Meesho Spends ₹990 Crore On AI Advertising To Drive 264 Million User Growth

Meesho is ramping up its AI advertising and user acquisition strategy, with the company spending ₹990 crore on advertising and sales promotion activities in FY26 as competition intensifies in India’s e-commerce market.

The increased investment reflects Meesho’s larger push to build long-term user growth rather than chase short-term profitability. Advertising and promotional expenses not directly linked to transactions more than doubled year-on-year, while growth investments rose to 2.4% of Net Merchandise Value (NMV), compared to 1.6% in FY25, according to a report by Social Samosa.

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AI Push Drives User Growth:

For Meesho, the spending appears to be paying off. The platform closed FY26 with 264 million annual transacting users, marking a 33% year-on-year increase, while total orders surged 45% to 2.67 billion. The company also reported improved repeat purchase behaviour, suggesting that customer acquisition efforts are translating into stronger retention.

At the same time, Meesho has started tightening efficiency around ad spends. In Q4 FY26, growth investments fell slightly to 2.1% of NMV from 2.3% in the previous quarter, driven by optimisation efforts and improving operating leverage.

A major part of Meesho’s strategy now extends beyond consumer advertising into seller enablement. The company revealed that its AI-powered voice agents are helping sellers create ads and participate in platform-led campaigns. These AI systems currently handle up to 300,000 calls daily, onboarding sellers into advertising tools and guiding them through promotional activities.

The platform reported a peak daily average of 80,000 sellers adopting advertising tools, highlighting how AI is becoming central to seller growth on the platform. For smaller businesses with limited digital marketing expertise, these tools effectively lower the barrier to advertising and customer discovery.

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AI Commerce Fuels Product Discovery:

Advertising is also deeply integrated into Meesho’s broader AI-driven shopping ecosystem. Its recommendation engine, PRISM, now drives over 75% of orders on the platform. The system acts as both a product discovery engine and an embedded advertising layer, helping new listings gain traction faster. According to the company, PRISM has reduced the “cold start” problem for products by 27%.

Content commerce is another growing pillar of the strategy. Meesho reported 105% year-on-year growth in content-led commerce during Q4, supported by its Creator Club platform where influencers generate shopping content backed by AI tools. The model combines creator marketing, product discovery and advertising into a single conversion funnel.

For marketers, Meesho’s strategy reflects a larger shift in digital commerce where advertising is increasingly embedded into shopping experiences rather than operating as a separate marketing layer. AI, creator-led commerce and recommendation engines are now becoming core drivers of visibility, engagement and conversions across India’s fast-growing e-commerce ecosystem.