YouTube is testing shopping feature on live streams for select creators

• YouTube’s integrated shopping feature was announced earlier this year for videos on demand.
• It is being expanded to live streams for select creators.
• This feature lets viewers shop for products listed in the video.

YouTube started beta testing a new shopping experience on its platform earlier this year. This feature allows viewers to purchase products creators talk about in their videos. YouTube made this shopping feature available first for videos on demand, and it is now expanding it to live streams with select creators and brands.YouTube introduced this shopping experience as a way for viewers to directly shop from the platform. It also designed the feature based on “credibility and knowledge of trusted creators to make informed purchases directly on YouTube.” YouTube displays a “view products” button just below the video to see the featured items that are available to purchase. Viewers can browse and shop products in real-time while watching videos. YouTube said it would expand this feature later this year, and it will now be available on live streams as well.

YouTube creators are known to showcase their products and promote collaborations as well. This feature can help in making it easier for creators to sell products through their videos. At present, creators have to manually add links for products that viewers can purchase in the video’s description box.

YouTube also lets creators sell their merchandise like t-shirts, hats, phone cases to subscribers. The listed merchandise appears just below the video description, and it’s linked to the creator’s official website where subscribers can purchase from. YouTube introduced this feature back in 2018 along with features such as channel memberships and premieres.

YouTube’s expansion into integrated shopping comes at a time when other popular social platforms are also tapping into this growing market. Recently, TikTok started testing ‘TikTok Shop’, a feature that lets creators and brands sell their products and services directly from the app. Snapchat also introduced a similar feature for businesses to offer product catalogues and AR filters for their products so customers can order and purchase from the app itself. Instagram also offers shopping features that let creators and brands list shoppable products in posts.

Users can check out the product’s short description and price, and continue shopping through this product catalogue. It’s interesting to see these creator platforms getting more aggressive about integrated shopping.

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