A few years ago adding webrooming and showrooming to your vocabulary would have certainly been met with sideways stares of confusion. However, the explosion of online retail has created some new and interesting words that are quickly turning commonplace. Today, especially as the holiday season rolls in, both words will play a major role behind the decisions of retailers looking to capitalize on holiday sales.
According to Deloitte’s annual holiday shopping survey, webrooming (the practice of researching items online and then purchasing them in-store) will trump showrooming (going to a store to look at an item and then purchasing it online). This means that all realms of retailers need to not only make sure their online stores provide complete product information in the most engaging way possible, but that they also create the best experience for customers.
The survey states that the Internet (including auction sites) will be the top holiday shopping venue with 45% planning on doing their shopping there. Additionally, 69% of shoppers indicated they are either very likely or somewhat likely to “webroom,” and another 49% of shoppers indicated they are either very likely or somewhat likely to showroom.
We already know that utilizing video is highly successful for providing effective product information and increasing online sales. But, what about the other piece of the puzzle: customer experience? To address this, we took a closer look at what consumers in the Deloitte survey reported they disliked about the in-store shopping experience.
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It quickly becomes apparent that time is the top factor that keeps people away from stores. Long lines, too much traffic, slow checkout, too far away; they all come down to wasting time or inefficient use of time for consumers. Consumers want fast service, which means if they are turning to your website for a faster experience then you need ensure it works across devices and that all of its assets, specifically video, load fast. Nothing will deter a future customer faster than the spooling symbol on a video they were counting on to save them time on a product they quickly wanted to learn about.
If you take the wise initiative of utilizing video in your marketing mix but have your videos play on a slow player that doesn’t work across operating systems and devices, then that could quickly minimize your efforts and even lose sales. You will end up wasting consumers’ time and replicating the main reason why they avoided a store and turned to your website in the first place.
Leveraging a video platform with a fast player that can reach any device will help retailers enhance their online presence to make it better than the in-store experience. Video Marketing Suite has all the tools marketers need to successfully reach, engage, and convert website visitors no matter where they are. Learn more by visiting the website or contact us today.