Almost nothing you see on social media is real anymore (was it ever?). Nearly every person you see spruiking a product is getting paid to do so. “Influencers” are making a living off gullible followers and Google is looking to cash in on this.
To say TikTok has been a phenomenon is a massive understatement with its easy-to-digest videos offering hours of endless, and mindless, short videos to entertain you. The recipe is simple — keep the videos short and sharp to keep people interested. Now Google have introduced this recipe into their shopping with a new platform called Shoploop.
As if Instagram, TikTok and others weren’t enough to sell products to users of their platforms through thinly veiled “reviews” of products by creators from sponsors now Shoploop openly does just that. No more hiding behind “honest reviews” but now “honest selling”. Shoploop aims to show off products to users of how to use certain products while of course giving you links to purchase said products.
Google claim that Shoploop is more interactive than the traditional e-commerce experience and instead provides for 90 second videos (maximum) to “help you discover new products in an entertaining way”. The idea is that the videos give users the ability to look at the products in use without going into an actual store. The product reviews on Shoploop are “from real people who are knowledgeable about the products in a particular area”.
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After seeing a product that they like users can either save the product to buy it later or click straight through to the merchant’s website to make the purchase. Just like other social media platforms you can follow creators and share videos with others. At the moment Google are focusing on the beauty industry but of course hope to expand it in the future.
If you want to check it out you can do so from your smartphone at shoploop.app. At this stage it is smartphone only but they are looking to bring it to dekstop users “soon”.
I’m not sure we need yet another TikTok/Instagram styled platform to sell products to us, especially in the beauty industry. Having been on the end of a 13 year old girl wanting 14 different makeup brushes because that’s what her favourite YouTuber/Intagram creator recommended I’m not sure anyone does — but here it is.
