“Shoploop helps you discover and buy products in an entertaining, informational and snackable video format.”
After Popshop Live and Amazon Live, Google has entered the video shopping market with Shoploop, “a video shopping platform for discovering, evaluating and buying products, all in one place”.
Dubbed as “an entertaining new way to shop online”, Google’s research and development lab, Area 120, has announced the launch of Shoploop on Thursday.
The app allows its users to discover a range of products via watching videos that last a maximum of 90 seconds and have access to product reviews from other users. According to the company announcement, customers can save products to buy later or click to buy it directly on merchants’ websites. The process of shopping is made a lot more interactive than the traditional scrolling through images, titles and descriptions found on any e-commerce website nowadays.
Shoploop is focused on beauty products, including makeup, and skin, hair and nail care. Demonstrations are given by the users themselves, who can be “followed” just like on a social network.
Shoploop helps its users get product reviews from real people who are knowledgeable about the products in a particular area, explains Lax Poojary, Shoploop’s General Manager. “For example, Alex shows live product usage in her video to get rid of pimples, and Kim includes practical tips and advice on how to use a face roller in her video.”
The app is currently focused on content creators, publishers, and online store owners in the beauty industry. Google is counting on influencers from its YouTube platform, which has already debuted shoppable video ads on popular videos. However, unlike YouTube, there is a big difference for the influencers using Shoploop: the new shopping platform’s videos are monetized and therefore, users gain nothing from achieving high numbers of views.
The “goal is to provide them a platform where they can review and recommend products and help others shop directly from their videos,” explains Poojary.
Shoploop is currently available via mobile in the USA, and the company is developing it for desktop, per the statement.
