Meesho looks to find its voice in small-town India with AI assistant Vaani
Sowmya Ramasubramanian & Vaeshnavi Kasthuril
E-commerce marketplace Meesho is gearing up for a future where product discovery shifts to AI-powered chat assistants, even as adoption of these tools among its core users in small towns remains inconsistent.
Though AI assistants are gaining traction among a subset of users, especially in urban markets, it is still unclear how quickly they will become mainstream across the broader internet population, Sanjeev Kumar, co-founder and chief technology officer of Meesho, Mint in an interview.
“It’s not either-or, it’s both,” Kumar said, referring to the company’s approach of building for emerging AI-driven discovery channels while continuing to strengthen its core in-app shopping experience.
On Wednesday, Meesho rolled out a conversational voice assistant, Vaani (the Hindi word for voice), aimed at making online shopping more intuitive for users who prefer conversational, offline-style interactions.
The move reflects a broader shift in how the company is thinking about growth—not just in terms of adding new users, but also in how quickly those users become comforta
ble shopping online. “For us, this goes beyond accessibility. There’s an opportunity to reimagine the shopping experience itself,” Kumar said.
“Such AI-led tools could act as an early enabler, especially for users in tier-II and tier-III markets who may need assistance with language, price comparison and navigation, helping expand the overall addressable market for e-commerce,” said Ankur Bisen, senior partner at The Knowledge Company, a consultant.
However, he said adoption is still at an exploratory stage, with even tech-savvy users continuing to discover use cases.
The push comes when e-commerce growth is becoming harder to sustain.
Platforms are competing for a largely overlapping user base, while acquiring new custold tomers, especially from smaller towns, remains slow and expensive. Retention is also a challenge, with users often switching platforms based on pricing and promotions.
Bisen added that while AI assistants may initially drive engagement, they are unlikely to remain a differentiator for long. As more platforms adopt similar tools, these features could quickly become a baseline expectation or “hygiene factor”, much like faster delivery timelines did in the past. Meesho’s bet on AI is aimed at both reducing friction for new users to transact, while making the experience engaging enough for existing users to stay, according to Kumar.
Technology investment is a top priority for Meesho, with a large portion of its ₹4,250 crore fresh issue through the initial public offering earmarked for hiring and strengthening its tech stack, Meesho chief executive Vidit Aatrey told Mint in December.
Meesho’s shares closed 1.41% lower at ₹148.60 apiece on BSE on Wednesday.