India’s D2C market has grown faster than most people expected.
More smartphones. Better payment infrastructure. A younger, more brand-conscious middle class that is willing to pay for products that feel like they were made for them. The conditions have been genuinely compelling. And between 2018 and 2022, a lot of brands took advantage of that window.
They grew quickly. Many of them deserved to.
But here is what is different now.
The easy part is over.
In the first wave, the advantage went to those founders who understood digital marketing and invested in design that was both pleasing and memorable. That was enough to build a customer base.
Today, almost every brand understands digital. And good design can be copied in weeks. What used to be a differentiator is now a baseline.
So what actually separates the brands that are still growing from the ones that have plateaued?
Not execution. Positioning.
The brands that are holding their ground are the ones that are very clear about one specific thing: who they are for, and what they stand for. Not everyone. Not a broad audience. A very specific group of people, with a specific reason to choose them over everything else on the shelf.
There is a Hindi saying that captures this perfectly: jo har kisi ka hota hai, woh kisi ka nahi hota. What belongs to everyone belongs to no one.
A lot of D2C founders in India skipped this step because they were moving fast. Growth was coming anyway. The category was new enough that being present was almost enough. But that window has closed – and the founders who did not build a clear positioning underneath their growth are feeling it now.
There is also something worth noting about the Indian market specifically.
India is home to some of the best affordable brands in the world today. Many of these brands are not backed by big multinational companies. They are not following global playbooks. Still, they are doing branding very well.
Why is this happening? Some people say it’s because Indian customers are more aware and selective. They understand culture, and they are not easily impressed just because a brand is foreign. Others say it’s because today’s Indian founders understand branding much better than before. Both are probably true.
For anyone planning to enter the Indian market, this is important to know. The standard is already high – and it has been set by local brands, not global ones. Indian brands today are strong. And what really separates the brands that grow big from the ones that struggle is positioning.
The D2C opportunity in India is still significant.
But the brands that will win long-term are the ones that treat positioning and performance as a system – not as a choice between the two. Performance without positioning is acquisition without compounding. It moves. It does not build.