Published on: May 21, 2026
Medhavi Singh has spent over a decade at the forefront of the digital revolution; her journey has seen her contribute to global markets, including the UK and the US, during her time at Google, before taking on her current role as the Country Head of Criteo India. Leading one of the most dynamic markets in the APAC region, she has a unique vantage point on why commerce is shifting; while many in AdTech obsess over cold algorithms, Medhavi is an advocate for moving beyond last-click and single-channel thinking and instead building more connected, cross-channel and intelligence-led experiences that reflect how shoppers actually discover, evaluate, and buy today.
In this exclusive conversation, she explores why the search box is no longer the center of the shopper’s universe and how leaders can navigate a world where the path to purchase is no longer linear.
What is it about the Indian consumer’s relationship with discovery that makes this market the most important signal for where digital commerce is heading across APAC?
India stands out because discovery here is not just the starting point, it is often the trigger for an enjoyable shopping experience. Unlike more efficiency-driven markets, Indian consumers respond strongly to emotional and contextual triggers such as joy, design, and novelty, which directly influence purchase decisions. Our recent Spark of Discovery study indicates that 75% of Indian consumers associate joy with online shopping and 66% are influenced by attractive design, suggesting that they are highly responsive to emotional and aesthetic drivers. This makes the journey far less linear, and far more experience driven.
“For brands trying to understand where digital commerce is heading, India offers an environment where the path from awareness to conversion is faster, more emotionally loaded, and increasingly shaped by personalised experiences”
It provides a testing ground for how commerce ecosystems will evolve by rekindling the spark of discovery. This combination of consumer openness and brand conviction creates a dynamic ecosystem that offers a clearer view of the future of digital commerce across APAC.
Moving from brand to country head, what shift in how you measure success changed everything about how you now advise clients?
The biggest shift for me has been moving away from looking at metrics in isolation. It used to be common to focus solely on conversion; however, that model doesn’t really hold up anymore.
Transitioning into a country leadership role fundamentally broadened my perspective; today, success is about driving sustainable impact like long-term growth, profitability, and customer retention and organisational agility, alongside fostering stronger cross-functional alignment. This shift has reinforced my view that marketing can no longer operate in isolation.
I increasingly encourage brands to look beyond short-term performance indicators and instead adopt a more integrated approach—where media, data, commerce, customer experience, and brand building work cohesively to deliver enduring value. We’ve moved the dialogue from individual channels to holistic business transformation.
That is especially important because today’s shopper journey is no longer linear. Discovery, research, and purchase can all happen simultaneously, across different platforms. So, if you’re only looking at one part of that journey, you’re missing how purchase decisions are being made.
What’s changed in how I think about this is focusing more on the connections between those touchpoints. Also, there’s been a visible shift in how brands are approaching this. There’s more understanding now that discovery itself contributes to outcomes, not just the final conversion stage. That changes how you look at performance.
“It becomes less about optimising individual funnel and more about understanding what’s moving the needle across the entire shopper journey.”
What does the gap between a consumer’s first impulse and a completed transaction reveal about where Indian digital commerce is still fundamentally broken?
I wouldn’t say it is fundamentally broken, but the gap between discovery and transaction is a real challenge in some cases – while discovery is strong, continuity in the purchase journey is often fragmented. Indian consumers are quite responsive at the discovery stage, with 26% of consumers reporting they buy immediately, while 38% complete the purchase on the same day, according to Criteo’s study published in April. However, 27% take up to a week to research before returning to buy. Some consumers might discover something on one platform, check reviews somewhere else, and then end up buying or not buying on a completely different interface. That breaks the flow.
What’s interesting is that the triggers themselves are working. Consumers are engaging with relevant ads, content, and recommendations. But that initial interest doesn’t always carry through because the journey isn’t seamless.
“The gap is less about creating more touchpoints and more about seamlessly connecting the ones that already exist.”
Trust also plays a critical role. While ads and influencer content can generate excitement, completion often depends on elements like reviews, transparency, and customer support. These “trust builders” are essential in bridging the gap between intent and action. The opportunity lies in using more integrated, intelligence-led tools and techniques where discovery, research, and transaction are seamlessly connected, reducing drop-offs and improving overall conversion efficiency and outcomes.
Retail media is being called India’s next big inflection point — but are brands actually ready to use the commerce data they are sitting on?
Brands in India are directionally ready but operationally still evolving. There is strong conviction in discovery-led growth, with 95% of brands acknowledging its contribution, and 86% expressing confidence in ROI. This indicates that the intent to leverage commerce data is already established. Additionally, Criteo’s study from April revealed that 84% of Indian consumers prefer fewer, more relevant ads – even when those ads are powered by their history.
Readiness is not just about access to data; it’s about the ability to activate it effectively. Many organisations still operate with fragmented data systems, where insights from different touchpoints are not fully integrated. What is changing is the increasing role of AI in bridging this gap.
“With 93% of brands planning to use AI to improve user experience and 86% aiming to reduce guesswork, there is a clear shift toward more intelligent, automated decision-making.”
While the foundation is strong, the inflection point will depend on execution, specifically how well brands can unify their commerce data, apply intelligence, and translate insights into actionable, real-time experiences that drive measurable outcomes.
What specific marketing metric must Indian CMOs finally retire in 2026 to remain relevant to a shopper who no longer relies on the search box for product discovery?
It really comes back to shift in how to measure success – it is not that a particular metric needs to be retired, but that we need to stop over-relying on last-click or single-channel views and instead look at how consumers are behaving across all touchpoints throughout the entire shopper journey. There are now far more opportunities to reach consumers, allowing brands to build awareness and product preference at the same time.
“Indian CMOs who remain anchored to the last click are essentially evaluating a funnel that no longer reflects where many of their most valuable customers actually begin their purchasing journey.”
What’s needed now is a more complete view of the shopper experience and a clear technology roadmap to navigate today’s online shopping landscape. Closing the gap between awareness and conversion remains a challenge, so businesses must remove as much guesswork as possible by using the most effective tools and techniques to create a rich, seamless experience. No interaction is trivial; every touchpoint is a critical moment on the consumer’s path to purchase.
