One challenge I’ve noticed repeatedly over the last year in the video commerce industry is just how much harder it is for private label retailers to grow their video programs relative to mass merchants. Mass merchants are often able to lean more heavily on their suppliers to produce video content, which means obtaining that content is often simply a matter of creating solid processes around video content curation and ensuring the business terms for acquiring content make sense. Private label retailers don’t have such a luxury. For companies like LL Bean, Gap, Crate and Barrel, J Crew and others, video commerce is a ‘go it alone’ game.
Unfortunately, ‘go it alone’ isn’t always easy, especially for a retailer that’s still only dabbling with video (common). Even those private label retailers with broad video programs already in place repeatedly run into some of the challenges inherent in private label video production:
1. Justifying the spend on custom video production. It’s especially a problem for those companies with a high inventory turn (e.g. apparel).
2. Creating high quality content, without breaking the bank. Here again, those companies with high inventory turn struggle more than others.
3. Creating video content that connects commerce with entertainment. Private label retailers that are also ‘lifestyle’ brands struggle in this area more than typical direct response merchants, as they often tend to steer away from direct response merchandising and instead use video as a tool to support the brand.
Fortunately, there are ways to overcome some of these obstacles, if one’s willing to think a little creatively, demonstrate a willingness to lose ’some’ flexibility in the creative process, and focus on automation as a goal.
1. Use production automation technology. I’m a big fan of TalkMarket. This company developed a technological solution that enables retailers to produce video content in the style of a QVC or HSN for a fraction of the cost. In essence, they provide software and a mobile video production workstation that largely automates the planning, content idea development, footage review & intake, rough cut content creation, and uploading of e-commerce video. For the actual filming, their software guides even the most amateur of videographers through the filming process step-by-step. The tool ’stitches’ together the videos with a soundtrack, and features product shots based on tried and true filming techniques used by the shop-from-home TV networks. TalkMarket’s founders are from QVC, and the company is funded in part by Amazon.com. It’s not for everyone, but it’s the closest solution I’ve seen to enabling beginners to create ‘prosumer’ high quality content that looks polished without being overproduced. Check out some examples on their site:
2. Solutions like SundaySky and Animoto also represent possible solutions. SundaySky in particular has built a solution that can work with e-commerce sites by downloading your existing product images, descriptions, prices, and other meta-data, then sequences these assets to a music soundtrack, with options to provide voiceovers. In essence, the solution completely automates (or nearly completely automates) the process of video production using existing resources, without requiring an additional investment in video production. I’ve met with the folks at SundaySky and, while I’ve seen some very cool examples and also think the technology is highly promising, I’m still in the skeptic camp when it comes to viability for private label retail video for a couple of reasons. First, I just don’t believe that most private label retailers would accept this type of solution as it’s just too ‘mechanical’ and lacks the quality of true video. Second, I’m not really convinced it’s video. Are animations video? Maybe I’m just splitting hairs. And, if conversion rates improve, maybe it doesn’t matter. I do think this kind of solution could be great if used by mass merchants, especially those in the consumer electronics, toys, or hard goods spaces. What do you think?
3. Don’t make it harder than it needs to be. Ice.com is able to crank out a massive volume of video clips because the clips are short, simple, and a high degree of automation is possible within the production process:
4. If you’re already committed to self-produce video content and have put forward a lot of effort and investment, for goodness’ sake don’t make it difficult for your customers to buy through your videos. I railed on Cabela’s for this in a post on CommerceVideos.com the other week, and it’s a mistake I see over and over by private label retailers that choose to shoot video from more of an entertainment angle. Karmaloop is an example I’ve pointed out before, but other private label retailers that have committed to video in a big way also struggle in this area. Ralph Lauren would be a good example with its RL TV initiative.
5. Automate, automate, automate. Customization and design flexibility are the enemy of cost containment and scalability. It’s just a reality of the medium, so wherever possible try to shoot video using standard sets, repeatable formats, experienced talent and videographers, multiple shoots in a row, etc.
Until next time… Happy Selling!
August 5th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
The question to how can an independent retailer use video commerce? The answer is very simple? The manufacturers and distributors should be producing content that can be repurposed. If the Manufacturers/Distributors create video content that can be downloaded from a secure site then to be placed in dealers websites then video commerce will take hold with the independent retailer. or the manufacturer/distributor duplicates the video in the video commerce solution with the relevant hyperlinks that go to check out.
This way you will end up with the push and the pull?
August 16th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
[...] in efficient production, they might benefit from some of the techniques I outlined in the last Video Commerce Consortium blog post describing how private label retailers can produce reasonably high video at reasonably low cost. [...]
August 22nd, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Jeremy, thanks for the comment. I also agree that manufacturer video content is going to continue playing a prominent role in the industry. There are a few vendors working on solutions right now that connect manufacturer content to retail sites (WebCollage, SellPoint, Invodo, Vendaria, Easy2, and a few others). Ultimately, I do not believe that manufacturer to retailer video syndication from a single vendor is going to be the catalyst the industry really needs to break out. The reason? No matter how many hundreds of thousands, or even millions of videos a single syndication service may accrue, it will never be enough to cover the entire product inventory of a retailer, espeically large retailers that work with tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of suppliers. For smaller retailers that do not carry as much clout with their suppliers, syndication services can be invaluable. But for large online retailers, retailers can actually take advantage of their position of relative leverage with manufacturers to directly acquire manufacturer video content. In some cases, retailers are even beginning to act like traditional web publishers, charging manufacturers for syndication of manufacturer content to the retail site. It’s a new revenue opportunity for retailers and it will be interesting to see how this trend plays out in the coming years.
Ultimately, I don’t think manufacturer content is going to be enough for retailers. There are many reasons for this, but among them:
- Many manufacturers, while happy to make their content available, don’t want retailers to repurpose it. That goes against what retailers want
- The advantage of video quickly diminishes when all of a retailer’s competitors use the same content, even if it’s ‘mildly’ repurposed
- It’s difficult for a retailer to build its own brand with video with someone else’s content
- Retailers want additional control over publishing and syndication, which many manufacturers don’t want.
- Perhaps more important for retailers, manufacturer content only solves part of the problem. For private label retailers, it’s not even accessible. Ultimately, retailers need to accept video content from multiple sources, including self-produced content, consumer generated content, and content produced by other third parties. The democratization of video has really been brought about by the lowered technical obstacles to produce video content and achieve distribution online. I believe it speaks to the need for a broader video aggregation service that features content from many producers. Perhaps there is a marketplace opportunity here.
September 6th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
[...] technology to optimize much of the planning, filming, and post-production work that too often scares retailers away from making meaningful investments in online [...]
September 15th, 2009 at 3:31 am
Die Kardinalsfrage: Wie viel Qualität gibt es für wenig Geld?…
Wer mit Videos verkaufen will, muss erst einmal in Vorleistung gehen. Gerade kleinere Händler scheuen daher diesen Schritt leider immer wieder aus Angst vor horrenden Produktionskosten: “One challenge I’ve noticed repeatedly over the last year in the …
November 7th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
[...] high gear. This go around, we are re-examining an emerging trend in video commerce we’ve touched on before: auto-video. Auto-video, which I’ve also referred to as “artificial video,” is [...]