With the rise of social commerce, it was just a matter of time for YouTube to join the game and allow creators to sell products. Now, you can sync your Shopify store to a YouTube channel and promote your products through videos and live streams.
Why it’s a big deal
Videos in general have proven to be effective for e-commerce businesses. The growing number of consumers prefer video over other types of content to learn about products: videos show the items more realistically and increase confidence in purchasing decisions.
With Instagram launching Shoppable Posts (that can include photos and videos), brands have been growing their exposure: 130 million users click on posts with tagged products every month. Increasingly more people are watching live streams, which has pushed brands to shape a new trend of livestream shopping—estimated as a $500 billion-worth market. Amazon is investing heavily in Amazon Live, TikTok streams are generating massive amounts of views and sales, and lots of dedicated shoppable video platforms emerge to address this new shift in online buyers’ behavior.
How to sync Shopify to YouTube
Now, you can pin any of your products to videos and let your YouTube followers like and buy what you’re offering right on the video platform.
To do so, you need to
- Install the Google channel app.
- In the app, connect your YouTube account.
- Choose what products to feature and add them to your videos.
Shopify will sync all your product details in real time: if you change prices, names, or images on the website, they will automatically be changed on your videos as well.
The sales you get from YouTube will be included in your Shopify analytics so that you can track how videos and streams contribute to your store’s performance.
You can feature products from your Shopify store in both recorded videos and live streams. This is a great way to engage the audience, let them ask questions, react to new releases in real time, and connect with them on a more personal level.
This is only the beginning of YouTube Shopping
Shopify plans to expand its YouTube Shopping features. For example, it will become possible for two creators to go live in a single shopping stream, and creators will be able to redirect their live audience to a brand’s channel.
This means that merchants should probably double down on video content and cooperation with YouTube creators, as this platform opens up a prolific yet undiscovered way to boost sales.
