Earlier this year, Amazon released a new feature enabling sellers in the U.S. to add product videos to their listings. Whilst not essential for all sellers, product videos create a new opportunity within the marketplace to stand-out in competitive categories by uniquely showcasing products and storefronts.

As the UK leaves the EU, understanding how to trade in US markets may become more important for UK sellers. Additionally, with the launch of Amazon Live, it looks like Amazon will be increasing the importance of videos on the platform, so it is worthwhile considering how videos can help to get ahead of the competition.

How videos can impact Amazon listings

With over 60,000 registered brands on the marketplace, videos are ideal for optimising listings and increasing brand interaction with potential customers. Videos allow potential customers to receive large amounts of information quickly, engaging shoppers through visuals, emotional cues, and valuable information. It also enables focusing on a product’s attributes without any distractions, conveying value, uses, unique selling points, and brand messaging.

Research shows that 90% of customers state that videos help their decision making process when purchasing online, so sellers should consider how their video will help engage the customer. An effective product video should highlight product features, benefits, and demonstrate its uses in a real-life setting. The content should provide a more in-depth explanation of what the product can do and how it works than the Amazon bullet points. Comparison videos are also helpful for demonstrating the product’s capabilities compared to competitors.

An additional benefit of videos is to help reduce negative reviews by providing a more accurate description of a product, reducing the chances of buyers purchasing an item that does not suit their requirements.

Which sellers can use Amazon product videos?

Product videos are currently only available on the U.S. marketplace for sellers which meet the following criteria:

• Marketplace sellers with a brand registered in Amazon Brand Registry can access videos through A+ Content in Seller Central

• Vendors that are confirmed as brand-owning manufacturers selling wholesale to Amazon can access videos through A+ Content in Vendor Central.     

It should be noted that although most sellers in Europe can only access videos when selling in vendor, it is important to be aware of how the process works as Amazon often tends to follow successful U.S. releases with a European launch.

Recommended product video formats

The content and type of video used will vary depending on the product and brand. Some items, such as clothing and footwear will benefit from lifestyle videos showcasing multiple angles of the product, whereas technology and DIY items should include more details to help the viewer understand their features.

The goal is to recreate a physical interaction with the product as closely as possible so that customers can experience its use before purchase. Some of the more popular types of videos for sellers include:

1. Product highlight videos

   This minimalist format focuses entirely on presenting the product in a clean, simple format. This can include a traditional 360° view of the item against a plain background or feature more complex elements such as close-ups and in-use shots.

2. Lifestyle videos

   Lifestyle videos help to connect with customers by going beyond the scope of the traditional benefits and features of a product and focusing on how the item will impact their life. This format commonly uses an aspirational approach and is also effective for connecting with viewers and cross-selling other products as part of the overall lifestyle.

3. Experience videos

   This type of video is created to showcase the product in use by customers, to help potential buyers understand the item and what it does. The format is popular across categories such as toys and beauty, in which the product itself and how the customer interacts with it are the experience.

4. Explainer video

   These videos will focus on the benefits of the product and how it can help the customer, which is particularly effective for sellers with nutritional products where the visual appearance doesn’t entirely represent the product’s benefits.

The costs of using videos

Marketplace sellers with a brand registered in Seller Central can add a product video to listings and storefronts at no cost. However, the feature is classified as a premium module for vendors and costs around $1,500 per page which only covers one ASIN variation family. Customer video reviews are also available, although this is not a feature that can be controlled by the brand directly.

Things you need to consider

As with all other content on the marketplace, Amazon has set guidelines for the technical aspects of product videos. Acceptable file formats include 3GP, FLV, AVI, AAC, MP4, and MPEG-2. Thumbnail images for each video should be in a 16:9 aspect ratio, with a minimum of 1280 x 720 pixels in JPG or PNG file format.

Sellers should also consider creating short, concise titles that can easily identify the video to Amazon customers, and whether single or multiple ASINs will be included within the video content.

Summary

The process for creating Amazon product videos can be challenging, but worthwhile for sellers looking to showcase a product’s value and engage with customers.  Videos are also ideal for standing-out amongst competitors, which can increase brand awareness and product visibility. Although the service is only currently available to sellers in the U.S., it is worthwhile for UK and European sellers to consider whether the capabilities of the features would enhance their marketplace strategy should the features become available globally.