How YouTube Shopping Works for Ecommerce Businesses

With over 2.7 billion monthly active users, there’s no doubt that YouTube – and the newly introduced YouTube Shopping platform – is an effective way to share your ecommerce products with the world. More than 30 billion hours of shopping-related videos were watched on YouTube in 2023, and that’s just one of many reasons why ecommerce businesses are tapping into YouTube Shopping and other social commerce platforms to promote products, increase brand awareness, and ultimately drive sales. 

This article will introduce you to YouTube Shopping, the lesser-known, but potentially lucrative sales channel, and explain how you can use it to benefit your ecommerce business in 2024.

What Is YouTube Shopping?

YouTube Shopping is a feature on the popular video-sharing platform that allows viewers to discover products and make purchases directly from videos, YouTube Shorts, and live streams. Direct-to-consumer ecommerce companies use YouTube’s product promotion and linking tools to drive audiences to make a purchase on their main online store. 

This integrated experience, known as social commerce, is a relatively new but incredibly successful approach to ecommerce. It extends brands’ reach online while seizing opportunities to sell to audiences who are already consuming content related to specific products, like skincare, nutrition, and fashion videos. Collaborations with influential creators who share a similar audience can also help build authority both on and off of YouTube. 

Introduced in 2022, YouTube Shopping follows in the footsteps of other popular social commerce programs launched over recent years, like Facebook Shop, Instagram Shop, and TikTok Shop. This specific platform differs from the rest in that it doesn’t have a native check-out process. YouTube Shopping simply acts as a facilitator of sales, helping ecommerce businesses turn viewer interest into visits to their online store – and potential purchases. 

But the absence of an in-app checkout process doesn’t mean YouTube Shopping is less valuable to ecommerce sellers. It's common for casual viewers to discover products that interest them in videos and not take action. The additional steps of writing the brand’s name down or opening Google to search for specific products is burdensome. In most cases, consumers don’t end up remembering or following up on that potential purchase, which is a missed opportunity to turn that viewer into an actual customer. However, if product links and descriptions are integrated into the video, Short, or live stream, that barrier is suddenly removed. The viewer has an easy way to learn more about and ultimately buy the product without having to do any extra work on their own. 

How Does YouTube Shopping Work for Ecommerce Sellers?

YouTube Shopping is an exciting idea for both consumers and businesses. On one side, everyday internet users gain the ability to discover and purchase products in a way they haven’t experienced before; products that are directly related to the content they’re already organically engaging with. Meanwhile, ecommerce businesses have an entirely new channel on which they can promote their offerings. 

Among many other things, YouTube Shopping allows brands to:

Set Up an Official Store on the YouTube Platform

YouTube Shopping extends the functionality of traditional YouTube channel pages with ecommerce features. Businesses can add a storefront to their YouTube channel and use it to showcase merchandise like apparel, accessories, beauty products, personal care items, and more. 

YouTube Shopping is unique from other social commerce platforms in that it permits connections with more than one store at the same time. Products are automatically pulled from each website and combined within the ‘Store’ tab. Items can then be added, removed, and organized into separate collections as necessary. This is great for companies that offer products under multiple brand names. 

Criteria to Sell on YouTube

Only members of the YouTube Partner Program can set up their own store on YouTube Shopping. 

Criteria to qualify for YouTube Shopping include:

• A subscriber count of 1,000 or more
• At least 4,000 valid public watch hours from full-length YouTube videos within the previous 12 months

Sellers are expected to follow several rules when using YouTube Shopping, including the platform’s monetization policies, community guidelines, paid product placements and endorsement policy, and prohibited content policy.

Once part of the program, businesses can enroll to begin selling on YouTube Shopping through YouTube Studio. We’ll explain the process of connecting your online store later on. 

Showcase Products Through Different Types of Content

Businesses can draw users to their external ecommerce store from multiple locations on YouTube, including video descriptions, product shelves, shopping buttons, and product tags. This creates many different opportunities and avenues to organically capture the attention of potential consumers as they interact with content on YouTube. 

The product tagging feature currently works with videos, Shorts, and live streams. But with a shoppable channel, customers always have a quick way to view all of the items in a catalog and initiate a purchase on the linked online store. Easily direct audiences to the Store tab via URL in comments, descriptions, and Community posts. This link can be shared off YouTube as well, on social media platforms and website content.

Product Shelves create the opportunity to passively promote products through videos that aren’t made to feature specific items. YouTube automatically selects a series of products to include below the content by considering factors like popularity, price, and availability, much like the “similar” or “related” product recommendations sections on traditional ecommerce sites. The items displayed on a Product Shelf can also be changed via store settings. 

Review Data In YouTube Analytics

The offerings of YouTube Shopping aren't limited to increased exposure. Robust analytics tools allow businesses to view real-time data on both engagement and sales revenue earned through YouTube Shopping on connected ecommerce platforms. attributed to sales. 

The main reporting features all channels get access to like metrics like number of views, impressions, audience demographics, and channel traffic sources can help you discover trends that can inform your overall online presence. For example, high mobile viewership rates indicate people are likely watching videos through their smartphones. If that’s the case, your website should be mobile responsive. Audience data can also guide future videos and sales campaigns.

Access Ecommerce-Specific Data

Advanced Mode expands individual reports in the Analytics wing of YouTube Studio. Use this to get a more comprehensive breakdown of sales data, including number of orders, product clicks, top-earning content, and product tagging revenue. With an understanding of which practices and videos are performing best and why, it will become much easier to refine your strategy for success. 

Collaborate With High-Profile Creators

YouTube’s community of content creators is one of the largest in the world, comprising more than 61 million members as of 2024. There’s a channel for every industry and niche, too.

Businesses can tap into the audience size and influence of these accounts to broaden their reach, increase brand awareness, and drive product sales both on and off YouTube.

Businesses don’t need to meet any additional requirements to partner with influential creators on the platform. However, both brands and independent content creators are expected to adhere to community guidelines at all times. The question is simply whether to arrange partnerships organically or through the YouTube Partner Program, explained in more detail in the next section. 

Take Part In the YouTube Shopping Affiliate Program

Direct relationships have no limitations beyond the aforementioned community guidelines. A business can collaborate with any creator they want, irrespective of location or audience size. But extra work is required to find viable candidates, directly negotiate contracts, and manage the payment of commission. 

The YouTube Shopping Affiliate Program aims to solve this problem by matching participating brands with influential creators that share a similar target audience. Creators must have more than 15,000 subscribers and be based in the United States in order to qualify, which is great for brands that don’t want to spend time searching for influencers who are interested in and have a large enough following for partnership opportunities. 

Partnerships through this program enjoy the exclusive ability to cross-promote products with sponsored tags in videos, Shorts, and live streams, as shown in the example below. 

Affiliate creators earn commission for each product they sell with product tags and features. Brands set their own flat or multi-tiered commission rate offers, which are usually between 5% and 20% of a product’s purchase price. 

YouTube’s sellers list comprises many well-known names, including Abercrombie & Fitch, Adidas, Rare Beauty, and West Elm. But it’s not limited by size – any ecommerce business can apply to become an official affiliate retailer using Google’s online form. participating in the YouTube Shopping Affiliate program comes with many benefits, including increased exposure to and authority with an expanded audience.

Dr. Shirene Idriss’ Spring Skincare Cheat Sheet video offers a great example of what Shopping Affiliate content looks like in real life. Every viewer who watches this video is given an easy way to learn more about the products shown, which can lead to purchases and further exploration of the main retailer’s website. 

How to Get Started With YouTube Shopping

YouTube Shopping's familiar interface makes getting started easy. All you’ll need is an existing ecommerce store and an eligible YouTube channel.

Connect Your Store to the YouTube Shopping Platform

YouTube Shopping storefronts aren’t stand-alone – you’ll need to already have an online store hosted on an ecommerce platform like Shopify. Product information from your website is integrated with YouTube Shopping, so your inventory count and product availability remain accurate across sales channels. When customers place an order on your website, the information will automatically sync with YouTube, your order management system, Shopify fulfillment integration, and any other tools connected to your ecommerce site. 

Connect a store by logging into YouTube Studio using a desktop or laptop computer. Eligible channels have a tab titled ‘Shopping’ under ‘Earn’ in the left-hand menu. Click ‘Get Started’ and follow the on-screen instructions to link your ecommerce site. 

YouTube Shopping currently supports linking with four ecommerce platforms in the United States:

• FourthWall
• Shopify
• Spreadshop
• Spring (formerly Teespring)

Curate Your YouTube Shop With Product Collections

After connecting your store, you’ll have the option to edit and customize your YouTube channel’s storefront. Products are organized as ‘Collections,’ which can hold up to 30 different items at once. 

Setting up a Product Collection currently only works on the YouTube Studio mobile app. You’ll want to take time when creating Collections, however, as organization has a big influence on customers’ shopping experience. Segmenting products by series, price, or features makes it easier for people to find what they’re looking for. You can also create collections to promote select items as they go on sale or come into season. 

How to Create a Collection In YouTube Shopping

Create a new collection by clicking ‘Earn’ in the bottom menu, then ‘Collections,’ and finally ‘Create’. From there, you’ll be asked to title this new collection and upload a cover photo.

Products can be added by tapping the ‘plus’ icon and moved by tapping and holding the icon with two horizontal lines. Be mindful of order as it is how products will be shown to users. With a minimum of three items selected, accompanied by cover photos and descriptions, hit ‘Publish’ to take the collection live. 

What You Need to Know Before Getting Started With YouTube Shopping

The time and effort you put towards YouTube Shopping should be used strategically. Keeping these things in mind will help ensure no second or dollar goes to waste: 

Success With YouTube Shopping Takes Work

YouTube isn’t unique in the sense that success with it takes work. This goes for both regular content and ecommerce sales. You’ll need to be consistent with publishing videos, promoting products, and engaging subscribers. Answering questions about products in the comment section is just one way of building credibility and encouraging people to make a purchase. 

Strategic planning can also go far when attractively presenting your brand to online audiences. Take the time to work out a consistent upload schedule, and establish visual standards to keep your storefront aesthetically pleasing. Many best practices for ecommerce product listings also apply to YouTube Shopping – high-resolution images, simple backgrounds, and detailed product descriptions can all contribute to successfully generating sales.

An optimized checkout process is also important. Because YouTube Shopping doesn’t have in-app checkout, users will be redirected to your ecommerce site to complete their purchase. Cart abandonment is still possible. Unnecessary form fields, confusing cost breakdowns, and unclear shipping policies can all impede your YouTube Shopping efforts. 

Establish a YouTube Order Fulfillment Solution

In its official policy, Google states that YouTube Shopping is a platform meant to help businesses capture sales opportunities. It doesn’t have any systems in place for actual ecommerce order management. This means that you will still have the responsibility of arranging warehousing, ecommerce fulfillment, inventory management, and reverse logistics. Partnering with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider that has experience integrating with social commerce platforms, like TikTok Shop fulfillment, can help you seamlessly establish your YouTube Shopping store without all the overhead.

Social commerce platforms like YouTube Shopping can benefit your business greatly through increased exposure and sales. However, it’s important to have a good fulfillment system in place to handle all the demand that these channels generate. A top-rated 3PL like Shipfusion can put this aspect of running an ecommerce business on autopilot for you. Take advantage of our Shopify integration, real-time inventory updates, and dedicated Account Managers by contacting a member of sales today.