Google announced today a new experiment called Shoploop that brings an interactive shopping experience to consumers. Created by the company"s research and development team at Area 120, Shoploop is a new shopping platform that shows new products to consumers in the form of short videos.
Unlike traditional e-commerce platforms, Shoploop allows users to watch videos where creators demonstrate and review the products being sold. Lax Poojary, General Manager of Shoploop, wrote in a blog post that this is to give consumers an actual feel of what they"re shopping for without visiting a physical shop. All videos are no more than 90 seconds in length. That said, the video shopping platform isn"t an entirely new idea for Google, seeing as it tested showing product recommendations along with their prices under YouTube videos last year.
Google says it"s starting with products in the beauty category like makeup, skincare, hair, and nails. Shoploop is meant to provide creators, publishers, and store owners in this industry a platform where they can help consumers shop from their videos. Shoppers can save a product they want to buy later or proceed to checkout on the merchant’s website. There"s also an option to follow creators and share their content.
Shoploop is live starting today, although it"s available only via mobile devices. Google says it"s working on a desktop version, launching soon.