Today, the VCC released a new whitepaper highlighting the use of eCommerce video.  The whitepaper focuses on explaining the three disruptive forces behind the proliferation of online video and shares techniques e-commerce, branding, and technology professionals can use to exploit the disruptive forces in e-commerce.  The whitepaper also includes 18 charts, tables, and screenshots highlighting video commerce trends, uses, case studies, and implementation paradigms.

As always, I am interested in your feedback on whitepapers like this.

Happy Selling!

Jeffrey Grau, Sr. Analyst at eMarketer, published a groundbreaking report on the state of video in e-commerce yesterday.  In the press release for the report, we learn about an explosive growth of e-commerce video viewership relative to traffic changes year-over-year.  From the period October 2007 - October 2008, the number of viewers of e-commerce videos increased 40% relative to a much more modest growth of 4% in overall site traffic.  

I rarely recommend the purchase of reports like these, but in this case I’ve read through the whole report and highly recommend it.  The world of e-commerce video can be confusing, and Jeffrey brings a lot of clarity to the picture by addressing such important questions as:

- What is the real potential for video distribution?

- How are retailers altering their investment in video given the still-unfolding macroeconomic crisis?

- Top trends to watch for video applications in e-commerce

- The value of user-generated video content

- Video commerce defined

- Reasons why consumers watch product videos

- When and where video makes sense on and off e-commerce sites

- How many retailers have added video to their e-commerce sites

- Where video fits into the priority list of “most promising technologies for online customer engagement”

- How many videos e-commerce companies are posting on their sites, on average

- Benefits of brand videos

- Where video slots into the list of site features added or improved by online retailers to enhance the customer experience in 2008

- Online retail examples of revenue growth and return reduction through use of video

- Outline of the main obstacles facing adoption of video in the e-commerce space

- Highlights of video distribution strategies

- Top online video properties, ranked by videos viewed

- Percentage of online retailers that allow customers to upload their own online videos

Overall, the report is quite bullish about the future of online video, while remaining grounded in excellent statistical snapshots from a variety of sources regarding what’s actually going on in the market.  The report also illustrates pitfalls to avoid in pursuing video commerce initiatives.  On the whole, it is a well-balanced and thoughtful piece of research with a clear eye toward the potential of video commerce.  Bar-none, this is the most forward-thinking report on video commerce I’ve seen to date.  You can purchase the whole report for $695 at eMarketer.com.

Happy Selling!

Earlier this month, Internet Retailer released the results of a survey highlighting some stats relevant to online video in e-commerce.  Taking part in the survey were 45 web-only retailers, 25 chain store retailers, 14 consumer brand manufacturers, and 11 catalog companies, making the total sample size 95.  The video-specific results of the survey appear below - along with some observations.

A full 41.7% of surveyed retailers indicated they were already using video, and 43.3% of respondents planned on deploying video in 2009. I was surprised (shocked, actually) at the percentage of respondents already using video, yet the 41.7% number doesn’t provide any indication of how widespread the video deployment on site really is.  It’s entirely possible some of the respondents only have a few videos on-site.  In my own interactions with many online retailers, I suspect this is likely given the relative dearth of video content on most product pages today.

More exciting was the statistic that 43.3% of those surveyed planned on deploying online video in 2009.  Clearly, more online retailers are beginning to understand the merchandising power of video and view video merchandising on product pages as a strong entry point into online video.

Less exciting (although not entirely surprising) was the finding among 54% of survey respondents that there was no difference in average ticket for those who viewed video vs. standard rich media.  On the other hand, 46 percent indicated there was a lift.  There were no respondents indicating a depression in results, though I suspect it might not have been an option on the survey.

Only 40% of survey respondents claimed they regularly run A/B tests, so I don’t really know how much weight the results should carry, especially when combined with the relative paucity of video content on most e-commerce sites and the possibility that true tests weren’t conducted.

The larger issue for me is the question about basket size in the first place.  I’ve never really been able to draw a strong mental correlation between video and basket size; it’s not the right metric to look at.  The more important metric here is conversion rate for the page, and whether video is increasing it or not.  It’s also important to remember that video should be placed on product pages only after carefully considering the overall impact on the customer experience.  Poorly placed “view video” buttons, turning on auto-play, or burying the call to action in a spot where it’s unlikely to be found are all ways to depress results.

More later this week… Happy Selling!

Thank you to everyone who attended today’s VCC webinar, “The ROI of Online Video.”  To those who were unable to make it, or had trouble logging in due to password issues, the deck is posted below.  Next time, the webinar registration and access process will go much smoother - forgive us as this was our first attempt!

Also, special thanks to Jimmy Healey from OnlineShoes.com for taking some time out of his busy schedule to share with the group.  As always, comments and suggestions are appreciated - feel free to post them to the blog or, if you’re a VCC member, in the forum to start discussion with other members.

 
Thanks everyone and Happy Selling!

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by liveclicker

In an ongoing quest to learn more about video commerce, I spend a lot of time thinking about the ideas actually driving the industry forward.  Through countless interactions with e-commerce professionals, business people and folks outside the industry, I’ve finally come to the conclusion these are the central “breakthrough ideas” behind video commerce.  I’m curious to learn your thoughts, especially if you disagree with them or you believe there are others that should be on the list.

To understand the paradigms driving video commerce forward, I started looking at the central problems facing the industry today:

1) Obtaining/producing video content
2) Distributing video content
3) Making money from video
4) Figuring out the creative process behind video

On 1, the breakthrough idea is that video content can come from anywhere, capitalizing on the YouTube paradigm: “Everyone’s a Producer.”

- self-produced
- customers
- suppliers/partners
- from the community (YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, etc)
- from outsourced production (amateur, prosumer, professional, big agency)

On 2, the breakthrough idea is that video is a cross-channel media with falling distribution costs. Video can be published anywhere.

- on-site
- ad networks
- YouTube & video services
- affiliate networks
- social networks
- blogs and consumer sites
- mobile devices
- digital television
- net connected game consoles
- etc etc.  The point is that as things accelerate this list will continue to grow.

On 3, the breakthrough idea is that video is not only an awareness tool but a tool that facilitates direct response.

- lift on product pages
- purchase in-video
- links in-video to brand experiences or product pages (doesn’t matter, as long as it moves the consumer closer to a transaction)
- feature related products in-video

On 4, the breakthrough idea is that video is a creative-agnostic media, and video commerce works as long as the content moves a consumer closer to the next transaction

- educational/how-to
- promotional
- commertainment
- entertainment
- etc - doesn’t matter as long as it moves the consumer closer to the next transaction

We are at the very very beginning of this market but trust me, within 12 months we’ll all be talking about video commerce.  We’re far enough along on items 1, 2, 3, and 4 that it’s only a matter of time until it gets figured out.

Until then - Happy Selling!

Yesterday’s post was extremely popular in terms of traffic, so I thought I’d share a few more examples of retailers using video since it appears folks are hungry for this information.  Special thanks to Mike from Hot Topic/Shockhound.com for making us aware of ShockTV and Sascha for making us aware of Frontlineshop.tv.  If you’re producing video and want it featured here, comment or send email to justin [at] video [dash] commerce [d o t] org.

Happy Selling!

Orvis (product, how-to, partner videos)

Crutchfield (built a learning center consisting mostly of how-to and educational videos)

Wine Library (built a celebrity icon through personable/passionate video reviews of wine)

HSN (porting live TV to the web site and featuring a robust library of ‘on demand’ product videos on product pages)

QVC (also porting live TV to the web and on-demand video to product pages)

Product page example

Live example

ShockHound (created ShockTV, featuring entertainment, interview, and lifestyle video content used to support/build the brand - thanks again to Mike Sullivan for making us aware of this)

frontlineshop (German retailer built frontlineshop.tv which features entertainmnent, interview, and lifestyle video content used to support/build the brand - thanks to Sascha for making us aware of this)

Beauty.com (built a video site video.beauty.com, launched on-site, w/affiliates, Youtube etc - featuring predominantly manufacturer-sourced video content linking to product pages)

Zappos (launched a video blog and YouTube channel)

We’ll add more examples later - there are a lot more out there.

The other day a VCC member called asking me, “Are we the only ones doing video commerce? It sure feels like it sometimes!”

In an early-stage market, it’s easy to feel like you’re going it alone.  This blog post doesn’t include a lot of commentary, but it does include a lot of links to folks in the retail space presently using video.   The included retailers in this list aren’t all necessarily doing a good job (most retailers today have barely scratched the surface when it comes to exploiting the potential of video commerce)  - but this list should illustrate some of the possibilities.   Browse the examples to see if you can find some inspiration!

P.S. - The following retailers aren’t listed in any particular order and it’s far from an all-inclusive list - mostly it was pulled from the top of my head.  Most of the examples here are of videos on product pages, though several of these folks are leveraging the assets in other ways (separate video site, affiliates, video ads, brand/cat pages, YouTube, etc).

Williams-Sonoma (shot all in-house, really helps visualize the products in action, drives conversion)

REI (excellent example of integrating video with product - blew out sales projections by 2X)

Bed Bath & Beyond (great example of leveraging video content directly from manufacturers - low cost)

CompUSA / TigerDirect (bringing product TV on the Internet to a new level)

Ice.com (known for efficient video production process)

Ross-Simons (reduces the cost of returns through video)

ShopNBC.tv (bringing the shop-at-home TV experience to the web)

ShopNBC.com (50%+ of products on-site feature video for massive increase in conversion rate)

Amway Global (building a positive web reputation for a brand with one of the world’s largest direct sales channels)

OnlineShoes.com (extending videos to slideshows, reviews, and a separate .TV channel)

Panasonic (cool experiment fusing video, e-commerce, social networking)

drugstore.com (integrating video across a .TV channel and the retail site and using video as a direct response channel)

B&H Photo/Video (invested significantly in in-house production expertise)

Amazon.com (Here’s Amazon’s Holiday Toy List.  Do you wonder how Amazon survived Q4 while your company fell flat? - kudos to Raj at Silverdock for making me aware of this.  Also check out Amazon.com’s new video widget for affiliates - thanks to VideoRetailer.org for making us aware of this)

WineExpress.com (making wine easier for regular people to understand and appreciate)

Ralph Lauren (extending the Ralph Lauren brand through RL TV - currently working on a revamp)

Karmaloop (pioneering commertainment with their “Daily Loop” micro-video)

Borders Books & Music (fusing entertainment and merchandising to create a video-centric retail paradigm)

Nike (moving to leverage brand videos online to fuse branding and commerce)

FansEdge.com (merchandising videos to bring apparel to life and drive page conversion)

David’s Bridal (taking product thumbnails to a whole new level for wedding gowns)

Buy.com (using video in the affiliate channel to increase traffic and sales, bringing TV ads online, and using merchandising videos)

Barnes & Noble (substantial investment in in-house production  for B&N “Studio” brings a new dimension to this leading bookseller)

Paul Direkt (kudos to twive.de, an excellent German blog dedicated to video commerce and ‘future shopping experiences’ for making us aware of this.  I’ve linked there and turned on Google Translate, which works well enough to “more or less” capture the spirit of the postings)

heine (again, thanks to twive.de for making us aware of this - remember, video commerce is global, not just in the USA!)

Live On Sunset (bringing live shopping online to retail)

Tool King (also using a separate presence to highlight video)

eBags (using manufacturer & self-produced videos on brand pages, product pages, and a direct response video site)

Lots of companies didn’t get included in the list above - I could easily add another twenty but just got tired of copying so many logos into the post and doing one-line writeups.  If you’d like to submit your company for a list, or think we should highlight it here on video-commerce.org, please send me an email at justin [at] video [dash] commerce [d o t] org.

Thanks again and as always…

Happy Selling!

Last night, I moderated a panel on “Video Commerce in a YouTube World” for the Seattle Direct Marketing Association.  The panelists included Jason Lohr-Johnson, Video Art Director at REI, Jimmy Healey, Product Manager at OnlineShoes.com, and Alison Jeske, Director of Product Management at drugstore.com.

I saved a copy of all the presentations to SlideShare and posted complete video footage from the event (broken into four parts for easier consumption) in case you wanted to check them out.  You’ll have to excuse the quality of the video, which was shot with an inexpensive consumer camcorder in poor lighting conditions.  The sound’s also not the best (silverware clinking while people ate dinner), but it’s tolerable.  There are some good takeaways in the slides but the really insightful material is in the actual presentations so I’d definitely encourage watching at least the panelist presentations.

“Video Commerce in a YouTube World”
Justin Foster, Founder & President, Video Commerce Consortium
Co-Founder & VP, Liveclicker

“The Vision of E-Commerce Video”
Jimmy Healey, Product Manager, OnlineShoes.com

“Video Commerce: Selling Online with Video”
Alison Jeske, Director of Product Management, drugstore.com

“Online Video Production”
Jason Lohr-Johnson, Video Art Director, REI

Happy Selling!

Due to an unfortunate and unavoidable scheduling conflict, the VCC webinar “The ROI of Online Video” has been RESCHEDULED. The new date is THURSDAY, JANUARY 22 at 10:00AM Pacific/1:00PM Eastern.

If you already registered for the webinar, you will need to click the REGISTER button in the email sent to registrants and supply your email address and first name in order to receive your webinar sign-in link, which is unique for each attendee.

If you have not yet registered and would like to learn more, check out:
http://www.video-commerce.org/webinar-roi-of-online-video.html
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email or call.
Justin Foster
Founder, Video Commerce Consortium
justin [at] video [dash] commerce [d o t] org
253.988.3183

Happy Selling!

Ross-Simons uses video not just to sell, but to reduce the cost of returns, thereby demonstrating yet another way on-site video can drive success in eRetail. Click the image to view a library of products on Ross-Simons' web site featuring video.

According to a recent article published by Internet Retailer, retailer Ross-Simons expects to add 700 product videos to its online video library in 2009 while investing heavily in an in-house video production studio. According to VP of Marketing Larry Davis, “We have about 300 product videos on the site and the chief benefit has been to reduce our return rate by about 10%, which is a significant cost savings.”

“Customers return jewelry because it’s the wrong size or the item doesn’t fit,” says Davis. “A product thumbnail can be beautiful to look at, but the size of the images are about the same and they can’t help a shopper determine if an item will fit or not. Showing the jewelry on a model in a video produces a better scale and helps the shopper see how it will look on her.”

Happy Selling!