Yahoo, which last year started working with Walmart to allow customers to shop within Yahoo Mail, is delving even further into ecommerce. 

The Verizon Media brand will launch an online marketplace called Yahoo Shops, later this year, according to Yahoo Life. Shoppers can buy products directly via reviews, editorial roundups and shoppable video.

There will be roughly 50 brands to start, including Woo Skin Essentials by Projectwoo, Golden Secrets and Act + Acre, WWD reports. 

The company is also working on a universal shopping cart for all Yahoo brands. And there will be 3D try-ons.

Yahoo Shops will be “he first digital media marketplace anywhere with its own capabilities,” says Andrea Wasserman, head of global commerce at Verizon Media, according to WWD.

With more consumers shopping at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the race is on to accommodate them. 

A program announced last year by Google and online payment network Skipify allows Gmail users to shop within their emails. They can add items to their cart and check out without going to a web page. 

This capability is fueled by Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) for email, a technology that enables shoppers to purchase products without having to link to a web page.

Yahoo Shops is a marketplace that will allow consumers to manage the purchase process from start to finish, the company says.

As for Verizoin’s universal shopping cart, Wasserman explains the shopping process this way, according to Yahoo Life: “Say you’re reading about the best back to school gear on Yahoo Life, you can add a product from that curated list to your shopping cart, click onto another story, and so on. Users will be directed back to Yahoo Shops for check-out.”

Consumers are “already voting with their dollars by clicking or tapping on our affiliate links and buying with the merchants that we send them to,” buying with the merchants that we send them to,” she continued. The affiliates include Amazon. 

But Yahoo Shops will allow them to manage the process from start to finish, Yahoo says. 

Meanwhile, Verizon Media has debuted an expanded version of its In The Know shopping network, with ITK Parenting and ITK Cooking. The company claims it has driven a 213% increase in sales value through content commerce and Yahoo Mail inbox shopping.