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Fashion site Glossy shares how YouTube is pushing forward with video shopping in the wake of Instagram reducing its shopping features and TikTok increasing theirs with a new Shopping Center.
On June 14, according to Glossy, “YouTube announced the official launch of its affiliate program for any creator with 20,000 subscribers or more.” The head of shopping content partnerships at YouTube, Bridget Dolan, said that the program’s beta tests have been “going really well” since the end of last year with retailers like Ulta Beauty and Sephora. The platform has also been promoting its “Shoppable Shorts” feature, which launched last November and has already been adopted by brands like Glossier and Fenty Beauty.
This new program capitalizes on influencer monetization features that have been unveiled over the past year. The question on everyone’s mind: How will YouTube succeed where Meta failed?
As reported by TechCrunch, Meta shut down livestream capabilities on Instagram and Facebook as of March 2023. Meta’s efforts are now concentrated on advertising and “the use of its automated tools like Shop ads and Advantage+ shopping campaigns aimed at helping improve ad performance.” TechCrunch also notes that the company plans to continue investing in checkout, “where people can buy a product in just a few taps from Instagram and Facebook Stories, Feed or Reels.”
Allowing content creators to sell directly to their audiences is nothing new, but YouTube aims to make it as seamless and frictionless as possible.
The general method video creators have always used to promote products involves asking their viewers to use affiliate links in the video’s description. However, this method often led to problems, such as “products being out of stock or viewers finding it cumbersome to navigate away from the video to access the desired information,” according to Glossy.
In order to overcome these challenges, “YouTube’s revamped affiliate program introduces a ‘view products’ button that allows viewers to access a panel within the video itself. This panel displays product images, prices and retailers where they can be purchased, eliminating the need for viewers to leave the video and search elsewhere.”
YouTube is also partnering with Shopify, according to TechCrunch, so that creators and merchants alike can feature products on their channels. “With this partnership, creators who link their stores can display their products across their channel and leverage Shopify’s real-time inventory syncing. Creators in the United States can now enable onsite checkout to allow viewers to complete their purchases without leaving YouTube.”
ZDNET adds that “creators connected with Shopify or Google Merchant Center can set up YouTube Product Drops from YouTube’s Live Control Room.”
The final aspect of the new formula allows creators to “schedule their product release within YouTube Studio and control the date and time a product goes live. So, creators can keep their product drop a secret and manufacture anticipation around a new product,” according to ZDNET.
Live shopping is currently thriving in China, where viewers watch their favorite influencers model and showcase products. It’s a phenomenon that takes the concept of yesteryear’s broadcast of QVC television to the masses. Users are participating in China’s social media apps with the ability to buy directly from their apps live, while in the U.S., social platforms require users to leave the livestream and redirect them to another webpage to make purchases.
For example, the New York Times reports how star streamers in China have become celebrities. “The most famous, including Li Jiaqi — whose prowess at trying on and pitching makeup products earned him the nickname ‘lipstick king’ — are able to attract tens of millions of viewers per session.” Additionally, “Kim Kardashian once appeared with another top Chinese streamer, Viya, to promote her perfume in China, selling 15,000 bottles within minutes.”
Only time will tell if YouTube Shopping in the U.S. will be able to take off in the same way.
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Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Will YouTube be able to revolutionize live shopping experiences for users? Do you foresee any other challenges and obstacles to live shopping?
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Live shopping is big business in China. While growing, if you exclude the original live-streamers of QVC and the other shopping channels, it is comparatively small in the US. YouTube is probably right to cash in on the growth, but I doubt it will transform the way Americans shop. The strength of China’s market is driven by a host of factors – both cultural and technological. On the technology side, most of China’s livestream events are held on platforms that have integrated services from payment to logistics; this makes it very easy for consumers to buy things. As good as YouTube might be, it is nowhere near the level of Chinese super-apps like WeChat. Culturally, livestream shopping is a big event for Chinese shoppers who are pulled in to be entertained, to get great bargains, to see new product launches, and so forth. Live shopping is much more underwhelming and sedate in the US and just doesn’t have the same pulling power.
I try really hard to get excited about live shopping in North America, but I just can’t. It was a perfect storm in China, especially with consumers’ tendencies around consuming mobile content, and we just haven’t seen the same conditions emerge on this side of the Pacific. In addition to the tech adoption gaps and the seeming lack of willingness to consume this kind of shopping content, the influencers here really do need to up their game to approach anything as entertaining or engaging. Just see how well (or not) it has worked out for Amazon’s live shopping channel (did you even know they have one?) – it’s great to watch, if you’re experiencing insomnia.
I am not familiar with practices in China or what Google is planning. However, as a consumer, what I would use would be influencers reviewing and comparing different brands of a product or service I want to buy, where the reviews are searchable and links are embedded. I could imagine a service like that with affiliate/referral links getting commissions. Adding on, each reviewer could have a patreon page where reviews could be requested (assumed for some contribution). (This happens with reaction videos on music, for example).
Liveshopping originated in Asia, primarily China, around 2015 and Alibaba’s Taobao’s success is legendary in the space. However, duplicating the China experience isn’t entirely possible or cost effective in the US. YouTube’s challenge and that of the US is both platform and content oriented. There are several retailers successfully using livestream shopping and shoppable videoconferencing by offering them directly from their own ecommerce systems thus bypassing the challenges alluded to in the article and protecting their brand. The key is not to duplicate the China Experience but to personalize and humanize the ecommerce experience through the strategic use of live video. Remember, ecommerce never became the brick & mortal killer it was supposed to become and part of that reason is the lack of warmth as evidenced by our numerous attempts over the years to personalize it (e.g. product videos, you may also likes, reviews, etc.). Live video affords us a great opportunity if used well, as is the case for all new tech.
YouTube is synonymous with video, pervasive and trusted, giving it a massive edge in live shopping. Seamless integrated payment and Shopify’s inventory syncing solve major pain points. Collaborating with mega-influencers in beauty will help YouTube steal eyeballs from TikTok.
Female Gen Zs will be early adopters who make livestream shopping a new habit in Western markets.
I agree that this would most likely take off with younger consumers as long as the YouTubers selling products project authenticity. To be successful, livestreamers have to come across as everyday people who actually like the product rather than give the impression that they are salespeople or influencers.
Perhaps, only Elon Musk understands the super app WeChat. It is not social media; it is integrated into everyone’s life. Only about 2% of people’s transactions are cash-based. Even the vegetable cart and the panhandler use AliPay or WeChat. You can tell who is a tourist when they hand over a 100¥ note to pay for something.
The one advantage the U.S. has is the unlimited use of devices. China limits children under eight to no more than 40 minutes daily on mobile devices, while minors aged 16 to 18 are allowed up to two hours a day. (Exceptions for schooling.) Children can only spend an hour a day playing online games on Fridays, weekends, and public holidays.
One of the reasons live-streaming has been effective in Asia is that products are sold in real time at a “only during the live-stream” discounted price. Plus most consumers in China are restricted in their access to social media so watching live is more of a draw. In the U.S. shoppers have become accustomed to an on-demand world – streaming shows, webinar replays, recorded Zoom calls, ads served up whenever one is browsing… While a small handful of influencers may command the power to entice a shopper to watch a live-streamed event (Taylor Swift comes to mind), most YouTube videos are not viewed live, some even weeks or months after filming. It will be challenging to create the same sense of urgency and limited time pricing for consumers post event.
Other than the restrictions noted in my comments today, There are no serious questions about access. TikTok is alive and well. WeChat does everything on our social media sites all in one? Both with over a billion users. There are multiple other social media sites, including QQ, Douyin, and Weibo, all with over half a billion users. Plus, any of my students can tell you how to access restricted sites such as Facebook and YouTube.
I think live shopping works in China because of the mobile culture and people have time on mass transit to browse and shop (people hopefully aren’t driving and doing live shopping in the US). It is much harder to replicate and convince people at home to watch influencers selling products for entertainment. For Youtube adjusting the platform to support it is one thing, for influencers to adjust their content to sell rather than drive viewership is another
When I think of “live shopping,” I think of my 90 year old mom. She loved QVC and at Christmas, we all got the same fire blanket or snuggie wrap. The difference today is that kids are glued to their phones. Actually, many adults are also glued to their phones. I think it will be interesting to see. I think this buyer market is changing. After covid, I see so many kids stuck to their phones that many of my friends with teenage kids and young adult kids, can’t even get their kids to go find a job. Will it take off? I think it might. They will have to make sure it opens a separate window because kids today can’t stop watching whatever it is they are watching. I’m just thankful that my kids are all in their 30’s.
As the founder of Shopzlive (Shopzlive.io), the first streaming-agnostic platform that optimizes live shopping sales by providing brands and creators with intelligent data, automated marketing tools, and strategies, the future of retail in the US is live shopping.
Live shopping in the US isn’t living up to the hype, and it’s not because the technology isn’t great, it’s because people assumed the following;
1.Influencers and Celebrities could host live shopping.
2.Brands knew how to do live shopping and could integrate it into their marketing strategy.
3.Influencer’s followers would actually buy from them.
Unfortunately, these assumptions derailed the success of live shopping until now. In China ordinary people are trained to be live shopping hosts, and the reason for their success is they are authentic, entertaining and their innate ability to sell. Consumers in the US know that any sponsored post by a celebrity or influencer is just an advertisement, no different than a TV commercial.
After speaking with multiple brands here is what we continually hear : “There has not been anything like Shopzlive in the e-commerce space that can offer a brand incremental sale, customer data, ease of use, along with matching brand audiences with trained certified hosts.”