Overview

Ekaya, a fourth-generation Banarasi weaving house, blends heritage craftsmanship with modern luxury. Known for its exquisite handwoven sarees and textiles, Ekaya already had a strong offline presence and a loyal client base in India and abroad.

But in 2025, the way buyers discover luxury fashion began to shift. More and more, high-intent customers were turning to AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity for advice on what to buy — and who to buy it from.

At the start of our engagement, Ekaya barely appeared in these AI answers for critical purchase prompts. Six weeks later, they were dominating AI visibility, capturing 50–71% Share of Voice in their most important categories.

The Challenge

Despite a beautiful online store and strong brand equity, Ekaya faced:

• Minimal AI visibility for high-value prompts like “best Banarasi saree for bridal”

• Competitors with stronger AI positioning, often newer, digital-first brands

• Missed AI-driven traffic that was going to rivals

• Unstructured web content, making it harder for AI to parse and cite

Baseline KPI Audit (Week 0)

The Strategy

We built a full AEO/GEO strategy tailored for the luxury craft market, inspired by proven frameworks but customised for Ekaya’s heritage-meets-modern positioning.

1. Market & Competitor Intelligence

• Target markets: India, US, UK, with focus on bridal, gifting, and heritage buyers

• Identified 10 competing brands and tracked their AI Share of Voice & citations

• Mapped prompt gaps where Ekaya was absent but competitors ranked

2. Prompt & Topic Targeting

We developed a 5-prompt set aligned with buyer intent:

1. Best modern Banarasi saree for bridal

2. Handwoven saree brands to gift for Diwali

3. Luxury saree brands in India

4. Contemporary Banarasi saree labels

5. Where to buy heritage Indian sarees online

3. AI-Friendly Content Development

• Built landing pages for each prompt with direct, conversational answers

• Added FAQs, bullet highlights, and product showcase sections

• Implemented structured schema markup for FAQs and products

4. Authority Citations

• Secured features in AI-trusted domains: Vogue India, The Better India, India Today Luxe

• Published guest listicles highlighting Ekaya alongside peers in “top brands” roundups

5. Monitoring & Iteration

• Weekly AI visibility tracking

• Adjusted content formatting and prompt focus based on performance data

• Expanded to secondary prompts after Week 4 for compound gains

Execution Timeline

Weeks 0–2

• Published 3 new AI-targeted landing pages

• First Vogue India feature → 21 AI citations gained

• Share of Voice jumps: 19.8% in “Bridal” prompt, 24.5% in “Gifting” prompt

Weeks 2–4

• Optimised copy with AI-preferred sentence structures

• Featured in two new high-authority listicles

• SoV crosses 50% in Bridal and 42.9% in Contemporary Banarasi

Weeks 4–6

• Expanded into new prompts: “Banarasi saree with modern twist” and “Best Indian heritage labels”

• Total citations reach 153

• Bridal SoV hits 71.6%, overall average reaches 62.50%

Results (Week 6)

AI Share of Voice Growth – ChatGPT (6 Weeks)

Growth Pattern Insights:

• Bridal: Slow start, massive late surge → strongest final SoV

• Gifting: Strong early boost from festival content push, steady climb

• Luxury Sarees: Modest, consistent gains

• Contemporary Banarasi: Rapid early lift, small plateau before final jump

• Heritage Sarees Online: Mid-phase acceleration post-authority features

Key Takeaways

• Heritage + structure wins: AI rewards well-structured, fact-rich content tied to brand heritage

• Citations matter: Third-party features fast-tracked Ekaya’s AI authority

• Prompt-specific pages beat general content: Focused landing pages delivered outsized gains

Client Quote

"Seeing ChatGPT recommend Ekaya to brides across the world was a surreal moment. It’s like having a personal stylist whispering our name into every AI conversation." – Radhika, Marketing Head, Ekaya