Google Announces Qaya Storefronts for Digital Creators
Yesterday Google announced a storefront for creators called Qaya.
Before you say "how is going to compete with Amazon and Shopify" in eCommerce? The answer is, they are carving out blue ocean here which is currently not being served well by any one specific tool.
I would consider it something like this: For entrepreneur creators who sell digital goods (i.e. mostly things that do not need shipping -- think about training materials, newsletters, newsletters, video content, etc), Qaya offers you a hub for new digital business, including the ability to offer free and paywall products and services in a one-stop-shop.
I do think this is a big market, and it is the same market that someone like Substack is aimed at which today allows only free and paid newsletters, and recently added podcasts.
An expanded version of Substack would not be a bad target at all for the company and an "all-in-one platform" could be something that creators need as the number of products and services they want to offer expand.
It would also be a home for creators to link to multiple social media profiles across the web, also a good sign in my mind that Google is not trying to create another social network.
You could also see these Qaya storefronts being useful as an entrypoint for artists into the NFT community in the future, should they choose to do so.
The killer app would be to link these Qaya storefronts from Youtube, naturally.
The program is in beta -- I submitted a request for it, so there isn't much more to say right now.
