Web video works – retailers play catch-up

Retailers are responding to the growing consumer appetite for online videos by adding them to their Web sites both to differentiate themselves from competitors and to keep up with what consumers expect from their online shopping experience.

If these were not reasons enought they also find that videos boost sales conversion rates, reduce abandoned shopping cart and product return rates.

The image shows the massive jump in the number of the top 50 US online retailers offering videos jumped between 2009 over the year before.

The adoption rate is poised to climb further. A survey in February 2010 survey found that of the two-thirds of respondents who indicated they were planning a site redesign in the next 12 months, some 42% said they would add video to their site.

That makes it the second-highest priority, behind social media tools but ahead of such as customer reviews and personalised recommendations.

I would like to think that I was ahead of the game when I launched InTwoFocus, my own specialist Web video agency, focusing on older people, a couple of years back. It is always nice to be proved right. Dick Stroud