YOUTUBE and Shopee launched YouTube Shopping in the Philippines on Thursday, making it the sixth Southeast Asian market where the feature has been made available.
Sapna Chadha, vice-president for Southeast Asia and South Asia Frontier at Google Asia-Pacific, said video now consists of about a fifth of e-commerce.
“We’ve actually also seen that 20% of all e-commerce is video. So that is 20% of the entire e-commerce market,” she said.
“That is the big driver of our investment into this space, and we’ve also seen that profits are on the rise in this space,” she added.
She said the creator economy in Southeast Asia is driving the trend.
“YouTube creators are seen as not just entrepreneurs and influencers, but are seen as trusted advisors,” she added, noting that 98% of users globally are likely to trust YouTube creator recommendations.
Vincent Lee, head of Shopee Philippines, said YouTube and Google are among the most trusted platforms by e-commerce shoppers in the Philippines.
“The way it integrates provides a very seamless experience for the buyers. So, the creators can tag the products now, and the buyers now have a seamless experience and reliable experience for checkout,” he said.
He added that the feature is particularly important for categories that naturally require a lot of testimony or product try-on.
“Beauty, skincare, technology, and gadgets… are all natural categories where people want to have a look and feel and have an experience looking at the product in an authentic way,” he said.
“The content creator plays a big role in helping the buyers to make these decisions,” he added.
Asked if the partnership could be a growth driver for Shopee, he said, “Yes, of course. I think overall because of the reach of Google and YouTube, we do believe that this allows not just Shopee but also brands and sellers and creators to reach more audiences.” — Justine Irish D. Tabile