Live video shopping lends itself to almost every type of commerce service. Here we will dig deeper into three examples and see why offering a live video service will be a huge benefit to these and many other sectors.
Luxury Fashion
Whilst fast fashion has accelerated in ecommerce terms via the likes of ASOS, higher end fashion stores have been somewhat slower to adjust. Brands preferred to with with marketplaces such as Net-A-Porter to deal with the logistics of online transactions. This is changing, as luxury brands are starting to move towards owning the customer journey and building their own websites for commerce to take place. The myth that people won’t buy high end online’ has largely been dis-spelled. $4.7b of luxury goods were sold online in 2010. By 2019 that figure was at $37b and was likely to continue growing (1).
With access to a global audience and customer service and experience being a prime factor in purchases, the use of live video is ideally suited for this audience. If you have fewer customers in your shop and a workforce available, then using them as live video shop assistants is an ideal way to keep their jobs and ensure orders keep flowing in. All you need is an ecommerce website and a video partner such as Confer With. This technology will allow your customers to connect with an assistant in-store, ask them questions they need to, such as around sizing and colour and your customers can then order at a click of a button.
Car Showrooms
In a similar way to luxury fashion items, years ago many believed that people would never order such a high ticket item as cars online, but that is clearly beginning to change. When Ford allowed for pre-orders of their Mustang Mach-E, almost all of these came via online, with very few people physically going to dealers (2). Using live video shopping is an innovative method for car dealers to engage with their customers. Sales reps can show the customers the current car condition or allow them to hear the sound of the engine. Upgrades and upsells become natural when engaging with a customer on a 1-2-1 video call as well.
Users will be as familiar with buying a car online as they are with other products, due to the sheer amount of information available. However, the leaders in the field will be those offering a competitive edge with online video connections helping get that sale online.
Art Galleries
Pre-pandemic, the online art world was set to grow at 15% per year, leading to being worth $9.32b by 2024 (3). The pandemic could see this grow at a quicker pace. People will be spending more time at home and wanting to add nice items to their environment. In addition, in an age of uncertainty, the alternative investment market is another opportunity.
As with other industries, live video shopping allows expert staff who may not be dealing with as many customers in-store to deal with them online. Gallery staff often have real expertise in their area and a video chat between them and a potential customer is a great way to illustrate this and re-assure the customer about their purchase. It allows the online assistant to talk of the artist and their history, methodology and potentially other works.
Video will also allow customers to view works up-close and check on any repairs or flaws with the art or even the framing. This type of detail is simply not available with a standard photographic image of a piece.
Finally, art has a global appeal and offering an interactive video service will open galleries up to customers around the world in ways never seen before. A gallery can be talking to a buyer in Shanghai in the morning and an interior designer in California on the evening. The true, two way nature of the experience will bring the object to life and the sale that bit closer.
Conclusion
These scenarios may have given you some inspiration for how video commerce could work in a sector you work in. If you’d like to find out more, we’d love to help you, book a demo today
