Video shopping: an emerging way to shop online

Technology has always been moving to ease human activities and develop our world. Today with the onset of the internet, technology has affected our lives in more ways than we could imagine. One such feature of this technological advancement is online shopping. Moving from one shop to another to find the product of your choice is exhausting. This is why today we have online shopping to reduce our efforts. But, it can also be exhausting to move from one website to another or even scroll through applications. To ease out even this process, you can now shop through videos.

With the evolution of the digital world, video shopping has made its place in this world. Videos and images have paved their way into the digital field. Online shopping has become easy with the arrival of new applications. This article will help you understand the numerous aspects of video shopping.

What is video shopping?

Video shopping, in simple words, is an act where people use videos to buy and sell their products and services online. It provides an opportunity for the consumers to make a quick decision by looking at these shopping videos. The video gives all the necessary information about the product, which is helpful for the buyer. On the other hand, it also helps to boost sales, which allows the seller.

How does video shopping work?

Video shopping focuses on the use of audio-visual aids to connect to consumers and sell products. A video demonstrating or featuring a product is made and shown to consumers who visit such platforms. The consumer can use the video to buy the product as it is already linked to the product. Products would be tagged in the video, and you can know about the product from those tags. In some cases, image recognition does the tagging automatically. It makes it convenient for online shoppers who want to purchase the effect they see in the video. It either provides a space for buying the product directly or is linked directly to the product page on the e-commerce site. Sometimes, the product is connected directly to the shopping cart for an explicit purchase making it a shortcut for an easy purchase.

Lots of people might go through the website without purchasing anything. This is a significant problem for online shopping apps. But video commerce helps in solving this problem. It’s always easier to view a video than read a lengthy article that would be boring. All the information is concise into a chewable size which is easier to understand the product. It would entertain the audience who wants to do some purchasing. When someone uses a product and talks about its advantages, people often tend to trust them. Uploading a video on the homepage is another way to increase your sales. Putting videos on product pages is a good and intelligent business decision. When consumers see how a product works, they are more likely to try to be content with the benefits.

Moreover, the sharing of videos is a lot easier and quicker. As per surveys and research, customers tend to stay longer on pages where there are videos. By doing so, they might get other information related to the products on your site. Most of the consumers go through videos to see how the products work. Consumers are more likely to trust the product after watching a video using the product they are willing to buy. By visiting the videos, it helps them assume how the product is going to be. Product videos will help you to have a chance of ranking in search engines. Beyond social platforms, shoppable videos can be set up in any section of a website. It is a mode of spreading awareness by giving quick information about the product making it entertaining rather than reading lengthy articles.

Advantages of video shopping

Video shopping offers numerous benefits. Here are a few of them-

Short And powerful

Marketing videos tend to be short. In this busy schedule of daily chores, people want everything to be rapid. A short video summarizing the key points is what these videos consist of. It’s powerful enough to persuade people into buying the product.

Rapt Attention

Often while reading, our minds tend to wander into a different thing. But images and visuals usually stay in our minds. Video shopping is entertaining. Moreover, companies make influencers use their products and make a video of it too. This catches the attention of the public. There is a link to add the very same effect in your cart in such videos.

Expeditious Production

Videos are straightforward and can be produced fast. Videos can be made with any smartphone or camera, making it even easier. Editing can also be done without any professionals.

Stuck To The Website

Having a video on your website would help make people stay on your website for longer than usual. It makes them view the video irrespective of the video size. It allows the consumers to view the video while grabbing information about the product.

Propensity To Convert

People often fall for videos. They become visually attracted to these products. It makes the consumers fall prey to these videos creating a tendency to make them buy these products.

Handshake With Search Engine

Videos often tend to come up more in search engines than articles and blogs. This can significantly increase your reach, allowing your products to come up more on people’s searches.

Pass And pass

Videos are like a pass-and-pass game. It’s shared among millions on social media platforms, giving it a wider reach. These videos are entertaining and make it easier to view and share.

Influenced!

People often get influenced by celebrities and bloggers. They keep a keen watch on the product they are using etc. This makes it an easy platform to market your products.

Types of video shopping

Live And Non-live Video Shopping

The term in itself gives a brief idea of what it means. Live and non-live video can be simply put like that.

Live Video Shopping

Live video shopping is where the videos are not recorded before. There is a live presentation of the product and its features. It provides a platform for interaction with audiences as well. Live stream shopping is in real-time, making it easier to get on-spot responses from the audience. The presenter can simply ask a few questions to the audience regarding the product or answer their questions, which makes live video shopping an accessible platform for interaction with the audience. This helps in giving a clear picture of the features of the product that you are presenting. It persuades the audience to buy them in real-time. You can also use alternative methods of questions like polls or use tweets or direct message them. The presenter should be entertaining, making way for the audience to know more.

Non-Live Video Recording

Non-live video is a recorded video that is uploaded when required. You can integrate into the experiences of the user.

It can be shared with many, giving it a scope for broader reach. But unlike live video, it doesn’t get a direct response from the audience. Non-live videos can be tagged and be experienced on websites or social media platforms. But the drawback of non-live video shopping is that they assume the audience’s response. But still, they can be accessed anytime, unlike live video.

Dedicated Video Shopping

Instagram advertisements employ the advertising system of Facebook, which possesses the most powerful capability. According to your searches on the internet or platforms like Instagram or Facebook, the algorithm sends the consumers targeted video ads for shopping things like apparel and food items like candy or cookies. You may define the geography, demographics, hobbies, conduct, and more of your target audience. You may also target people who have purchased or interacted with you and other people like you.

Aggregator Video Shopping

An Aggregator Model is a networking E-commerce business model in which an Aggregator collects data on goods and services supplied by many competing websites or application software and presents it on its website or application software. Shopping Aggregators collect data from many shopping engines and provide comparisons of price, goods, and rates. Some of the most popular shopping aggregators on the Web, mainly since they deliver valuable and accurate results. Amazon and BizRate are some examples.

Video commerce

Video commerce uses video content to buy and sell products and services online. It’s both useful for buyers and sellers equally. From boosting sales to convenient buying. Video shopping is effective, as it demonstrates the features of the products. It’s the best way of providing information within a short amount of time. Instagram is about to come up with a new app starring video shopping. It aims to let consumers shop from brands that they follow. They can also purchase the items in the app, potentially creating a relatively frictionless experience compared with many mobile shopping experiences. Instagram allows products to be tagged so that they can be purchased with just some clicks. It predicted that online shopping statistics would continue to stay higher than in-store shopping. This is the future of ecommerce.

Advantages of video commerce

Better Engagement

People love watching videos rather than reading lengthy descriptions. Audiences find it boring reading; they prefer videos that keep them engaged. It’s a great theme where the complete information is compiled into a video for a few minutes. Anyone would choose a few-minute clip rather than reading rich written content. Video can capture the audience’s attention, which is the primary benefit of videos in the shopping field.

Video Brings Higher Conversions

Videos build a sense of trust in people. There is a higher chance of people converting to a product by seeing videos. As per many surveys, conversion through videos is more than any other medium. Videos tend to give a more realistic feel. If it’s an explanatory video, it is more beneficial. So, it’s helpful if it’s a video so that people can get a better view of the product.

Boosting Sales

Videos can boost sales. People fall for the videos and trust them. That persuades them to buy the product. By seeing videos, they become more comfortable. Once they like the video, they might even share it on social media, creating brand awareness. They can see the product through videos that make them buy it as they can assume its quality.

It Connects Influencers, Consumers & Merchants.

Companies regularly hire social media influencers to use their products and make a video on them. As these influencers have a great reach, the products also see an increase in their reach among the public. This helps to connect consumers and merchants in a better way.

Google Is Also Working On Its Video Shopping Application.

Video shopping is climbing the ladder of popularity very quickly. Its rise can be seen because Google, one of the global technology leaders, is also working on its video shopping app. Google has launched an app called Shoploop under its R&D division, Area 120. It is currently testing new ideas for this application with a public user base.

Shoploop involves a simple interface. Here users will be able to scroll through videos put up by creators on different products. This isn’t monetized at the moment. Google is working to make this app even better for both creators and users.

A Video Aggregator

Video aggregator collects all videos from all other sources and organizes them. Making similar videos on one platform is the most helpful staff, especially with millions of buyers and sellers. If a person is to view all videos in an application, it would approximately take 60000 years to complete watching them. But thanks to video aggregating, which organizes and combines all the related subjects. Just imagine seeing a video where a celebrity uses a product, and you wish to own the very same effect. You have to go to multiple websites surfing for the exact product. It’s a tedious process. Video aggregators play an immense role in bringing all similar videos together. The global pandemic has boosted the sales of online shopping apps. The videos are collected by looking at the quality and likes of the audience.

Some video shopping mobile apps

Shoploop

Shoploop is an application for easy shopping. It’s an online platform making it a one-stop solution. Shoploop is by Google. It is a video shopping platform for purchasing products online. Videos on the shop loop do not exceed 90 seconds. It helps in interacting with the audience. It deals in all categories of products. You can save or purchase it from the website or keep it for later.

Bulbul

Bulbul is India’s first live-streaming shopping application. Bulbul is a platform where you can watch live product demo videos and shop online. Consumers can watch the presenter showing their products online. Interaction is made more accessible and getting a review and feedback also is easy. You can know about the product, choose and purchase from the very same app. Since Indians have numerous languages, they focus on that too for better convenience.

Amazon Live

Amazon has seized the opportunity of video shopping which promotes products and their features. It is the company that creates a platform for both retailers and consumers to have an interactive session for shoppable. It allows the creation, capture, and management of live streams. The audience can find products directly next to the video. All kinds of product detail offers and deals are also shown.

Live scale

Live scale is a live shopping solution that helps brands to engage, convert, and attract customers through live videos. It is a way of attracting people to the product, discussing it, and persuading them to buy them. It was founded in 2016 and helped creators to connect with people. It uses a customizable live shopping method. It’s famous for fashion brands.

Instagram

All use Instagram. With all the reels, posts, and stories, it introduced shoppable posts and videos in 2018. It allows you to tag a maximum of 5 tags on products that are to be sold. Since Instagram is used by many, you can have a diverse audience making it an easy catch. Just the quality and content of the video matter.

YouTube

YouTube is also a kind of video shopping app. New features are coming up on YouTube for convenience. So, of course, they have introduced video shopping in 2020. There are specific guidelines for accessing it. They direct you to the shopping website with some clicks on the concerned video.

Some interesting stats about video commerce

• 55% of consumers use videos for purchase decisions.
• 80% of respondents would rather watch a live video from a brand than read a blog
• 67% of people say the quality of the video they’re watching is the most important factor of a live stream.
• Render Forest, 70% of the marketers feel that video converts better than any other medium. Also, explanatory videos increase the conversion rate by 20
• 99% of people who use video for marketing say they’ll continue using video in 2021

Monetization Opportunities for Video Shopping Applications

Here are the ways by which such applications can make money-

Advertisement Selling

Video shopping applications can generate reasonable amounts of money through advertisements. They do this by selling their space on their homepages and other pages. Here top content is displayed as per the users.

Commissions

The application takes a specific commission from brands that use the platform to sell their products.

Featured Listing

Apps can make content by showing certain content to only users with a premium account. As a user needs to pay money to get premium access, the application can generate revenue through this method.

Top five  video shopping applications in 2021

Amazon

Amazon.com, Inc. is e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence-focused American multinational technology business. Along with Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook, it is one of the Big Five firms in the United States’ information technology sector. The firm has been dubbed “one of the world’s most powerful economic and cultural forces,” as well as “the world’s most valuable brand.” Amazon is recognized for using technical innovation and enormous size to disrupt well-established businesses. By revenue and market capitalization, it is the world’s largest online marketplace, AI assistant provider, a live-streaming platform, and cloud computing platform. Amazon is the world’s most profitable Internet firm. It is the United States’ second-largest private employer and one of the world’s most valuable corporations. Amazon has the most significant worldwide brand worth as of 2020.

Wish

Wish is an online e-commerce platform based in the United States that connects merchants and customers. ContextLogic Inc., based in San Francisco, is the company that runs it. Rather than depending on a search bar style, the platform uses browsing technology to personalize shopping aesthetically for each consumer. It enables vendors to advertise their items on Wish and sell to customers directly. Wish does not stock items or manage returns; instead, it works with payment service providers to process payments. Over 1 million traders post their items on the Wish platform to sell directly to customers, reducing desirable rates for sellers and offering buyers cheap goods. China and other international wholesalers supply the bulk of the products offered through the app. Products are generally smaller products that are cheaper to transport, supported by the Chinese Post and the US Postal Service agreement to reduce shipping costs for goods of less than 2 kg. For customers prioritizing savings on the speed of delivery, Wish provides express shipment in some circumstances within five days, or 6-8 days, and regular load, which takes 2-3 weeks.

Letgo

Letgo (stylized logo) was a website and app providing users with the ability to purchase, sell or talk locally to others. Launched in January 2015, this app primarily targeted the United States market and competed with eBay and Craigslist. In 2015, the goods were introduced.

Rent the Runway

Rent the Runway is an e-commerce website that enables designer clothing and accessories to rent, subscribe or purchase. The firm supplies clothing in Lisizes from 00 to 22 by more than 800 designers. The firm rents daily apparel, children’s clothing, clothing, skis, home decor, and accessories, like gems and purses, in addition to attire for events. The firm provides numerous subscription options, which may be customized at different costs. The company claims that 75% of its business was subscribed to in 2019. Customers may also rent clothing for 4 or 8 days without subscribing to a reserve program without registering for a subscription. Each rental comes with a backup size, which is free of charge for its suitability. For a surcharge, customers can receive a second style. Rental prices include dry cleaning and clothing maintenance. In 2021 the firm started to permit anybody to purchase articles without membership through their website. Subscribers have the opportunity to purchase things leased from 2016 forward.

Chairish

Chairish is a sales department for vintage furniture, art, and home equipment. The chair takes a minimum listing cost of $25 for furniture and decoration with listings. The listing is free, and the vendor maintains up to 80% of the final sales. Chairish is the ideal home furniture and art design site. The interior designers and tastemakers love him — they come for the unique vintage, old and modern works and are happy to remain for much, with over 2000 things updated every day, carefully published. On Chairish, a site where purchasing and selling are softer, more durable, surprisingly intimate, and always pleasant, millions of consumers browse each month for gold (or lacquer, or marble, or ornately carved wood).

Key features of video shopping mobile apps

Here are the essential features/characteristics of a video shopping mobile application-

Video Creation Tool

This is one of the essential features of a video shopping application. Such an app must have a tool to create videos. This tool should have support features like the addition of sounds, tagging websites, redirection to e-commerce sites, the addition of filters, and others. This will allow creators to make videos on products to market them on the application.

Live Streaming

As you have already read earlier in this article, live streaming is a great way to engage the public about a product. Therefore, a video shopping app must have the option of live streaming to support creators and companies.

In-App Voice Assistance

This feature is common to almost every other application. Therefore, it is a must for video shopping applications too. This allows users to search their required products without typing quickly. Moreover, voice assistance adds to the simplicity of the user interface.

Push Notification

Push notification is a feature that allows apps to send notifications or messages directly to the user’s mobile device. This feature will enable the application to notify the user about other updates, live streams, new product releases, etc.

CRM Integration

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. Video shopping apps should allow proper integration of customer data to help sellers improve their services. Analytical data on customers, buying behavior, customer information, etc., fall under such data.

Loyalty Program

Video shopping applications employ loyalty programs to their frequent users. This is an innovative way to increase the customer base of the application. The users under this program get additional benefits such as discounts, early access to videos and sales, etc.

Real-Time Analytics

This feature helps the creators and sellers to know their performance and reach in real-time. The app shows data in graphs or figures to help such creators or sellers further improve their services.

Behavior Tracking

Behavior tracking involves tracking the buying behavior of users to improve the services of the application. Each user buys differently, and monitoring such behavior helps to adhere to each user’s needs better.

Recommendation

The application recommends different products and videos to users by studying the users’ activity on the app. This helps to introduce new products to users.

Top video shopping trends

The Livestream on Mobiles

People love watching videos on mobiles more than laptops. Many social media are using video streaming for shopping.

More Short Videos

Recent launches of reels and TikTok have seen a sudden growth in the short video trend. This is used for shopping as people can have a quick look at the products.

Interactive session

Interacting with people has made it more user-friendly. This has made shopping convenient as many people tend to trust these products.

Animated Videos

This isn’t currently available, but it might arrive soon when an animated character is made as an explainer.

Live Video Streaming

People love live streaming videos—no doubt why it is a trend in 2021. Shopping through live streaming helps them feel realistic and interactive.

Challenges you will face while developing a video shopping app

Video shopping applications are the future of shopping. It has many advantages over its competitors. But it is not an easy task to develop a good video shopping application. Here are a few challenges you will face while creating such an application-

Develop Connector for Multiple Platforms

Your application has to connect users to different platforms such as e-commerce sites, product pages, seller’s pages, etc.

Content Delivery with no Glitches

Building an application without any glitches or bugs is not an easy task. The application must be able to deliver content to its users without glitches. Moreover, you need to frequently run tests on the app to ensure that it does not give a hard time to users or creators due to glitches.

Robust Streaming Architecture

Streaming is a great way to connect to users and market products in a better way. Your app needs to have the necessary features to support streaming without any errors.

Content Transcoding

Your application has to convert the video put up by creators or sellers into a format accessible by different users. This is very important because one video format might not support a particular device. Therefore the application must decode the video in usable format according to the user’s device.

Insightful Analytics

Your application must analyze users and provide insights to the sellers, creators, and admins. These insights are necessary to improve the services and increase the user base.

Highly Scalable Database Storage

Your application’s server must have scalable database storage. This will allow the server to perform correctly in case of a spike of user requests and other similar situations.

How much does it cost to develop a video shopping mobile app?

You need a good team of professionals to build a video shopping mobile app. This team includes-

• UX/UI Designers
• iOS, Android Developers
• Quality Analyst Professionals
• Project Manager
• Backend Developers

On average, it will cost you around $25000-$30000 to build an app for a single platform, while the cost will double if your app is created for multiple platforms.

Conclusion

Video is having a growing influence on e-commerce. Consumers use it to make purchasing decisions. Product endorsements are live-streamed by influencers. And brands use video to engage customers and promote their products. With the growth of e-commerce, a new era of shopping experience has opened up. Shoppable videos are a trend now. Its features of live and non-live videos for shopping have made it interesting for people. Also, it is made accessible to buy from one website rather than surfing sites. People have always sought advice from others when shopping. 

Today, digital video is rapidly providing that information. People resort to a broad spectrum of video material for ideas and inspiration that drive purchasing choices, from early-stage browsing to product evaluations to learning how to utilize a product. The ultimate objective of all ecommerce marketers is to provide a flawless on-site consumer experience. You want to ensure seamless and intuitive surfing on your site, eliminate frictions and bounce rates and enjoy the conversion path. You somehow want to make visitors feel thoroughly imbued with the experience, like visiting your physical flagship shop but with all the ease and convenience online buying offers. 

The present trend in e-commerce suggests that firms transition the old model to a new business model that focuses on “standardized products, homogenous market, and long-term product life.” eCommerce demands the firm to meet and supply a more extensive selection of items to various clients. Generally, the recommender system is used to reach clients online to help them effectively and immediately locate the correct items they desire.

As a result, if your company needs a mobile app, hire an app development firm like Emizentech. Every excursion demands the necessary materials in order to be successful. So, get started straight now on your app development experience!

At Emizentech we are proficient at creating unique mobile apps. You can reach the company at the following mail.