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Google Reportedly Turning YouTube Into a Shopping Site

YouTube Turning Into a Shopping Site


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Muskan Jhanwar

3 years ago | 2 min read

Google is heading to have big plans to turn YouTube into a shopping destination.


A report from Bloomberg indicates that Google is in the early stages of transforming YouTube into a shopping site.

These changes would enable consumers to directly purchase items they see in product review videos, unboxing videos, tutorials, and so on.

YouTube is already a shopping destination of sorts, as research has told that 55% of consumers use videos to make purchase decisions.

But when consumers want to purchase a product they have to leave YouTube and visit another site to place the order.

Google is heading to make it for users to directly buy the products they watch in videos without leaving the YouTube platform.

Bloomberg has reported that Google has already made moves to convert his thoughts into reality by gathering information about products featured in videos.

To collect information on products, YouTube creators are tagging and tracking products shown in their video clips.

The end goal is to convert the YouTube video library into a product catalog where users can click on items they wish to buy directly.

A YouTube spokesperson will check and confirm to Bloomberg that product tagging features are being tested with a limited number of channels.

The spokesperson says that the creators will have control over only those products which are tagged in their videos.

YouTube spokesperson has referred to this project as an “experiment.”

Google is also in the process of testing integration with Shopify to sell products through YouTube.

Bloomberg credits “people are familiar with the situation” by providing the information.

It’s not clear how Google will make money from this endeavor. News says that Google will make a percentage off of each transaction.

The amount of consumer data will be likely to gather as it is quite valuable for advertising, google says.

One lather, this can open up another revenue stream for You Tubers if they make a commission when viewers buy tagged products on videos.

On the Second lather, it could compromise the authenticity of the creator’s content if they are suddenly making money from products they feature.

Hopefully, YouTube finds a solution that will benefit creators while also not swaying just the direction of their content.

YouTube + Shopping = An Ideal Match?

A year before Google tried integrating shopping features into YouTube.

This has offered YouTube creators to promote their merchandise, but transactions still have to be completed on Merchbar’s site.

Last year, Google rolled out Shopping Actions on YouTube. This feature assists viewers to purchase products shown in videos, and still it’s necessary to visit another site to complete the transaction.

However, the signs are indicating that the direction of the company is heading in.

Let’s see how natural a fit this ends up being. Do you think this feature could make an appearance in time for holiday shopping?

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Muskan Jhanwar

I straddle several experiences in Social Media Marketing, Content Writing, Digital Marketing, Website development & Designing. In addition to hands -on experience lies in creating social media strategies for different platforms, running aid campaigns and delivery of content.


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