Online Video: Retailers Using Online Video Increasing.

According to Paul Verna, Senior Analyst with Emarketer.com, more retailers and other businesses are beginning to rely heavily upon online video to get their brand and product and services message out to the buying public.

Verna stated in a recent article that retailers are implementing video on their websites in “growing numbers”.  He also said that video has gone from a luxury to a near necessity for a company that’s looking for a marketing edge.

An area where the video increase has been significant is in the retail sector.  46 % of U.S. multichannel retailers chose video when asked which rich media features they used.

Forrester Research says that of the top 50 U.S. online retailers that use video on their websites jumped to 68% in 2009 versus only 18% in 2008.  But this doesn’t just apply to online retailers with e commerce sites.  In a recent study by the “Society for New Communications Research”, Fortune 500 companies with public blogs are using video blogging to the tune of 31%.  That’s an increase from 21% in 2008.

In another article entitled; “Consumer Packaged Goods Sector Taps into Online Video”, Tobi Elkin of Emarketer.com said that “Creating an online video presence helps marketers facilitate an ongoing dialogue with consumers, boos brand equity, lure prospective customers and solidify support among brand loyalists”.

Increasingly consumers are accessing more and more amounts of video, now available on several different platforms; laptops, smartphones, tablets, and home pc’s.   Consumer desire for video will become more demanding as these platforms become more popular.

Watching a product video online while standing in front of the product in a retail store, or deciding on the product by watching a review podcast on your iPhone while in the store is a technology that’s now readily available to anyone.

If you’re in business.  Any business.  You surely must be realizing that online video is no longer an optional method of advertising.  It is by far surpassing any other type of advertising you can think of, both in terms of its popularity, and its effectiveness.

As with most opportunities, this one too will fade away and the chance to stand ahead of your competitors will transform into a chance to keep up with your competitors.  Now is the time to jump into online video BEFORE your competitors do.