This
new way of shopping has popped up at my stall three times this week and each occasion
resulted in a sale.
Video
shopping is when a customer remotely examines your products through somebody
else’s phone. The phone holder, or proxy shopper, will show the customer on the
other end of the phone products that interest them and it becomes a bit like a
shopping tour usually with continuous banter and regular review and comparison
discussions. “What size is that? Can you show me the larger version? Please get
a close-up. Ooh what was that?”
The
customer sees the products and the proxy usually has vision of the customers
face so that their reaction is monitored. The whole process seems to be
remarkably effective and, as I mentioned in the introduction, each video
shopping event this week resulted in a sale. One customer even bargained with
me on the screen - quite bizarre!
Perhaps
the most memorable situation was a Brother shopping for his Sister in New York.
He had told her about some of my products, apparently unobtainable in the US,
and they organised a video tie up. The Brother purchased 3 items and was
catching up with his Sister in India in a week’s time.
Another
customer was a Mother videoing for her Daughter who collected one of my
products. The Mother sifted through the ten options I had in stock and the Daughter selected from the video vision. Sale done.
Of
course there is no reason why he video shopping can’t be done with the stall
holders phone as the medium. There are a number of free phone apps that allow
videoing and I will certainly be investigating those options and how to offer
them to my customers.
By Greg Smith
