Area 120

Shoploop from Google’s Area 120 is a sort of TikTok for shopping

Damien Wilde | Jul 17 2020 - 5:05 am PT

Have you ever thought when browsing online stores that you would love some looping video action? Well, with Google Area 120’s latest experimental app Shoploop, you can get that.

Unlike many of the other Area 120 experiments, Shoploop is only available in web app form on your mobile devices. It definitely feels a lot like TikTok with a focus on short reviews on products you might be looking for.

In the announcement blog post, the team behind Shoploop suggests that millions around the globe want a one-stop-shop for all their product information in one space. The launch video leans heavily into the makeup and beauty scene, which is one of the core target markets:

Last year, I was on the New York City subway conducting user research for Touring Bird, a project I was working on with Area 120, Google’s in-house lab for experimental projects. One of the young commuters standing next to me was silently scrolling on her device, switching between a social media app, YouTube and an online shop.

Curious, I asked her what she was doing. It turns out she’d seen somebody promote a makeup product on social media, and wanted to check it out—so she watched reviews on YouTube to see how it would look in real life and whether other people liked it.

Then she looked it up on an e-commerce site to buy it. This took three different apps or websites, at minimum, to find what she was looking for. This was the original insight for a new experiment Area 120 is launching today: Shoploop, a video shopping platform for discovering, evaluating and buying products, all in one place.

Given the rise of research-based and review-based shopping that is now possible, Shoploop is clearly looking to streamline that process and reduce the need for multiple tabs or apps running simultaneously. At the moment, you’ll only be able to view four categories: “Makeup, Skincare, Hair, and Nails.”

The developers behind the app have said that more categories are set to come in future updates. For now, Shoploop is a mobile-only web app, with the vertical scrolling interface showing vertical videos of creators and reviewers alongside products. Each video lasts up to 90-seconds in a looping format — which is quite a bit longer than TikTok or Instagram videos (not included IGTV).

You might see some “influencers” that you recognize if you do choose to give Shoploop a whirl, but don’t expect insane production value. There’s definitely a real amateur feel that I think makes these quick reviews feel all the more authentic. If you’d like to give Shoploop a trial run, you can head directly to shoploop.app from your mobile browser.