We have a new big player in the online retail arena, as Youtube Launches its Livestream Shopping Features.
YouTube has always been a platform where people look for product reviews. Whether it’s cookware, makeup, or gardening supplies, it’s all on YouTube. According to David Katz, YouTube’s Vice President of Shopping, YouTube is now seeking to streamline that experience and make it easier for viewers to immediately buy the products presented in the videos.
“A big part of why we’re doing shopping is to take experiences that are already happening organically, make them better and more natural,” David Katz told Yahoo Finance.
According to a study conducted by YouTube, Publicis, and TalkShoppe people want to buy things on YouTube. In the study, almost 90% of Youtube users said that they trust creators’ recommendations and 70% said they bought something because it was featured on YouTube.
The Youtube Livestream shopping features have already been tested out with some of the biggest names in social media. For instance, YouTube celebrity MrBeast, chef Gordon Ramsay, and makeup blogger Manny MUA, among others, all took part in YouTube’s Holiday Stream and Shop in November 2021. However, according to David Katz, YouTube won’t necessarily restrict who can run a shoppable Livestream.
“It’s early days, but I think the ethos of YouTube is to be open,” he said. “I think our expectation is that we’re going to try to make this as easy and flexible as possible, and allow many creators to take a shot at it. Viewers, as they do, will tell us who’s good at it.”
Livestream Shopping is Bigger Than You Think
Livestream shopping is a strategy where, on live video, a host — often an influencer of some kind — discusses a product, while shoppers can engage with that host directly. E-commerce giants Alibaba and Amazon are notable players in the space, and Google-owned YouTube is looking to join their ranks.
As a category, Livestream shopping is way bigger than you probably think. In 2021, Livestream shopping sales hit $363.26 billion in China, and $36.09 billion in the U.S.
Visit YouTube.com/Shopping to discover shoppable live streams on YouTube
Source: Yahoo Finance
