the bandwagon.

Inside the engine room, AI too quietly began to rewire the core ecommerce workflows —from catalogue creation and routing to pricing and fraud checks — as pilots turn into scaled systems. Front-end personalisation and AI-led customer flows are already influencing conversions and margins.

But the biggest shift in 2025 may be around what D2C even means anymore. And this will determine where ecommerce as a whole goes in 2026.

The New Face Of D2C

The definition of direct-to-consumer (D2C) in India has evolved dramatically. For years, it referred to brands that manufactured, sold online first and entered offline retail only after reaching a certain scale. The likes of Nykaa, Mamaearth, Minimalist, Licious, boAt and Bombay Shaving Company built their early playbooks this way.

But as PwC’s partner Ravi Kapoor, who leads the retail and consumer sector, argues, this logic has flipped. Today, new-age brands are emerging in physical retail before leveraging ecommerce for scale. Examples such as Koskii, Kama Ayurveda, Wonderchef, Wagh Bakri, Cello, Neeru’s and Lahori Zeera have crossed the INR 100 Cr threshold through this reverse route.

The channel of origin no longer defines D2C; instead, it is about control — over consumer data, product, distribution, and unit economics. Analysts, VCs and operators now agree that 2026 will test discipline more than ambition. The age of “growth at all costs” is giving way to efficiency, sharper execution and predictable paths to profitability.

“The Indian ecommerce sector is moving away from ‘growth at all costs’ to sustainable economics. The margin narrative has become extremely important now, and unless a brand is able to prove sustainable unit economics, even consolidations will be tough,” said Mani Singhal, managing director and co-lead of Alvarez & Marsal’s consumer and retail practice for India.

Owned Channels Take Priority

Ecommerce marketplaces and quick commerce have served as powerful early-stage growth engines for D2C brands, providing rapid entry but shallow stickiness. Consumers chase deals, and algorithms tend to prioritise winning SKUs, meaning visibility is short-lived.

According to Kapoor, consumer trust may be higher on these platforms, but their systems “prefer one brand over another organically,” favouring quality leads from........

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