Let me ask you something! When you want to buy any product, where do you check for its reviews? Or if you want to learn about the new product that’s been launched which site do you browse?
If I am not wrong, it is YouTube. YouTube is popularly known as the video platform where users browse videos related to movies, songs, products, etc.
How many users get added monthly to this platform? Its 2 billion active users monthly are added to this largest video platform.
Do you know that it is the second largest global search engine, right after Google? Yes, people search on YouTube similar to Google.
Brands have been using this platform extensively for advertising and some brand even get approximately 10 per cent of the sales on their website from YouTube. Also, as per some stats, today 70% of people say that they purchased a brand’s product after watching it in a YouTube video. Now you get the power of YouTube.
Since a long time, this platform has been used for advertisements and affiliate marketing. But now YouTube is coming with a new feature called as “YouTube Shopping”.
This means whatever you search for may it be any gadget, toy, etc. on YouTube it will soon be seen for sale online – wait not on Amazon, it’s on YouTube. This new feature will help brands to directly interact with potential buyers on the site and sell their products.
Working of YouTube Shopping
Currently this feature is in testing mode and has asked some of the video creators to tag as well as track products featured in their clips. This data will then be linked to analytics and shopping tools from its parent, Google. Google has also tried ways to integrate Shopify for selling via YouTube.
The pandemic period has seen a boom in online shopping and allowed social media platforms Instagram and Facebook to gain profit through their shopping feature. Users made purchase directly on the site by checking for the catalogs provided by the sellers. YouTube Shopping will allow you to create video content so that it would be used for creating catalogs for visitors to explore and purchase directly. It isn’t clear yet about the way YouTube will make profit via this shopping feature but most probably they will trim from the sales made on their by the retailers.
Benefits for Retailers
Being a retailer, you will be able to reap many benefits via YouTube Shopping as below:
Direct Interaction with Customers: YouTube new shopping feature will not involve any middleman and customers can directly contact you for buying products on your website. It will be possible for users to shop your products even in between watching a video without the need to leave the site.
A Golden Chance for Influencers: YouTube influencers will be able to build fruitful ways for your brand promotion with this new feature. The content uploaded on YouTube is available in different formats such as unboxing videos, tutorials, travel and lifestyle, hauls, etc. that promote products. Vloggers and influencers will be able to create conversions directly from YouTube. For example, if there is smartphone brand, you can buy it directly while watching its unboxing video. Rather than affiliate links, if there is a buy button on the same site it can become more effective in encouraging uses to buy the product instantly.
Social Commerce will get Boosted : After the feature gets launched, YouTube marketing will get changed completely and you will have more chances to build the social presence of your brand on the website. Getting into the queue of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter, YouTube will appear as a hub for social ecommerce and become popular in “selling on social media”. When an engaging social content is created for the vast user base of YouTube, it will offer a great exposure for your products. You will have complete control over your products’ visibility across your videos. Unlike paid advertisement, videos will run for limitless time so that you can have the flexibility to add all the content and information that you want to covey to the buyers.
Maximum Scope for Retail: Lastly, YouTube Shopping will be able to turn YouTube into a viable platform for e-commerce with its massive user base. This means it will be a challenge for already established shopping giants such as Amazon, Alibaba and Walmart. There will be increase in new prospects for sellers and buyers across the globe.
Final Thoughts
Will YouTube shopping be successful in its goals? This will be proven only once the minute details are resolved by Google and the official announcement is done on YouTube. However, you can’t deny the fact that it has the ability to turn the game to its side in the ecommerce field. Being an e-commerce retailer, get ready to opt for this latest feature and work on ways to include it in your marketing strategy.
