YouTube will be the next online marketplace

Google is taking on the likes of Amazon and Alibaba as reports surface on it testing a feature on YouTube that allows users to purchase products they see on videos. The intention of this new feature is likely to marry components of livestreaming and social commerce, where the videos on YouTube will now end up being catalogs for consumers.

According to the Bloomberg report, YouTube is already asking creators to tag products used in their video and this data is then sent to Google. A spokesperson from YouTube also told Bloomberg, the feature is still in an experimental stage. This wouldn’t be Google’s first foray into the online marketplace stage with its Google Shopping feature. On the Google Shopping platform, consumers are said to be able to add items to a shopping cart based on what they have seen on search, images and YouTube.

Source: marketing-interactive.com