As online video proliferates, retailers’ focus on video as a site feature to aid the shopping research and purchase process has grown as well. In the 2009 State of Retailing Online Merchandising Report, approximately one third of retailers surveyed told us that they currently use streaming video on their site, and, of those, one third deemed it “very effective.” We wondered, is there commensurate consumer demand for this content?

In the July 2009 American Pulse survey, conducted by BIGresearch on behalf of Shop.org, we asked consumers, “How often do you use online video when researching or buying products online?” Certainly, video for shopping purposes online appears to be as-yet nascent: just 12.1% of all adults (18+ years of age) surveyed indicated that they “regularly” use online video for shopping purposes.  That said, however, another 46% said that they use online video “occasionally” for online shopping purposes. 

When we probed a bit further, asking how they’ve used video content to date for shopping purposes, it looks like video is quickly becoming a de rigueur site feature in consumers’ eyes. Half of consumers surveyed agreed with the statements, “Online videos produced by manufacturers are helpful in explaining product features and how the product works” and “I have watched online videos for products that I purchased online”. One quarter said they had watched online videos for products that they researched (though not necessarily purchased) online. Unlike the case for customer ratings and reviews, there appears to be some caution about consumer-generated product videos – less than one fifth of consumers professed to trust those.

For anyone inclined to think that it’s mostly cool young-somethings (18 to 34 years of age) tapping online video for shopping needs – not so fast. The older the consumer, the more likely he or she is to turn to online video to understand product features and/or how the product works (perhaps the cool young somethings get some of that info from knowledgeable friends or family members). And while younger consumers are somewhat more than inclined to trust consumer-generated videos than are older users, even they don’t trust these as much as they do videos professionally produced by manufacturers or retailers themselves.

One last note: online video in some cases appears to influence purchases offline as well (i.e. in a brick and mortar store). For example, one fifth of men surveyed noted that online video had directly influenced their decision to buy a specific product offline. Multi-channel marketing and merchandising at work.

For a full summary of the survey data results, Shop.org members may download those from our site. In addition to age, the data results are also segmented by men/women and income.

Any e-commerce related video content / campaigns you’ve seen that you thought particularly effective? Which retailers or travel companies are effectively leveraging online video in offline channels?  Tell us what you think.