Web shops are awesome. You have a 24hr delivery, you can read someone else’s review about their experience, and it’s super easy to compare prices between stores.
What’s less awesome about shopping online, is the fact that you can’t hold the product. You have to trust the reviews and wish for the best. And that’s where a lot of web shops can book a lot of progress. You need to make sure that product pages are displaying the product so eloquently that it feels like you’re practically holding the product. Then you’ll be able to remove the barriers from buying online, as opposed to offline.
Let’s say you’re looking for a new camera. You stumble upon a new Nikon with all the specs you want. The product page has a few photos, an extensive description and a few reviews. However, you’re not fully convinced yet. You’re about to buy something expensive, isn’t there an expert who can advise you which camera you need?
And of course you are going to need a memory card, an extra battery, a camera holder and maybe some other complementary products as well. Luckily, web shops adhere to their customers and simultaneously increase their conversion rates, by showing a header like Frequently bought together somewhere on the focal product’s page. A perfect example is what Amazon is doing:
Some companies show Recommended accessories or Popular choices. All of these recommendations will give you an uplift in your conversions.
However, this finding is what us Dutchies might call “kicking in an open door”. So, what’s new in this article that made us want to write about it?
Displaying Complementary Products
Kumar & Tan (2015) found that displaying complementary products in product videos will increase your conversions tremendously. Introducing a video on the focal product’s page resulted in a 14.5% increase in focal product sales (direct effect) and a 28.3% increase in associated coordinating product sales (spillover effect). Surprisingly, a lot of big online retailers are not using this wisdom properly.
Let’s take a look at Lazada, the so-called Amazon of Asia. Somewhere hidden below the fold, they have a few suggestions available, but you can’t find any complementary products anywhere. You already made up your mind about which camera you want, why would you need a suggestion for a different camera?
And yes, we get it, product videos cost a lot of time and energy. Even Walmart, one of the biggest online retailers, isn’t displaying a product video, just a few photos.
What Can You Do To Generate Extra Sales?
You can take advantage of this co-purchase principle in different settings: retailers like Forever 21 present brief high-definition videos of models wearing dresses with matching purses, jewelry and much more:
Companies like IKEA not only show you a specific lamp, but also present you a fully furnished room with not only the lamp, but also a bed, a nightstand and sheets you can buy. Now you suddenly want to buy the whole room, right? Even real estate websites like Zillow offer you video walk-throughs displaying their properties with matching furnishings.
But one of the best practical implications comes from Coolblue. They do a lot of product promotion with video and also show complementary products to increase sales.
You need to make sure that product pages are displaying the product so eloquently that it feels like you’re practically holding the product. Then you’ll be able to remove the barriers from buying online, as opposed to offline.
So, in order to really excel as an online retailer, do not only promote your products with product videos, but take away every boundary those lazy customers might have, and show them everything they can possibly want along with it!