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Using video humanises the online experience

Covid-19 has forced retailers to adapt and innovate quickly, but even prior to this many e-commerce brands and retailers were looking for ways to improve the customer experience and gain customer mind and wallet share outside traditional bricks and mortar locations.

In Australia, there has been significant growth in online sales over the past months, largely attributed to stay at home regulations. Across both pure-play and multichannel retailers online sales rose 23.5 per cent in March, followed by a 26.4-per-cent rise in April, according to ABS data.¹

In April alone, 5.2 million Australian households were reported shopping online, with approximately 200,000 new shoppers entering the market and purchasing something online for the first time.²

With such significant growth and demand for online purchasing increasing, e-commerce brands and retailers are looking to capitalise on this growth by delivering online experiences that gain new customers and build brand loyalty with existing ones, in the short-term and post-pandemic.

In today’s always-on virtual world, cutting through the clutter is becoming paramount, and video technology is empowering retail brands to showcase their offerings in interactive and more meaningful ways. 

The growing role of video

Video is seeing tremendous growth as it is an influential medium that offers consumers a tangible way to see, interact and engage with products, at a time of their choosing and using their preferred digital channel.

In fact, retail and marketing video consumption grew 135 per cent year on year globally, with views up 50 per cent year on year in Australia and New Zealand, according to the Brightcove Q1 2020 Video Index.

With consumers spending countless hours browsing digital channels, brands can leverage this by delivering video content that communicates in a format that is familiar, easy to access, and also provides the convenience of an easy path to purchase.

The use of video is also changing the buyer journey, as e-commerce and retail brands use video to engage consumers at every stage of the purchase process. Product explainers, user generated content, online product reviews and ‘how-to’ video explainers are some of the ways savvy brands are leveraging video to educate and engage prospective consumers.

In fact, 76 per cent of people report purchasing a product or service after viewing a video.³

Deliver an in-person shopping experience, virtually anywhere

It’s clear that consumers of today value convenience and are adapting more and more to shopping online. But even so, consumers are still demanding authentic interactions and connections, and experiences that correlate to their everyday lives.

With video brands can give them that experience – an interactive, engaging experience that offers authenticity and an immediate path to purchase, from virtually anywhere. 

And for e-commerce and retail brands, video provides a simple and transparent way to build and scale your offerings—and marketing  strategy. If you haven’t made the move to incorporate video into your strategy, you’re losing out – both on customers, and to your competitors.  

Want to learn more? Download Brightcove’s guide: Humanise the Online Experience: Video’s Role in Today’s E-commerce Marketplace.

¹ Australian Bureau of Statistics: 8501.0 – Retail Trade, Australia, April 2020

² Australia Post 2020 eCommerce report

³ Brightcove Video Marketing Survey, 2018