The Indian e-commerce market does not work like the US or the UK, and yet most Google Ads advice you will read online is written for those markets. Cash on delivery changes everything. Festival cycles dwarf normal months. Price sensitivity is real. And the gap between a window-shopper and a buyer is wider here than almost anywhere else.
At Improtics, we are an Ahmedabad-based Google Ads agency that manages accounts for e-commerce brands in India and globally. This playbook is the version we wish every Indian D2C founder had before they spent their first lakh on ads. It is specific to the Indian market and built from real accounts.
If you would rather have us build and run this for your brand, start with a free audit. Otherwise, let us build your strategy.
First, Fix the Foundation: COD and Conversion Tracking
Here is the trap that kills most Indian e-commerce Google Ads accounts. You run ads, you get "purchases," Google reports a healthy ROAS, and then your bank account does not match. The reason is cash on delivery. A COD order is not revenue until it is delivered and paid for, and in India, COD return-to-origin rates can run 20 to 40 percent for some categories.
If you track a COD order as a completed purchase at full value the moment it is placed, you are feeding Google inflated data. The algorithm then optimizes toward customers who place orders and refuse delivery. Your reported ROAS looks great while your real profit bleeds.
The fix: track prepaid and COD as separate conversion actions, and value COD orders at your actual realized rate after returns, not the order value. Better still, feed delivered-and-paid data back to Google where possible. This single correction has turned more "failing" accounts profitable for us than any clever bidding trick.
The Campaign Structure for an Indian D2C Brand
You do not need ten campaigns on day one. You build up in this order.
1. Brand Search (cheap insurance)
When someone searches your brand name, you should appear. It is inexpensive and it stops competitors and marketplaces from stealing customers who were already looking for you. In India, where Amazon and Flipkart bid aggressively on brand terms, this matters even more.
2. Shopping / Performance Max (the engine)
For most product-based brands, Shopping through Performance Max will be your biggest revenue driver. But it lives and dies on your product feed. Your product titles are your keywords. A title like "Kurta" will lose to "Cotton Anarkali Kurta for Women - Festive Wear - Blue - Size M." Indian buyers search with very specific intent, and your feed has to match it. We have written a full breakdown of feed mistakes in our post on why Shopping campaigns bleed money.
3. Non-Brand Search (intent capture)
Target the high-intent searches where someone wants to buy a product like yours. Keep these tightly themed and ruthless with negative keywords. In India especially, you will need a long negative list to filter out "free," "wholesale," "manufacturer," "near me" job seekers, and price-comparison browsers who will never buy at your margin.
4. Remarketing (close the gap)
Indian buyers research a lot before purchasing. The gap between first visit and purchase is wide. Remarketing through Performance Max and Demand Gen keeps you in front of people who showed interest but did not buy. For considered purchases this is often your highest-ROAS spend.
Budget Benchmarks in Rupees
Founders always ask how much they should spend. There is no universal number, but here is a realistic frame for an Indian D2C brand. Below roughly 30,000 to 50,000 rupees per month in ad spend, Google's algorithm struggles to gather enough conversion data to optimize well, especially for Performance Max. You can start smaller to test, but expect the learning to be slow.
The more useful number is not your budget, it is your target ROAS, and that depends entirely on your margins. A brand with a 60 percent gross margin can profitably run at a 2.5x ROAS. A brand with a 25 percent margin needs 4x or more just to break even after the cost of goods. Calculate your break-even ROAS first, then set your target above it. Spending more is only smart if the account stays above your break-even line.
Play the Festival Calendar
This is where Indian e-commerce is genuinely different. A huge share of annual sales can land in the festive quarter - Navratri, Dussehra, Diwali, and the wedding season that follows. The brands that win do not switch on ads in October. They prepare in August and September: warming up remarketing audiences, building Shopping data, and testing creative, so that when buying intent spikes, their accounts are already trained and ready to scale.
Equally, plan for the slow months. January and February after the festive rush are quieter for many categories. Do not panic and slash budgets at the first soft week. Manage to the season, not the day.
Ad Copy That Works for Indian Buyers
Small specifics lift performance more than clever taglines. Mention "COD available," "free shipping," "easy returns," and any genuine discount, because these address the exact hesitations an Indian buyer has before clicking. If you ship pan-India, say so. If you are a homegrown Indian brand, lean into it - "Made in India" and local trust signals convert. Write for the customer's real worries, not for an awards jury.
A Month-by-Month Festival Game Plan
Because the festive quarter matters so much, here is the rough cadence we work to for an Indian e-commerce account. Treat it as a template, not gospel, and adjust to your category.
- August: Warm up. Build remarketing audiences, clean up the product feed, and make sure conversion tracking is rock solid before the rush. Fix problems now, not in October.
- September: Test creative and offers at modest spend. Identify your hero products and let Performance Max gather data so it is trained before peak demand.
- October to November: Peak. This is Navratri through Diwali. Scale budgets on proven winners, manage daily, and do not let strong campaigns run out of budget at the worst possible time.
- December: Wedding-season demand continues for many categories. Keep momentum and watch inventory so you are not advertising products you cannot ship.
- January to February: The post-festive lull. Pull back gently, protect your break-even ROAS, and lean on remarketing and retention rather than aggressive prospecting.
- March to July: Off-season optimization. This is when you refine structure, test new campaign types, and improve your feed so the next festive quarter starts from a stronger base.
The Ongoing Work Is Where Accounts Are Won
Setting up campaigns is the easy 20 percent. The 80 percent that determines whether you make money is the weekly management - reviewing search terms and adding negatives, watching which products drive profit, adjusting budgets toward winners, and refreshing creative before it fatigues. An account left on autopilot for three months will quietly drift into waste. This is exactly the discipline a good agency provides and a cheap one skips.
What to Expect on Timeline
Set realistic expectations before you start. Google's algorithms, especially Performance Max, need time and conversion data to optimize. Expect roughly 30 to 45 days to reach a stable baseline as the account gathers data, then another 2 to 3 months of steady optimization before you see what the account can really do. Brands that panic and overhaul everything after two slow weeks reset that learning and never get there. Patience plus disciplined weekly work is what compounds.
To recap the playbook: get your foundation right first (COD-aware conversion tracking is non-negotiable), build the four campaign pillars in order (Brand Search, Shopping/Performance Max, Non-Brand Search, Remarketing), set your target ROAS above your true break-even, play the festival calendar deliberately, and then win the account through relentless weekly management.
If you want this whole system built and run for your brand by an Ahmedabad-based team that does Google Ads and nothing else, get a free audit and we will show you exactly what your account needs. And if you are still deciding who to trust with it, read our guide on choosing a Google Ads agency in Ahmedabad.