Google plans to turn YouTube into a major e-commerce platform by allowing viewers to purchase unboxed items and other videos from their favorite creators directly from the site. As Blomberg reports, the world's largest video hosting site recently began requiring creators to use YouTube's software to tag and track the products featured in their videos. This data will then be linked to Google's shopping and analytics tools to make it easier for consumers to purchase the items they have searched for on the site. The ultimate goal of Google's e-commerce push on YouTube is to turn the site's 5 billion videos into a catalog that users can directly browse and purchase, according to people familiar with the situation. At the same time, the search giant is currently testing a new integration with Shopify that will make it easier for creators to sell items via YouTube. Bloomberg reached out to a YouTube spokesperson who confirmed that the company is testing these new features with a limited number of channels on the site. Under this plan, creators will have full control over the products featured in their videos, but at this point the project remains an experiment. By adding e-commerce functionality directly to YouTube, Google has a chance to take on the world's biggest e-commerce giants, including Amazon in the United States and Alibaba in China. It's not yet clear how the company will generate revenue from sales made through its video hosting site, but the service recently began offering creator subscriptions while cutting it by 30%. In a recent earnings call, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai suggested that product unboxing videos on YouTube could be the perfect buying opportunity for viewers. There are also plenty of makeup and cooking tutorials on YouTube where the creators show off the latest commercial products. Turning YouTube into an e-commerce site isn't a new idea, as last year the site began testing a Shopify integration that allowed creators to list up to 12 items for sale in a digital carousel displayed below their videos. . We'll likely hear more of that once Google takes care of all the details, but being able to buy items directly from YouTube could certainly provide a much-needed boost to Google Shopping as the search giant tries to compete with Amazon. and even Walmart in the online shopping space. Via Blomberg