YouTube Shorts will soon offer shopping features. The company has partnered with US creators who are currently testing the ability to tag products in their stores. The Shorts can be viewed by viewers in Australia, the United States, India and Brazil. YouTube plans to bring tagging to even more creators and countries in future.

YouTube has also launched an affiliate program in America that allows creators to make commissions from purchases of products recommended in their shorts and regular videos. According to YouTube, the company is still testing the idea and plans to expand it to other creators in the coming year. YouTube believes they are the best place to create a business, and that shopping is an important part of it.

This news comes just weeks after YouTube announced that creators would receive a 45% share in ad revenue beginning next year. Creators will have the opportunity to apply for the company’s Partner program in early 2023 if they reach a new Shorts-specific threshold, which is 1,000 subscribers and 10,000,000 Shorts views within 90 days. After that, they will receive 45% of ad revenues from their videos.

YouTube’s Shorts has reached 1.5 billion monthly users. However, YouTube’s quarterly advertising revenue fell 1.9% year-over-year and was below expectations, according to Alphabet’s quarterly earnings report. YouTube sees the new shopping options as a way to increase its revenue streams in a declining advertising market.

YouTube has worked over the years to make its platform more shopping-friendly. YouTube recently launched shoppable ads, and users can shop directly from livestreams created by creators. YouTube should bring shopping to Shorts, considering these developments.

YouTube isn’t the only digital giant that has invested in the future of shopping. Meta and TikTok have also made investments.

TikTok quietly started testing TikTok shop in the United States last week. TikTok Shop lets users buy products through the app. The feature was previously only available in parts of Southeast Asia and the United Kingdom. In partnership with Shopify, TikTok Shopping was also launched in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada earlier this year.

Meta-owned Instagram allows creators the ability to share products in livestreams as well as in its shopping tab. This lets users browse recommended products and make purchase orders. Brands can also make their profiles shoppable by browsing product catalogs.