Product videos
You can add videos for your product to be displayed in the product gallery along with product images.
To display the video in the product gallery, you need first to upload it on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Vimeo, or any other hosting, and then add a link to the video on the product page. You can add as many videos for one product as you want. There are no limitations on video size, length, aspect ratio, or resolution.
You can make the video the main media of a product, meaning that customers will see it first when browsing your store. They will have to open the product page to play the video.
Adding video to a product gallery
You can add your video, or use any other video if you have rights to do so. Each platform has its own instructions to check the video copyright rules. Check it before you decide to use a video you don’t own.
Please note that if you add video from TikTok, you can add any video except the image slideshow.
To add a video to a product:
- Upload your video on YouTube, Instagram, or any other video hosting, or use someone else's video if a content creator allows that.
- Click Share → Copy link or copy the link from the address bar if you are using a browser.
- Go to your store admin, Catalog → Products and choose a product.
- In the Images section, click Add Video:
- From the dropdown, choose the platform you want to embed the video link from.
- Paste the link to your video and click Continue to add video.
- (optional) To change the video preview, click Change thumbnail and choose the image that will be displayed as a video preview:
- Click Add Video.
- Click Save.
- Upload your video on YouTube, Instagram, or any other video hosting, or use someone else's video if a content creator allows that.
- Click Share → Copy link.
- From the iOS app, go to Products.
- Choose a product or add a new product.
- From the product details screen, tap Add → Add Video and choose the platform you want to embed the video link from.
- Paste the link that you copied from the video hosting platform.
- (optional) To change the video preview, tap Change preview and choose the image that will be displayed as a video preview.
- Tap Done.
- Upload your video on YouTube, Instagram, or any other video hosting, or use someone else's video if a content creator allows that.
- Click Share → Copy link.
- From the Android app, go to Products.
- Choose a product or add a new product.
- From the product details screen, tap Add → Add Video and choose the platform you want to embed the video link from.
- Paste the link that you copied from the video hosting platform.
- (optional) To change the video preview, tap Change preview and choose the image that will be displayed as a video preview.
- Tap Save.
That’s it. Now when customers open the product page, they can click on the video and it will open to the full width of the screen. In customers’ browsers, uploaded videos display in either 480p, 720p, or 1080p, depending on the viewer's connection speed and the resolution of the video. Viewers can change the video quality to their liking.
Adding videos to several products in bulk
To add videos or reels to several products at once, you can use the Bulk Product Editor tool. The tool looks like a spreadsheet with your products, so you can upload videos for numerous products from one place. However, you can add one link to a video at a time, so if you want to upload several videos for a single item, you will have to add videos one by one.
To add videos to several products at once:
- Upload your video on YouTube, Instagram, any other video hosting, or use someone else's video if a content creator allows that.
- From your store admin, go to Catalog → Products.
- Choose all the products that you want to add videos to and click Bulk Edit Selected.
- Make sure the Product gallery item is selected in the list of values on the left.
- In the Image column, hover the mouse over the image and click the pencil icon:
- Click Add Video and select the platform.
- Open the video you want to upload and click Share → Copy link or copy the link from the address bar if you are using a browser.
- Return to your store admin, paste the link to the field and click Add Video.
- To add another video to the same item, repeat the steps 5-8.
- Add videos to other products, following the steps above.
- Once you add all videos, click Save.
That’s it. All the items you edited will now have videos on their product pages. By default, new media are added after other product media. To make videos the main media, you can drag and drop videos so that they are shown first to the customers.
Updating your privacy policy to show product videos
In some countries, your customers will not be able to see the video preview and play the video until they accept your store privacy policy (cookies). That applies primarily to Germany and other European countries covered by the European privacy law, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR applies not only to stores located in the EU but also to your European customers.
To avoid violating the European privacy law, we recommend updating your privacy policy disregarding your store location. In your privacy policy, you should mention that video hosts can access personal data of your buyers, e.g., IP-address, their account on the platform, and their user info.
By accepting cookies in your store, customers agree to the policy and will be able to see the video preview and play the video.
Making video the main product media
You can make a video the main media for a product. In that case, the video preview will be shown on a storefront and as the first media on the product page.
To make the video main media:
- From your store admin, go to Catalog → Products and choose a product.
- Click and drag the video thumbnail to the first place in the product gallery.
- Click Save.
- From the iOS app, go to Products and select the product.
- Tap on any image.
- Tap the grid icon at the top.
- Tap and drag the video thumbnail to the first place in the product gallery.
- From the Android app, go to Products and select the product.
- Tap on any image.
- Tap the grid icon at the top.
- Tap and drag the video thumbnail to the first place in the product gallery.
Changing product video preview
A video thumbnail is a still image that acts as the preview image for your video. It's kind of like a book cover. The thumbnail is created automatically by the platform it’s uploaded to. So if the video has a certain preview on YouTube, it will have the same preview in your store.
You may want to change the video preview (or thumbnail). For example, when the video has no thumbnail at all and shows the gray cover, or you don’t like the current thumbnail. You can do that during uploading the video, but you cal also replace the cover afterwards.
To add a custom thumbnail after uploading the video:
- From your store admin, go to Catalog → Products and choose a product.
- Hover the mouse over the the video thumbnail that you want to change and click Actions, then Change Thumbnail:
- Click Change thumbnail and choose the image to display as the video cover.
- Click Apply.
- Click Save.
- From the iOS app, go to Products and select the product.
- Tap the video preview.
- Tap Edit at the top right corner.
- Tap Change Preview.
- Select either to take a photo or to choose one from your gallery.
- Once you change the preview, tap Done.
- From the Android app, go to Products and select the product.
- Tap the video preview.
- Tap the three dots at the top right corner and tap Edit.
- Tap Change thumbnail and select either to take a photo or to choose one from your gallery.
- Select or take the photo and tap Save.
Choosing the product video look on storefront
When you use the video as the main product media, its preview (or thumbnail) is shown on the storefront. You can adjust the size and look of product main media on the Design page. Since the product thumbnail will crop when displayed on storefront, it’s better to use the ratio that is relevant to the video orientation.
Let’s say you use a horizontal video as the main media for the product. In that case, it’s better to choose the landscape ratio in the Image aspect ratio setting. That ratio is good for YouTube or Vimeo videos:
For vertical videos, e.g., from TikTok or YouTube Shorts, it’s best to choose the portrait ratio in the Image aspect ratio setting:
Note that the design settings are applied both to images and videos.
Regardless of what ratio you will use, landscape or portrait, once a customer clicks on the video it will be shown full-size the same way it’s shown on YouTube, TikTok, or any other platform.
To adjust the main product media look:
- From your store admin, go to Design.
- In the Image size section, choose how big you want to display the main media.
- In the Image aspect ratio, choose how to show your main media: vertically, horizontally, or square.