• Retail

How Product Videos Are Driving More Revenue for Online Retailers

Written by Michael Clark
June 12, 2017

Maximizing the customer experience online can bring greater returns for retailers, according to a University of Miami study.

Maximizing the customer experience online can bring greater returns for retailers, according to a University of Miami study.

The rise of e-commerce has more than simply made data collection systems nice to have, it has necessitated their usage, particularly among retailers. Consumers now have a variety of outlets through which they can purchase products – be it in store, online or directly from the warehouse – and data collection provides details on the very latest buying habits and customs retailers can draw upon to increase sales.

Increased convenience has placed an added premium on products – quite literally, as consumers will often pay more when expediency is the reward. And based on a recent study, when shoppers are cruising the online “aisles,” they’re more willing to spend extra when a product video is used, according to researchers, making quality control more important than ever for retail warehouse managers.

Shoppers Spend More When Product Videos Are Used

Polling from the University of Miami School of Business Administration has discovered that among frequent e-commerce users, nearly 80 percent were more inclined to buy high-priced products or services when a product video was available compared to websites having only textual product specifications or still images. The findings corroborate the so-called “vividness theory,” which states that when consumers are met with more interactive information on a product or service which show more than tell, consumers can better picture how the prospective purchase would be used by them

Claudia Townsend, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Miami’s School of Business Administration, noted that there’s a lot riding on effective inventory management, from the factory, to the warehouse, to the showroom floor. Using video that displays quality craftsmanship can result in added revenue.

“It is clear from our study that online retailers, particularly those selling a product that beats the competition less on function and more on attributes about pleasure and enjoyment, can substantially increase their sales and profits by systematically incorporating more dynamic presentation formats like video to convey their product and service offerings,” said Townsend.

Untimely Service Can Be Costly

The customer shopping experience is almost as important as the product or service itself, and when buyers are unsatisfied, they may take their business elsewhere. More than 40 percent of customers say they try to avoid retailers whose services are slow, according to Quantum Metric.

The average consumer has things to do and places to be, meaning they don’t have time to wait for items that are on order or out of stock. This makes inventory management critical to future business, buyer satisfaction and customer loyalty. RFgen provides warehouse managers with the mobile tools they need to expedite operational efficiency and streamline supply chain optimization.