For social apps such as Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, live-stream shopping content has become a key focus in their quest to increase their commerce potential. YouTube is also getting in on the action, with a series of holiday live-streams meant to mirror traditional shopping shows, while allowing viewers to interact with influencers and celebrities directly and allowing them to make purchases from the platform.
YouTube has released more details about its plans to offer live-streamed sales via users’ mobile devices, in a shift it hopes will eventually allow any user-generated product adverts to stream on the site.
In an interview with the YouTube blog, product designers Wendy Yang and Lax Poojary discussed how the platform’s shopping processes are evolving, and how they plan to advance live-stream commerce initiatives. Influencers and creators are already collaborating with brands to promote brands or products within their content via affiliate relationships and paid sponsorships, so it makes sense to extend this behavior into live-stream shopping. By making shopping fun and interactive, live-stream commerce leverages the same kinds of rewards we already use every day.
It has become common for YouTubers to hold positions of trust for many viewers, especially younger ones who are just as likely to align themselves with the stars of YouTube as they are the celebrities on television. As a result, it’s easy to see why the connection between in-stream recommendations and buying could exist, especially when the in-stream is live. But that’s not all. The rise of E-commerce this past year opens the door to new opportunities for digital browsing, buying, and selling that should facilitate holiday shopping this year and even beyond. YouTube has seen significant opportunities for growth in the future.
