Shoppable Videos and the future of E-commerce!

Published on

March 14, 2023

Published by

Vishnu R Mohan

Using video content to promote and sell products or services has become a boon to both the customers and the business. Now, video e-commerce has become significant for traders because it has the power to translate brand experience into a transaction. And there emerges a whole new technology segment – “Shoppable Videos!”

The term might be new to you, but most probably you’ve already consumed it. Shoppable videos are nothing but short videos that demonstrates a product. And you will directly have the option to purchase what you see in the video!

Videos are the most effective way of demonstrating a product and its benefits. They provide as much information as possible about the products. One can increase their business benefits and conversion rate through video eCommerce. You can infer this from your life. Just look around your room and ask yourself, “What made me interested in buying these products?”. You’ll surely get the answer that something engaged me to buy this.

And also it can be of many factors in which the main reason behind my interest in this particular product is that “thing” which took this product directly to my mind. And that so-called “thing” is nothing but videos.



Impact of Visual Impressions

Videos are those visual impressions that have the power to directly get into people’s minds. They will show you the product, its features, its benefits, its drawbacks, and many more including the feedback from others. Video can convey an incredible amount of information very fast.

Displaying the product via video will give the customer so much more information about how it looks.

In addition to these benefits that the traders and customers get from shopping through the videos, just imagine how interesting it would be when your favourite actor says something about the product after their use. When a consumer sees how a product works, they are much more likely to convert.

It is also possible to strike an emotional chord and tell customers how they should feel about an item. Especially, the feedback from your favorite personalities will make the product reach as many customers as possible. And also, this will increase the user- engagement manifolds.

Both TikTok and Instagram Reels provided their users with platforms for self-expression, media sharing and following, and unique communities to explore and join. That “trendy and viral” thing is something that got introduced with the popularity of TikTok and Instagram reels. People got so much dwelled into these platforms that they started earning by doing videos. So, now both entertainment and business came under one umbrella.

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How COVID has pushed fashion & lifestyle shopping to go online

2020 has been the year of digital connections. COVID-19 has moved much of our lives online, from how we communicate with each other to the way we shop. The pandemic has accelerated the shift to e-commerce by roughly 5 years, reports say.

The victory of video-eCommerce lies in developing interactive and collaborative videos which can captivate customers towards binge-watching. Once started, people would keep watching multiple videos in rapid succession. This action became an addiction with the coming of the coronavirus pandemic. Covid pushed many sellers to close their physical stores for a while during the lockdown.

But lockdown continued and made those sellers suffer a lot due to the unexpected hit they got from covid. But the online commercial transactions blessed them and many of them pushed to make their sales online. And also, the lockdown brought a similar impact on the customers’ side too. They all turned out to be online shoppers.

E-commerce firms have reported record sales during the crucial time last year, including

$115 billion from Alibaba and JD.com during single days. And at the same time, many analysts predicted that the growing trend of online purchases will stay post-pandemic too.

With safety and uncertainty on the seller’s minds, how shopping is done and what consumers are going to buy has changed. Instead of door-busting crowds, 2020′s holiday shoppers turned to apps in record numbers and had taken advantage of click-and-collect as

an option that provides both safety and convenience. In effect, traditional retail investment in online platforms became something they can’t ignore forever.

Growth of Fashion and Apparels Channels on Instagram, Youtube etc.

Following trends from the last few years, Instagram remains the biggest priority for creators and brands in the influencer marketing space. And as Instagram ramps up its shopping features, the platform is becoming an increasingly important cornerstone in digital commerce and consumer purchasing decisions. However, as many marketers shift their focus to creating both short-form and long-form video content, social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok are seeing a surge as well.

Today, digital communities rule the world of commerce and brands are starting to realize the increasing value of investing in influencers — the social media micro-celebrities who have earned the trust of their audience and the power to sway their perceptions and purchasing decisions. This year specifically, brands have leveraged influencers to expand reach, generate high-quality content, boost conversions, and more.

On the other hand, we’re seeing a rise in influencers posting Instagram Stories, particularly videos. This comes as no surprise, as Instagram Stories have become increasingly popular among creators, brands, and users alike. The major advantage from the growth of such fashion and apparels channels had benefited the brands and creators to sell their products directly to their consumers.

Videos to Shoppable videos

YouTube achieves far higher figures in the case of engagement rate than Instagram, showcasing the big opportunity that brands have on video platforms. In the pre-covid era, video content were mostly used for entertainment, and e-learning applications. But now, it’s mainstream in e-commerce.

Additionally, YouTube recently added Shopify integrations which allow brands to sell products directly through the platforms indicating that these channels are an increasingly important driver for ecommerce sales.

Yes! The next big thing that provides companies with an alternative channel to indulge in product sales will be shoppable videos. This is nothing but integrating the influencer videos that show the products with the provision of purchasing that similar piece of product at the same time the user is watching the video. Instagram and Facebook make the most sought-after channel by fashion influencers and brands to advertise their products.

The ongoing way of buying those products to which the consumer gets attracted from the influencers on such media platforms is very now. Video content adoption is booming, and also, e-commerce fashion and apparel are booming. So mixing these two,

the next big thing is shoppable videos. Considering the case of Instagram, it is such a way that users get attracted to products coming under fashions and apparel in which the influencer is promoting, then the user needs to find the Instagram account which sells that particular product from the description given by that influencer. Then the user has to message that retailer directly. But many times, the users may not get a reply. Even if they got it, there may be a long delay in getting the response about the info of that product. It’s a tiresome process. In the upcoming era, the introduction of shoppable videos could become a revolution.

Why Shoppable Videos are here to stay

The introduction of shoppable videos is a new idea that promotes the interests of the consumers and also the selling rate of the vendor’s severalfold. The idea is to incorporate both eCommerce and influencer marketing and the medium is by developing a separate application that makes this idea into reality. And this app development could reduce the so-called struggles faced during online shopping.

Struggles like payment issues, logistics- related problems, product return, hidden costs, website policies etc should be reduced so that the new app can make a revolution in the next generation.

Why the shoppable videos are here to stay because of many reasons including that the application that is developed as a result could

  1. Give people a lot of information about the products through the videos

  2. It could make the product returns much easier

  3. Helps the retailers to make reach their products as far as possible through influencer marketing

  4. It could give its users a provision to directly buy products with a few clicks.

  5. It makes your shopping cart easy to use

So, the next big thing that has the capability to revolutionize the shopping experience would be the emergence of shoppable videos.

Next wave of e-commerce applications would be heavily focussed on video content and will be inspired from TikTok and Instagram Reels. If you are planning to build something in this space, then don’t wait, this is the right time.

Videos to Shoppable videos

YouTube achieves far higher figures in the case of engagement rate than Instagram, showcasing the big opportunity that brands have on video platforms. In the pre-covid era, video content were mostly used for entertainment, and e-learning applications. But now, it’s mainstream in e-commerce.

Additionally, YouTube recently added Shopify integrations which allow brands to sell products directly through the platforms indicating that these channels are an increasingly important driver for ecommerce sales.

Yes! The next big thing that provides companies with an alternative channel to indulge in product sales will be shoppable videos. This is nothing but integrating the influencer videos that show the products with the provision of purchasing that similar piece of product at the same time the user is watching the video. Instagram and Facebook make the most sought-after channel by fashion influencers and brands to advertise their products.

The ongoing way of buying those products to which the consumer gets attracted from the influencers on such media platforms is very now. Video content adoption is booming, and also, e-commerce fashion and apparel are booming. So mixing these two,

the next big thing is shoppable videos. Considering the case of Instagram, it is such a way that users get attracted to products coming under fashions and apparel in which the influencer is promoting, then the user needs to find the Instagram account which sells that particular product from the description given by that influencer. Then the user has to message that retailer directly. But many times, the users may not get a reply. Even if they got it, there may be a long delay in getting the response about the info of that product. It’s a tiresome process. In the upcoming era, the introduction of shoppable videos could become a revolution.