Last year at eTail West the Video Commerce Consortium hosted a small gathering at eTail.  We’re doing the same this year.   For anyone interested in attending, please send an email to justin [at] video [dash] commerce [dot] org so we are able to get an accurate headcount for the event.

When: Tues Feb 23

Where: Oasis Bar and Grille next to the JW Marriott (Palm Springs) pool

Time: 7:00PM (about an hour into the eTail 2010 opening reception)

Info: Call 253-988-3183 for more information

Who: Last year we had VP E-Commerce Borders, Founder eBags, Video Leader @ OnlineShoes.com,
Founder Certona, VP E-Commerce Video ShopNBC, Founder VideoRetailer.org. About
12 people in all showed up so if you are planning on coming you should expect an an intimate and relaxing kind of networking event, not something super-high-charged.  This is an event for thought leaders.  Sales activity here is highly discouraged/frowned upon.

Photos & writeup from last year: http://bit.ly/gx4RC

This is…

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There’s been a lot of buzz going on in the blogosphere and over Twitter about the future of HTML5 recently.  For those who don’t know, HTML5 is the “next” standard for HTML.  The reason you need to care about HTML5 is because HTML5’s success (or failure) is going to have a dramatic impact on the future of web video and video commerce in particular.

HTML5 video is unique because it is delivered directly through the web browser, without a plugin.  Because HTML5 support will be included natively in web browsers, it may become a formidable competitor to Adobe’s Flash technology, which requires users to download a plugin to use and powers the vast majority of web video today.  Of course, Adobe argues that HTML5 will throw web video “back into the dark ages” while HTML5 supporters claim HTML5 is the “wave of the future.”

Who’s right?  Is HTML5 really going…

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Enjoy…

FULL VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Justin Foster: Welcome everybody, thank you for joining us at Video Commerce “The Quiet Revolution in Online Video”.  I see a couple of familiar faces out here in the audience, thanks for making some time for us here.  We’ve really got an all star panel so I am going to try and keep my remarks as brief as I can.

My name is Justin Foster I am the founder of a group called the Video Commerce Consortium,   It is a group of about 500 online retailers, eCommerce people, online advertisers who are dedicated to advancing the use of Video eCommerce.

We’ve really got an all star panel, here, we’ve got HSN, we’ve got Hot Topic, we’ve got PFI Western and we’ve got Zappos, and each one of these panelists has prepared a brief…

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Interactive video holds a lot of promise for video commerce.  Whether it’s text overlays in YouTube promoted videos, hotspots and “clickable video,” in-video shopping,  integrated product thumbnails, descriptions, ratings, reviews, sharing, and beyond, the potential for interactive video in e-commerce is almost limitless. I’ve spoken at length about interactive video in previous posts, but in this post I wanted to share some high level ideas and examples of ways retailers drive shopping behavior using interactive techniques. Before we get to the good stuff, a word of warning is needed: Interactive video is not a panacea that by itself magically makes e-commerce video “work” - it’s only a technology, and like any other technology, its ultimate success depends on how well people use it. With that in mind, remember to apply interactive video according to the following best practices:

1. Use interactive video only when you have confidence the viewer wants to engage. Note I didn’t say when *you*…

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My apologies to our readers for the scant number of posts over the last several weeks, and to our commenters who have had comments sitting in queue for some time.  I’ve been traveling recently and otherwise just busy with Q4 madness.  I know you all can relate  As promised, below is PFI Western’s Presentation from Streaming Media West:

General Takeaways from this presentation:

- PFI Western has proven that it doesn’t take a huge budget to blow out video commerce across marketing channels.  They cover almost all costs with co-op and advertising dollars.  All infrastructure developed by 2 people with no budget.

- The company chose an innovative approach, starting with television by buying airtime on a cable TV network…

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Last week I had the great fortune to moderate an all-star panel of video commerce pros at the StreamingMedia West conference in San Jose.  StreamingMedia is a show that draws online video innovators, technologists, and a large contingency from the media and advertising industries.  Dan Rayburn, industry guru, organizer of the show and EVP of StreamingMedia.com shared last night that the video commerce session was among the top 3 ranked sessions of the entire show.  So first and foremost, congrats to the panelists: Jason Arend of PFI, Mike Sullivan of Hot Topic/Shockhound/Torrid, Gerry Johnson of HSN, and Rico Nasol of Zappos for making the panel happen!

Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing PPTs from the panelists as well as video interviews here on video-commerce.org. Below is Rico’s presentation.  Along with his presentation, I’d like to share a few highlight takeaways:

- Zappos has 6 video studios currently,…

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If you’re an online retailer, I have a challenge for you.

When a consumer navigates to a specific product page, it’s fair to assume that he / she has moved pretty far down the purchase funnel, right?  If that’s the case, then the role of the product video is to educate, describe the product, and show multiple features that cannot be displayed in a few product pictures.  That’s according to a recently released Forrester report.  And I agree.

In my opinion, videos that are straightforward, clearly describe features / benefits, and explain who the product is for will drive the highest conversion rates.  However, some manufacturers insist on creating product videos that feel more like 30 second TV commercials with flashy graphics, over acting, and high-energy music.  Why is that?  Clearly, they must think that this video style converts better.  Does it?  If there’s data out there, then I’d like…

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It’s been a while since the last VCC TV episode and with the holidays fast approaching it is once again time to kick into 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 the practice of taking product metadata displayed on your site (e.g. price, description, ratings & reviews, related products, etc) and featuring this information in a visually appealing slideshow, often with background music and a human or computer-generated voiceover.  We’ve also included a couple of examples of auto-video produced by auto-video vendor SundaySky to illustrate the technology.

Example…

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The Video Commerce Consortium has just released a new whitepaper, “Creating E-Commerce Videos That Sell,” downloadable here. Included in the whitepaper:

- Conceptual Framework for Creating Videos that Sell
- Understanding Motivation, Simplicity, and Triggers
- Producing E-Commerce Videos that Get Results
- Conceptual Storyboarding Approaches
- Benefits and Drawbacks of Various Video Production Methods in E-Commerce
- Product Video ROI Calculator
- Selecting the Right Video Production Equipment
- Filming and Post-Production for E-Commerce Video
- Common Video Production Questions Asked and Answered
- Placing Videos on Product Detail Pages for Maximum Results
- Product Detail Page Implementation Results
- Results (10 examples - some are recycled from earlier papers)

Let me know what you think as usual. No feedback is too harsh!

Happy Selling!

Justin

If there’s one thing I think we can all agree on, it’s that online retailers and product manufacturers want to sell more stuff. So it stands to reason that retailers and manufacturers would do all they can to put video on their sites, right? If only that was the case!

We all believe video increases sales conversion rates. Yet adoption lags. In a September post, Justin suggested the lag is due to a lack of leadership. While that may be the case, I think there are number of factors in play. The one that has been on my mind is the question of “who pays?”

eMarketer and Internet Retailer report that video is a top priority for retailers, yet some (many?) feel the manufacturers should pay all the costs. Why is that? Why would retailers want manufacturers to pay for video that will…

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