Google launches new Qaya service: Help creators easily build online stores

The new project, Qaya, co-founded by Nathaniel Naddaff-Hafrey, founder-in-residence at Area 120 and formerly at job marketplace Kormo, is targeting the “next billion” internet users, particularly in markets like India and Indonesia.

After hearing from dozens of creators about how difficult and time-consuming it was to build their digital businesses, he came up with the idea for Qaya, a service that allows them to sell directly to their fans. Several other members of the Qaya team are also creators who brought their own experience using existing creator tools. They knew from their own efforts and from other creators they spoke with that there was a need for a flexible, no-code product that could act as a one-stop shop where creators could earn money from their work and better connect with their audiences.

Qaya's solution allows creators to build personalized web storefronts that showcase their products and services, as well as other digital downloads, which can then be linked to their YouTube merchandise shelf and integrated with Google Search and Google Shopping. Through these stores, creators can include content such as photos, files or e-books, digital art, photo filters and presets, productivity templates, knitting patterns, fitness videos, and more. Each storefront can host up to 1,000 products, the company said.

Each store also gets its own custom URL in the form of qaya.store/your-name or yourname.channel, which can be used in place of the links they place on social media sites, which are created through the "bio link" solutions available today like Linktree or Beacons.