Click to buy: YouTube rolls out shoppable videos

International – YouTube is moving into the shoppable video arena with a new external annotations feature. The service is still in beta version, but several brands are already on board.

In the past, brands have mostly created their own interfaces for shoppable video content, such as in Target’s rom-com series Falling For You, which LS:N Global profiled last month.

The YouTube version does not have the streamlined design of previous bespoke video players. Hovering over an item in the video brings up a white frame that links to the product page, detracting slightly from the imagery in the video. But the service makes it much easier for brands to create shoppable videos on YouTube, where many customers already spend time. Juicy Couture and Asos are among the brands that already use external annotations.

For more on how retail brands are embracing similar technology, read our Shoppable Videos microtrend.