Using Online Videos to Sell Products: Swimwear Boutique

[tweetmeme]Online retail businesses are always on the lookout for ways to improve conversions. They don’t just want visitors, but they want visitors who buy. And some are increasingly using videos to turn that visitor into a buyer.

According to eMarketer, the percentage of the top 50 US online retailers that offer videos on their sites skyrocketed to 68% in 2009 from 18% in 2008. One company, however, is taking videos further by using videos to present each of their products.

Swimwear Boutique , which offers high-end designer swimwear, has incorporated videos in their merchandising system. Visitors who shop in their site are given two options to view the product: as an image with enlarge feature; and as a video where a model is actually seen wearing the product. In the video, the camera zooms in and out to highlight features of the product.

Using Invodo online Smart Video Merchandising product, Swimwear Boutique has created a Video Gallery showcasing in one place their products that are featured on videos.

Swimwear Boutique has not disclosed the percentage increase in their conversion rate after using videos. But in an interview with InternetRetailer.com, Swimwear Boutique Vice President Nancy Jenkins said that,

“Videos have helped close our sales and push sales from a maybe to a yes.”

Videos offer a number of benefits when used to present a product:

• Online retailers can now get a step closer to the experience of shopping in a brick and mortar store.
• Video allows the consumer to the product in action or take a closer look at the details of the product.
• Videos can convey more emotional connection to the product that text cannot convey.

Examine how you can use videos to increase conversion and sales in your online store. Then follow these tips from Invodo from their whitepaper called “The Online Retailer’s Guide to Video Merchandising Success”  on how to use video for online merchandising success:

• Focus on premier placement for your videos and get them above the fold whenever possible. If you can’t get them above the fold, use merchandising tools like icons and image overlays to call attention to your videos.
• View rate declines with an increasing number of elements competing for clicks on the page. Consider carefully the potential impact of competing clickable elements on a page.
• When possible, include a text call to action (“click to view” or similar) with the video player.
• Increasing the size of the video player increases view through rate.