Product

Hit record: Shopify partners with YouTube to scale the creator economy

July 19, 2022

New partnership means creators and merchants can combine commerce and community with the launch of YouTube Shopping to Shopify’s millions of merchants around the world

  • Merchants can easily integrate their online store with one of the world’s biggest entertainment platforms—reaching over 2 billion monthly logged-in users
  • YouTube Shopping allows Shopify merchants to sell their full range of products in three ways: live streams, videos, and store tab
  • Shopify is the retail operating system for merchants and creators selling across multiple channels, making it easy to manage their commerce business from one place

Today, every brand is focused on one thing: connecting with their audience. Meaningful engagement with consumers is no longer a nice-to-have—it’s a necessity. This shift has put content at the center of brand interactions, and given rise to the creator economy, blurring the line between merchant and creator. Content creators are selling goods and building fully realized brands, and D2C merchants are creating content as a way to find and engage with new customers.

Now, Shopify and YouTube are partnering to give merchants and creators a powerful new way to connect to consumers, build their businesses, and share their stories. With the launch of the YouTube Shopping on Shopify, merchants can easily integrate their online store with one of the world’s biggest entertainment platforms—reaching over 2 billion monthly logged-in users—to meet their consumers, and viewers, where they are.

Shopify merchants can now integrate their online stores with their YouTube channels
Shopify merchants can now integrate their online stores with their YouTube channels
Shopify merchants can display products beneath videos with the product shelf
Shopify merchants can display products beneath videos with the product shelf
Shopify merchants can display products beneath videos with the product shelf
Shopify merchants can display products beneath videos with the product shelf
Shopify merchants can display products during a livestream
Shopify merchants can display products during a livestream
Shopify merchants can pin products for easy access during a livestream
Shopify merchants can pin products for easy access during a livestream
Shopify merchants can pin products for easy access during a livestream
Shopify merchants can pin products for easy access during a livestream

Shopify merchants can sell their full range of products on YouTube in three ways:

  • Live streams: Merchants can tag and pin products at key points during a livestream, and picture-in-picture playback means consumers can watch while they check out
  • Videos: Merchants can show a curated list of products in a product shelf below on-demand videos
  • Store tab: A new tab will be added to a merchant’s YouTube channel, featuring their entire selection of products

“Bringing my commerce platform and my most popular viewer engagement platform together will be a game changer for me,” said Christen Dominique, YouTuber and CEO of Dominique Cosmetics. “As an entrepreneur finding new ways to build my business, it's so important that I show up where my customers are shopping, and more and more that's on YouTube. With the Shopify and YouTube integration, I can share new products from Dominique Cosmetics directly on my videos and lives, and make it easy for viewers to purchase as they watch.”

Because Shopify acts as a merchant’s retail operating system, product details including names, images, pricing, and shipping are seamlessly kept up-to-date across channels. If a product sells out, it’s automatically removed from YouTube. Merchants can also track performance of live and on-demand videos directly from their Shopify admin, with a full view of multichannel sales. And, for select eligible merchants in the U.S., onsite check on YouTube means consumers can purchase without leaving the platform.

"Commerce today is multichannel, and YouTube is one of the most influential channels on the planet," said Kaz Nejatian, VP of Product at Shopify. "Shopify's new YouTube integration will fundamentally change what opportunity looks like for independent brands in the creator economy. We're thrilled to expand our long-term partnership with Google to push the boundaries of D2C commerce on YouTube."

“For years, creators have built businesses around their YouTube content, often extending their entrepreneurship into building their own brands, but it hasn’t been as seamless to reach their audience with these products directly on YouTube,” said David Katz, VP of Shopping Product at YouTube. “We’re excited to partner with Shopify to help creators easily bring their stores front and center for their communities on YouTube, who are increasingly turning to them to shop.” 

YouTube Shopping is available now to Shopify merchants globally. Learn more about YouTube Shopping here.

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