Video Optimisation on the Increase
Retailers are responding to the growing consumer appetite for online videos by adding them to their Websites both to differentiate themselves from competitors and to keep up with what consumers expect from their online shopping experience.
“Consumers rank other purchase decision-making tools, such as customer reviews, ahead of videos in importance,” said Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report “Video E-Commerce: Innovative Models Drive Sales. “But that has not discouraged retailers from quickly adding videos to their sites. They find that videos boost sales conversion rates and reduce abandoned shopping cart and product return rates.”
The proportion of the top 50 US online retailers offering videos jumped 378% in 2009 over the year before, according to a Forrester Research study, “Online Retailers’ Adoption of Online Video Content Is Ahead of Consumers’ Preferences,” published in November 2009. Last year over two-thirds of the biggest online retailers hosted videos.