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All toys, gadgets and other products that can be seen on YouTube will soon be available for purchase online – not on Amazon, but directly on YouTube itself.
Integration with Shopify
According to Bloomberg, Google has big plans with its subsidiary YouTube: the video platform will increasingly evolve into a shopping destination. A series of tests is already running, asking video creators to use special software to tag and track the products in their videos. This data would then be linked to Google’s analytics and shopping tools. The company is also working on a new integration with Shopify for selling articles via YouTube.
The ultimate goal is to convert the abundance of videos into an extensive catalogue of items that viewers can not only view, but also buy right away. YouTube is currently mainly dependent on advertising revenue, but could become a real e-commerce player as a result of this new approach, according to the American news agency.
Looking for revenue
The corona crisis has reduced many marketing budgets, especially in the travel and physical retail sectors, which are traditionally large Google advertisers. At the same time, the crisis has boosted e-commerce, but Google – unlike Facebook and Amazon, for example – has hardly benefited from this. In the second quarter, Google even had to absorb a drop in turnover.
It is therefore not so surprising that the company is looking for new sources of income in addition to advertisements. In recent months, Google managers have already emphasised that YouTube will be at the heart of the company’s e-commerce strategy. For example, CEO Sundar Pichai recently referred to the many popular ‘unboxing videos’ on the video platform, which can be converted relatively easily into a shopping opportunity.
