I. Understanding Video Commerce
eMarketer published the results from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB): 75% of customers find that video content aligns with their buying process. The video content, now known as video commerce, gives customers the chance to discover products and make a purchase straight from the video. Clear calls to action like “purchase” or “shop now” guide the shopping experience towards immediate ROI. Furthermore, 64% of consumers find these ads helpful during the brand discovery phase, which is a big signal to brands that are targeting bottom of funnel traffic.
In other words, use video content, attract top of funnel traffic.
The Bazaar Voice said it perfectly: when you’re looking through your favorite eCommerce store, chances are an engaging video is more likely to attract your attention over a wall of copy or plain infographic images (and no, it doesn’t matter how gorgeous your infographics are).
The benefits of video commerce include:
- Enhanced customer engagement – done right, your customers will be moved to share video content, turning a customer into a brand advocate
- You build trust with your audiences – especially when you incorporate user generated content (UGC), customer testimonials, or product reviews into your video content strategy
- Customers understand your product better, since they’ll be watching your product “in the wild,” and getting a feel for its features and benefits
In short, video commerce needs to be a part of your Amazon marketing strategy. This blog breaks down how to use video commerce effectively on Amazon, and how to make sure it performs globally.
Did you know that users watched 30 billion hours of shopping-related YouTube videos in 2023 (according to Shopify)? It’s important to identify which video commerce platform is best for you – you can get started with this blog on TikTok vs YouTube.
II. Video Commerce Use Cases for e-Commerce
If you’re thinking of implementing video commerce as one of your e-Commerce strategies, you’re in good company. Check out a few brands that have used shoppable content and interactive video content to spur sales, conversion, and engagement.
Ted Baker’s Sims-Like Video Experience
If you’ve ever played the Sims, Ted Baker’s 2017 video campaign will appeal to you (find one of the videos here). The campaign, entitled “Keeping Up with the Bakers,” married storytelling and commerce. Each episode was shot in a 360-degree format, and allowed customers to explore the Bakers’ world through interactive content. Customers were able to make purchases without leaving the video – such as characters’ outfits, background accessories, and home decor items. What made this work? Ted Baker prioritized storytelling first, commerce second.
Kate Spade’s Star Power
Anna Kendrick, whose charm comes from her funny, Girl Next Door, slightly sarcastic wit, is working with Kate Spade to produce content that feels like a peep into a celebrity’s life – a fun celeb who also happens to be your bestie. The #missadventure series is incredibly entertaining – check out this episode with the Gloria Steinem – and all of the Kate Spade items can be purchased from the video. This video campaign is a big signal to e-Commerce brands that celeb tie-ups don’t have to feel forced – Anna embodies the Kate Spade spirit of playful, polished, and fun.
IKEA’s User-Friendly Video
IKEA released videos that allow customers to visualize furniture items in their home – which is particularly helpful for people living in smaller spaces. This LGBTQIA+-friendly version shows icons that appear on top of shoppable items; simply hover over the icon with a mouse and it’ll lead you to a “pause page” that showcases the important product information. If you’ve ever shopped at IKEA in person before, everything is drool-worthy, from the vignettes to the items. This kind of user-friendly video e-commerce increases their perceived value even more.
III. How You Can Use Video Commerce in Your Amazon Store
There’s a wide range of video content – here are the 6 most popular ones, according to Firework:
- Live video shopping – brands host live shopping events, where customers ask questions and make purchases during the broadcast
- Pre-recorded shoppable videos – this non-live video content can be embedded on websites, blogs, and shared via social media. Customers can shop for the items at their convenience.
- Social media shoppable videos – did you know Instagram has Shopping Tags that allow users to shop directly from posts and stories?
- Tutorials and demos – these in-depth demonstrations allow customers to purchase items immediately, increasing product understanding and sales at the same time. You’ll see this done pretty often with makeup brands.
- User Generated Content (UGC) – you take the video reviews that customers send in (and you ask for their permission, of course), transform it into a shoppable video, and you have authentic content that resonates with shoppers.
- AR & VR videos – virtual and augmented reality in eCommerce are very quickly becoming a thing. Shoppers can try on products before purchasing – whether it’s makeup, clothing, home decor, and so on.
So, how can you employ the video commerce experience on Amazon? Here are some suggestions:
- Incorporate videos in your A+ content
- Use a shoppable video in your storefront and Brand Story
- Explore Amazon Live for live video commerce by top creators and influencers
- Use videos for sponsored brand content
- Take up one of your image slots for a product video – honestly, this one’s old news; you should be integrating video into your image carousel anyway
- Use Amazon posts for brand awareness
Pro tip: Treat each video as both product demo and conversion engine. Use those first 3 seconds wisely.
IV. Elements of Video Commerce: Do’s and Don’ts
Here’s a helpful table on the do’s and don’ts of video commerce:
| Do This | Don’t Do This |
|---|---|
| Keep it short & mobile-first: Aim for 15–60 seconds max. Short videos perform better on mobile and load faster. | Don’t upload long-form content designed for desktop—Amazon shoppers aren’t watching 3-minute brand films. |
| Show the product in action: Use real people interacting with the product to drive relatability and trust. | Don’t just rehash the image gallery with static spins or isolated shots on a white background. It adds no value. |
| Make it sound-off friendly: Use subtitles or on-screen text so viewers can engage even when muted (which is most of the time). | Don’t rely solely on narration or dialogue. If users can’t hear it, they’ll skip it. |
| Front-load the value: Grab attention in the first 3 seconds with a benefit-driven hook or visual payoff. | Don’t waste time with long intros, logos, or moody fades. Get to the point, fast. |
| Include a clear CTA: Use overlays, text, or narration to tell viewers exactly what to do next—“Shop Now,” “Add to Cart,” “Watch More”. | Don’t assume they’ll figure it out. No CTA = missed conversion opportunity. |
| Use natural lighting and minimal edits to keep the video feeling authentic, especially for UGC-style or demo formats. | Don’t over-edit with flashy transitions or distracting effects that pull focus from the product. |
| Optimize for vertical or square formats if running on mobile-first placements like Posts. | Don’t stick to wide horizontal formats if your content will live in vertical scrolling environments. |
| Localize with subtitles to boost international reach, comprehension, and ADA compliance. | Don’t skip subtitling—especially for global marketplaces where English isn’t the first language. |
Amazon used to have a TikTok-style platform called Inspire, but unfortunately it didn’t gain traction, and it’s now a thing of the past.
V. The Combined Power of Video Commerce with Localization
Most Amazon marketplaces are global by design, but local in behavior. For example, your Canada listing should be in English, but your back end keywords need French. In the USA, you’ll notice that many keywords with high relevancy and Search Volume are in Spanish. Yet, world-over you’ll find that customers prefer to shop in their language, and are likely to patronize products that feel local. That’s because customers want to feel seen, understood, and valued. That’s where localization comes in.
We get it – you’re not Netflix. It’s not always financially feasible to localize and translate every single video; dubbing, voice overs, and the like are expensive. But you can get away with localized subtitles.
Now, Amazon does have auto-captioning through its AWS Transcribe tool, but it’s not natively integrated into Amazon Seller Central or Brand Registry workflows. Unlike YouTube or TikTok, Amazon sellers will have to go out of their way to use AWS Transcribe, manually generate captions, and then upload them into their videos.
Verbit believes that, although AI tools like Amazon Transcribe are fast, they’re only around 80% accurate. That number falls short of accessibility standards. For clarity and compliance, human-reviewed captions are still a better option.
When done right, subtitles:
- Increase watch time and engagement
- Make complex product features easier to grasp
- Build trust with international shoppers
- Improve accessibility across devices and audiences
In highly competitive categories, these small shifts make a real difference in conversions. A pretty video may stop the scroll, but conversion will happen through a well-localized video.
Make sure you don’t stop at localizing your listings; your digital video content needs that expert touch, as well. Remember that video subtitles contribute to video SEO by enabling crawlers to index test-based metadata.
SE Ranking posits that videos boost dwell time, lower bounce rates, increase click-through rates (CTR), and enhance backlink profiles—all of which are key ranking factors on Google. Users spend 1.4x more time on pages with video, and video-rich pages are more likely to appear in SERP features like carousels or rich snippets.
Furthermore, optimizing video metadata (title, description, schema markup, and XML sitemaps) helps search engines index your content effectively. Make sure your videos have strong thumbnails and contain relevant transcripts and subtitles to boost discoverability and conversion potential.
VI. The Future is in Video and Live Commerce
Influencer-led livestream video content and Sponsored Brand Videos (SBVs) are poised to become even more central to Amazon’s advertising ecosystems. The concept of video marketing combines entertainment and product discoverability – this means you get high engagement and measurable impact, especially when paired with mobile-first creative execution.
Expect the Amazon algorithm to favor listings with high-performing videos that are not only well-produced, but also localized and accessible. This kind of video content will rise in search, convert better, and resonate with a broader, global audience.
Your video is a full-funnel, multilingual asset, not just a pretty video add-on.
VII. It’s Time for You to Benefit From Video Commerce
The eCommerce landscape shifts once more – very typical for online selling. It seems like you have to optimize for everything these days, from the generative AI platforms of Amazon to voice search optimization to video and social commerce. A savvy entrepreneur would roll with the times, see what is absolutely essential to optimize, and allocate funds wisely.
Video content has been a crucial part of an Amazon product page for some time now, and video ads have infiltrated Amazon PPC with improved engagement compared to static image content. So, we hope you’re already using video content to enrich the online shopping experience. There are so many different ways to skin this cat – you can do it gently, by turning your storefront banner into a video, or adding video content to your e-Commerce site, or making sure your social media platforms have video testimonials, how-to videos, UGC, and so forth.
Or you could go the whole nine yards and employ the full power of video commerce in your eCommerce business.
Just make sure – as with everything – that you lead with the customer in mind. Follow the examples set by Ted Baker, Kate Spade, and IKEA, and create fun content that tells a story, engages the audience, and just happens to point directly to your products with a strong CTA.
And don’t forget – YLT Translations is here to help with your localization needs! Happy watching selling!