Video can offer online retailers the chance to let consumers explore products in more detail, as they could in–store. Rob Tarrant, Managing Director, Brandbank, offers a guide to getting the most out of video when selling online.
For the last eighteen months I’m sure you, like me, haven’t been able to read the trade press, open your inbox or visit a conference without hearing something about the potential of video in eCommerce. Adobe recently claimed that sales conversion rates can be as high as 140% after a shopper has viewed a product video. Common sense dictates though that this is not applicable to every product and simply adding a video to every product won’t suddenly do. No-one wants to see a video of a potato, for example, although they might like to see a video of suggested recipes, a short documentary showing how the potatoes were sourced or a video looking at the benefits of the product. The rise of video in retail allows retailers to go beyond the normal constraints of online, thinking less like traditional merchandisers and more like marketers. So exactly when, where and how should retailers be using video?
There are so many ways in which retailers are already utilising video. We’ve already seen a number of video advertising/eCommerce cross-overs with high profile brands, such as Nintendo, where a number of retailers – including Play.com – now host Nintendo adverts next to the Nintendo product ranges. Similarly, there is plainly great potential for studios and distributors to promote their film trailers on retailers’ websites, next to their branded products. Both Play.com and Toys R Us currently have the Toy Story 3 trailer embedded next to the branded merchandise. As well as advertising the film or product, this can present a great mutual partnership for the retailer.
However, there’s so much more potential for video than simply showing the products’ TV adverts. When people think of eCommerce video in the most traditional sense, they think of basic demo videos – like a power drill in action on a DIY site. There is no question that basic product demonstrations can be incredibly effective, in fact it surprises me that major retailers don’t include them, but video can be so much more effective than this.
Fashion websites have been using video for a long time, giving more traditional, product focused video a bit of an update. ASOS for example features catwalk videos where the shopper can see the way the clothes move when the model walks – as opposed to just a static image.
The main point to take on board though, is that videos don’t just have to be about straight-forward product promotion. Comet, for example, uses video tutorials to help people assemble or use their products and lingerie brand La Senza, publishes behind the scenes videos of their adverts being filmed, including interviews with their celebrity spokespeople. These are both great ways of attracting new audiences to these retailers’ websites as well as encouraging return visits from existing customers.
With the increasing use of online for retail transactions, we are finally at the stage where retailers can start thinking really big about their product display and use of video. A retailer’s website has long been touted as their virtual shop window. The product imagery and supplementary data and information available will be unrivalled. Customers could have the opportunity to view videos of the products, vox-pops of customer reviews, videos of other customers using their products, demonstrations and how-to video tutorials of how to get the most out of your product, as well as product adverts and additional information.
I predict that we will begin to see a change in retailers’ thinking, going beyond the barriers that they have previously been confined to, and changing the face of ecommerce as we know it. When retailers start adopting and understanding video, then we really will begin to start seeing the 140% uplifts!
By Rob Tarrant
Managing Director
Brandbank
www.brandbank.com