Do you have an e-commerce business? If you’re not on YouTube at the moment, you should get on there very soon. YouTube has began asking creators to use new software to tag and track the products they use in their clips. This data will be linked to shopping tools from Google.

Right now, if you see a product that tickles your fancy in a video, you have to find the product, then search for where you can buy it. In today’s instant world, this is quite a laborious process.

SearchEngineJournal estimates that around 55% of consumers use videos to make purchasing decisions, and Google wants to make it a lot easier for them. In the near future, Google wants to make it so you can make your purchase without ever having to leave YouTube.

A YouTube spokesperson referred to the project as an experiment. However, it looks like the end goal is to turn YouTube’s huge video library into a huge product catalogue.

Google has experimented with shopping integration before on YouTube. Last year YouTube collaborated with Merchbar to sell merchandise products underneath creator videos. Viewers were able to purchase products but had to follow the link to the Merchbar site.

Google has already rolled out Shopping Actions. This allows viewers to purchase products shown in videos, however these transactions need to be completed off site.

So far Google has not offered a way for customers to purchase products directly from YouTube. However this would be the next logical step. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said “When you think about things like unboxing and product reviews, these are a natural home for transactions as well.”

YouTube is one of Google’s least utilised assets. Right now marketing budgets are taking a hit and this is affecting Google’s revenues. E-commerce is booming and Google doesn’t want to miss out.

Although this integration is still in the experimental stage it would be strange if it doesn’t go ahead. At the very least, new actions like product tagging will increase the amount of data YouTube has. More data equals better ads, which increases revenue.

What does this mean for your e-commerce business? You probably know that there are a number of different platforms which you can utilise to support and grow your website. It looks like YouTube will be joining the ranks of Instagram and Facebook who already have close integration with e-commerce.

If you think your products would look good on video, then there will soon be even more reason to get on YouTube.

Are you thinking about opening your e-commerce store? Then you need a professional and easy to manage website. At DotGO we specialise in creating amazing websites that will grow your business. Get in touch to speak to one of the team.