What kind of a video commerce industry blog would this be without a “Top 10″ List of Predictions for the New Year?  We won’t know – at least not this year!  It’s time to share our list of predictions for the video commerce industry in 2009.

10.  Online merchandising video dominates the focus of video commerce throughout 2009. Enough e-commerce sites are seeing measurable revenue growth from merchandising video on-site that existing and new entrants in the video commerce space will continue focusing the bulk of their video production and acquisition resources on this specific type of online…

I saw this video interview on videoretailer.org tonight and thought it would be useful for readers of the VCC blog.  The interview not only brings to light some great tips and pointers re: video production in an e-commerce environment, but a recurring theme many online retailers are facing in this economy: the challenge of doing more with less.

If you work for an organization that falls into any of the following buckets…

1) The organization does not possess a rich inventory of existing video assets

2) The organization is unable to acquire video assets from its suppliers…

In my last post, I lamented online video has been viewed solely through the lens of branding, media, and awareness-oriented advertising for far too long.  Like many e-commerce professionals, I sometimes view the momentum behind video as a branding and awareness tool as something that comes at the expense of video’s potential as a direct response tool tied to revenue lift and customer acquisition.

The reality is far from this perception.

In too many cases, there’s simply no getting around the fact that video is a powerful branding tool – perhaps the most powerful branding tool.  As video commerce…

Over the weekend, I thumbed through the December 2008 issue of OMMA magazine, “Survival Guide: 2009.”  OMMA assembled its 2009 Survival Guide from a collection of “Top 10 Things You Need To Know About…[insert important industry topic here].”   You can imagine my delight when I turned to the section on Video, authored by Daisy Whitney. Finally, a top-tier publication was going to let all of us online marketers know what we need to do to succeed with video in 2009.

Imagine my disappointment when I saw not a single suggestion was related to…

I suggested in Part I of this metrics series the most important video commerce analytics depend on your role in the organization. Below,  I’ve broken out those metrics by role. 

I’m certain this list isn’t exhaustive. I’m also certain there are going to be some disagreements about the metrics suggested here.  If you have different ideas about metrics you feel should be included, or if you feel some of the metrics proposed here aren’t that important, are insufficient, shouldn’t be used, aren’t explained well, or are headed in the wrong direction, please add those thoughts in the comments section.  Thank you…

We are going to interrupt the series on online video metrics with a single post.  Over the last couple days, I’ve focused intensely on analyzing the supplier/manufacturer video content market and have a new perspective on this important video commerce topic.  Of course, I’m interested to learn your thoughts and whether you agree or disagree with some of the findings and the conclusion I’ve drawn here.

First, the background…

Undeniably, one of the greatest challenges online and multi-channel retailers face when embarking on a new video commerce effort or expanding an existing effort is acquiring new video content for the e-commerce…

Today, the VCC launched a new jobs board at http://jobs.video-commerce.org.  The board is completely free to the public and includes the ability to post and apply for many kinds of video commerce jobs.  Current job categories include:

• Video Production
• Post-Production
• Talent
• Management
• Consultants
• Service
• Technology
• Sales

We will continue to tweak the jobs board as feedback comes in.  I hope you enjoy this new resource!

Video commerce analytics communicate the business impact of video to decision-makers.  As indicated in earlier posts, the cross-functional nature of online video in an e-commerce organization implies that stakeholders may be scattered throughout the business. Therefore, a successful video commerce analytics initiative needs to take into consideration the metrics likely to be of value both to departmental-level stakeholders that own responsibility for a specific business function (site merchandising, online advertising, customer experience, etc) as well as decision-makers that oversee the entire e-commerce program.  A successful video commerce analytics initiative also needs to present information to decision-makers in terms that are…

Video commerce is still in its infancy, yet online video is nothing new on the Internet.  Unfortunately, many of the metrics historically used for measuring online video do not provide much help to executives seeking a greater understanding of what drives success in a video commerce program.  For example, simply looking at bandwidth consumed by your organization’s online videos tells an executive nothing about the traffic the program drives, the sales it produces, the engagement of its viewers, or the relevancy of its content.

In the past, I’ve advocated strongly for using sales generated through video or sales lift attributable…

On behalf of the Video Commerce Consortium, I am proud to announce the VCC added its 400th member this afternoon. Thank you to all of our members for making the VCC “the place to be” on the web for video commerce networking and best practices sharing.  Our strong peer-to-peer focus, high quality membership, and focus on video means the VCC is well positioned for future growth.

I would like to extend an especially warm welcome to our newest members hailing from organizations including Headsets.com, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Lands’ End, Walmart.com, Kohl’s, Jockey.com, Staples, US Auto Parts Network, Jewelry Television,…