The world of shopping has changed. It's becoming more content driven than ever, and the brands that are winning are the brands that understand that and invest in standing out.

So what is shoppable video, and what are some examples of shoppable video really working for brands?

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What is shoppable video?

Shoppable video is interactive video where you can add a product straight to your basket from a video and head to checkout.

The interactions vary platform to platform, but the idea is the same, the products that are in the video are linked and displayed, and you add them to your basket right at that moment where you think ‘Holy heck I need that airfryer’.

It’s designed to provide a seamless experience from video inspiration to purchase.

Shoppable video is revolutionizing the world of e-commerce at break-neck speed.

It generally breaks down into three main areas:

• Shopping straight from social media platforms & video apps (eg Instagram, TikTok, YouTube)
• Shopping on dedicated shoppable video platforms (eg. WhatNot)
• Self-hosted shoppable video experiences (directly on the brands store or in marketing)

Shoppable video can also be live, or it can be async with content that already exists.

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Why is Shoppable video so popular?

Consumers love video, and the amount of it being produced is skyrocketing thanks to access to great filming equipment (thanks Steve). The rapid ascent of TikTok, Instagram Reels, and now Youtube shorts is another of the clearest indicators of the power of short form video. The Financial Times actually reported that YouTube are worried about Shorts taking over long form content.

85% of customers find video essential when buying.

If you’re not investing in video, what are you doing? Pinterest, Amazon, Etsy, Reddit, Twitter (sorry, ‘X’), are all moving video closer and closer to their core experience. Even Spotify rolled out it’s own video exploration feature.

Video is powerful because it conveys emotion, connects with a customer, creates FOMO and not only that it can show products in far more detail than an image can. How it looks, how it works.

For forward thinking brands, that means there’s money to be made. People spend longer engaging with the brand, and build a connection with them. Shopping experiences can be seamless - meaning higher conversion; customers inspired - meaning larger baskets; and relationships built - meaning greater retention.

One of the most powerful ways you can use Shoppable video as a brand is to own your own shoppable experience, using a platform like Clipara. Used by brands like SEFI, Submerge, Dcypher, AtlasPacks, Rivvi and others it helps you add shoppable experiences to your own site.

Fully customised to match you brand, you can add it a store in matter of minutes.

Benefits of Shoppable video

Higher Conversion Rates

By making products immediately available within the video, there are fewer steps from watching the video and deciding that you want to buy it to being in the checkout. Fewer steps can drive conversions by shortening the path to purchase.

Engage Customers

Customers love video. It’s why platforms like TikTok, Reels and YouTube are booming. By adding shoppable video experiences to your store, you can boost customer engagement and keep them entertained and on site longer, far more so than with simple text and images. If customers engage with your brand for longer, even if they don’t purchases straight away they are more likely to come back.

Valuable Data

With shoppable video, you can generate 1st party data on what customers enjoy, which videos they watch the most and which videos lead to the most sales. With this data, you can continue to optimise your content strategy to drive more sales

Brand Recognition

By providing entertaining video experiences, you can communicate your products and what your brand stands for in a powerful way. This can help with brand recall and retention, bringing shoppers back to your store more frequently.

Stand out from competitors

If you produce loads of great video content that entertains and informs your customers, it can be a huge differentiator for your brand. Customers want to see video content and are much more likely to buy after watching it. If you aren’t providing customers what they are after, they may well end up shopping elsewhere. Many of the fastest growing brands differentiate themself with content, because it’s such a great way to stand out.

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Shoppable Video Examples

SEFI

Activewear brand SEFI, the brainchild of fitness influencer Stef Williams, built a shoppable video experience directly into their site using Clipara.

Using their content from Stef, their marketing team and from their community, they inspire customers with looks and lifestyle video. Their best content often shows off multiple looks or combinations, increasing basket size. On both desktop and and mobile, customers can see what products are in the video, and add to basket directly from the video.

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AtlasPacks

Another Clipara customer, Atlas Packs use shoppable video as a key part of their social proof. Their product is incredibly high quality, durable camera backpacks for taking on adventures. Customers need to know they're really going to last. So along with their classic publication logo social proof, Atlas Packs use the shoppable video mantra 'Show, don't tell'. Videos of customers and patrons that are just like their perfect customer profile, taking the bags out on epic adventures. The proof doesn't get much better than that does it?

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Remilia

Haircare brand Remilia have a product where the end result is the real thing that people care about. When you think a customers reason for buying, it comes down to the famous 'jobs to be done' framework by Clayton Christensen. When a customer is buying a beauty product, their job to be done is 'I want to look good, and feel confident'. Therefore the outcome of using the product is the most important thing. The best way to show the outcome? Use videos to show customers using the product, showing off the results, and raving about the product. Remilia put that in place and immediately started seeing results.

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How to make a shoppable video

The most important thing with shoppable video is to use a high quality provider that won’t slow down your site. That is the number one rule of e-commerce!

Clipara is a great example of that. You can follow this 7 click walkthrough below to show you exactly how you can go from zero to shoppable video on a Shopify store on your site in a matter of minutes.

Simply get the Clipara shopify app here, connect it to your store then follow these few simple steps:

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What is the best content for shoppable video?

Shoppable video is often great when it comes from a mixture of sources:

• Highly polished content from the brand itself. Make those products shine baby!
• UGC - Everybody knows the power of social proof. Reviews and a sense of community are powerful conversion aids
• Influencers - UGC just maybe a little less organic. Using influencers that your audience resonate with and who genuinely like the product is a perfect mix. But if the content just feels like a hard sell, it can be off-putting.

If you're in need of cheap UGC, you can even use a service like Billo, Clip, or Gridbank.

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How to understand the impact of shoppable video

It's important you don't just put videos into your customer journey, and not understand the impact they are having on your sales. You need to use a platform that has detailed analytics on which videos are getting the most engagement and which videos are driving the most sales.

With Clipara, you get a detailed dashboard showing you exactly how your content is performing, so youcan learn and adapt your strategy.
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Conclusion

There are a lot of things to consider when it comes to shoppable video, but if there's one thing for sure is that it's here to stay, and growing rapidly. If you want to learn more about adding shoppable video to your store, with Clipara, please do get in touch and we'd love to help.

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