The year 2020 has drastically altered not just the needs and wants of the consumer but also the way they shop for it. As per the 2020 Gartner Consumer Behaviors and Attitudes Survey, 64% of consumers feel they are at risk of exposure in public places. It has therefore become imperative for brands and retailers to strengthen their online presence and support consumers’ self-protective instincts.
However, there are several trends that retailers need to consider before they reinvent themselves. Live video selling is one such trend that helps retailers stay relevant and find success online.
The advent of the smartphone and superior interfaces of apps have changed consumer behaviour. Consumers are now more open to buying online, and more and more customers are making the switch to shopping online.
Taking advantage of new technologies is serving to increase online sales by helping customers find the perfect piece, without ever having to leave their home. Here are some of the latest trends that help increase sales.
A core part of providing a superior customer experience is understanding what the customer looks for while shopping online. Research shows that 87% of buyers want to know what the product looks like in real life.
Use tools like 3D models to help the customer visualize the product. Present your full catalog of products in an interesting and fun way with the help of hotspots. Customers will be able to interact with your products and choose their favourite product and buy it.
An important part of an outstanding customer experience is providing useful and relevant personalised suggestions. This is best done by your sales staff on video calls rather than some impersonal bot. Seeing a friendly face answer any questions they have about the colour, size, texture can help sell products much more easily than just static images.
Use live video selling tools to engage with customers one on one and increase conversions. Sales staff can walk them through your collection just like they would in a store. They don’t need to be tech savvy- all they need to know is how to take a video call.
Over the past few years, video has become a powerful medium for influencing people across industries. Being an easy-to-consume medium, it has outpaced other forms of marketing with a much better return on investment of about 75% than static imagery. Live video selling is an even more powerful medium as it results in instant answers to customer doubts and concerns.
Here are four ways to use live video shopping to engage and connect with customers and increase sales at par with retail sales in normal times.
There are immense benefits of using video in e-commerce, however, it becomes difficult to implement because of the technicalities and the high costs of equipment. How does one go about it? Which products should the video be made for? Live video selling does away with these problems as the salesperson can show a live demonstration of the piece that the customer is interested in.
Live video selling calls can also be recorded and reused for training purposes as well as marketing. They can be used to train sales staff and improve their expertise in dealing with customers in live video calls. The recorded sessions can be edited to respect customer privacy and can be posted as demo videos on the website. This would help in creating an inventory of product videos. Further down the road, they can even share frequently seen videos.
There are several factors that a consumer keeps in mind while shopping. What is your style? What is in vogue? What is your size? Will it fit well? What should be the accessories? It helps to have a specialist narrow down the choices. Live video selling can help customers connect one on one with specialists who can not only understand and resolve customer concerns but can also suggest accessories and alternatives. Such conversations can truly immerse the customer and help in making a buying decision.
The pandemic has limited the avenues of entertainment for people and webinars have stepped in to fill this void. In the e-commerce world, these have taken the form of Design Webinars and Shop Parties. Using live video selling, leading designers and brands can host design webinars for several people. These webinars can give out style tips to choose the right clothes and accessories, discuss the latest trends in fashion, and can help create the desire to buy. Shop parties are a fun way to shop with close friends and family where they can look at clothes and accessories together and decide together which items to buy.
Live video selling is an innovative trend of video e-commerce that not only offers retailers and brands the benefits of video in e-commerce but also makes it quick and simple to implement. It is fast becoming a trendy way to connect and engage with customers and adapt to the online environment of selling and increase conversions that approach retail levels.