Shopify ties up with YouTube to boost e-commerce sales

Shopify, a leading provider of essential internet infrastructure for commerce, has made YouTube Shopping available to its millions of merchants around the world, opening a powerful new way for creators to use trusted, quality content to connect to consumers, build their brand and grow the business. Content creators and merchants will have the ability to directly connect with their audiences on the YouTube platform to create a compelling shopping experience, while further monetising and successfully building their business.

As the world's second most used social media platform and search engine, YouTube offers the convenience of researching and reviewing products online at home, but with the trusted guidance of an in-store experience. Nearly 90 per cent of viewers believe YouTube creators offer recommendations they can trust, and almost as many (87 per cent) say they get the highest quality information about products when shopping or browsing on YouTube.

Taking to Bizz Buzz, Bharati Balakrishnan, Shopify's Country Head and Director for India, said: "We're excited to bring YouTube Shopping on Shopify to India. Beauty, apparel and home decor brands are discovered increasingly through the content consumers read and watch, and the opportunity to shop at that very moment is certain to delight buyers and merchants. At Shopify, we are beginning to see a rise in the number of Indian merchants using unboxing and product demo videos to create engaging experiences for their buyers. And, merchants are also collaborating with creators and influencers in unique ways to really entertain buyers while they make purchasing decisions."

Shopify research found that more than half (56 per cent) of Indian consumers will connect with brand-created content including entertainment videos this year. And, nearly 1-in-2 (48 per cent) expect to attend a live shopping event this year - more than double the number (23 per cent) who did so in 2021. Shopify merchants can choose to sell their full range of products to YouTube's two billion monthly users through YouTube Live, Shorts, and VOD content in three ways. First, by live streams: in which merchants can tag and pin products at key points during a livestream and picture-in-picture playback means consumers can watch while they check out. Secondly, by videos: through which merchants can show a curated list of products in a product shelf below on-demand videos. Finally, through store tab, a new tab will be added to a merchant's YouTube channel, featuring their entire selection of products

Shopify powers each merchant's retail operating system, syncing and updating product details including names, images, pricing, and shipping seamlessly across channels. If a product sells out, it's automatically removed from YouTube. Merchants can also track performance of live and on-demand videos directly from their Shopify admin, with a full view of multichannel sales.

"For years, creators have built businesses around their YouTube content, often extending their entrepreneurship into building their own brands, but it hasn't been as seamless to reach their audience with these products directly on YouTube," said David Katz, VP of Shopping at YouTube. "We're excited to partner with Shopify to help creators easily bring their stores front and center for their communities on YouTube, who are increasingly turning to them to shop," he added. YouTube Shopping is available now to Shopify merchants globally.