I was surfing around tonight when I discovered an Akamai whitepaper released this September called ”Online Video: The New Merchandising.” (there’s a link to download the whitepaper at the end of this post).

Being my typical jaded self, I pretty much expected this was going to be a super-slanted vendor whitepaper that completely twisted reality to suit the vendor’s own selfish aims.  But, I was somewhat surprised.  While the whitepaper certainly did live out that expectation in some regards, it contained a lot of useful material – useful enough that I wanted to call some of it out here for …

PART 1: Video Commerce: Don’t Forget the Commerce Part!
Using online video to drive site conversion.

E-commerce video, when done correctly and approached strategically, can and does boost on-site product conversion rates. Leading online retailers like Circuit City, QVC, Ebags, ShopNBC, Tiger Direct, and HSN already know this. These retailers use video to educate the consumer and tip the mind of the buyer toward purchasing, while they also remain careful not to erode the number of coveted transactions through sloppy user experiences.

Videos on Product Pages:

In general, videos placed on product pages boost conversion rates more than videos placed …