High-street giant boosts sales thanks to online video

November 15th, 2011

Retail giant Marks & Spencer has revealed the growing importance of online video when it comes to boosting customer engagement and increasing sales.

The chain – which sells food, clothing and homewares – was keen to bridge the gap between the rather impersonal process of online shopping and interaction with customers.

It rolled out an online video trial which aimed to provide ‘informative video content to educate and entertain customers,’ according to Retail Info Systems News.

As a result of the trial – which began back in 2009 – Marks & Spencer witnessed a large growth in sales, and decided that online video was a key marketing tool that should be utilised to its full advantage. Currently, the retailer has more than 500 online videos catering to customers on M&S TV.

Head of marketing for M&S Money, one of the financial divisions of Marks & Spencer, Amanda Newman, told the news provider, “With the increasing popularity of digital and social media channels, the way people consume and share information is changing."

“As such, we’ve developed our marketing strategy to include an increasing variety of communications platforms, ensuring our customers are able to engage with Marks & Spencer in as many ways as possible,” Ms Newman added.

Proving the importance of online video production to a firm’s ability to communicate with its customers and convert interest into sales, over the course of one year, more than three million minutes of online video content were viewed by web users on M&S TV.

Those who viewed the videos were found to buy 25 per cent more than those who had not viewed the videos. Those consumers were also found to remain on the website for longer periods of time, and to visit twice as often as those who were not viewing any online videos.