Survey: Consumers like new ‘shoppable media’ trend

Not only is a picture worth 1,000 words, but it may be worth $1,000.



A new survey from Adobe shows that consumers have a very positive response to “shoppable media” – online images and videos that serve as direct transactional tools.



Adobe tested a panel of tablet shoppers with two online shopping options. One was a traditional category page that let customers find a product and click through to a product detail page. The second was a page built with Adobe Experience Manager using “shoppable hotspots” that let consumers tap a hotspot on a product featured in the lifestyle image.



This drove the shopper to a view of relevant product details, including zoom, alternate views, colors, size, price, and add to cart button. The testers could shop directly from the image without scrolling or navigating to another page.



Seventy-seven percent of those who viewed the shoppable site found it easier to navigate, a 29% increase from the traditional version. And 66% of those who used the shoppable site got enough information to make a purchase decision, a 25% increase from those who used the traditional version.



Shoppable media is a growing phenomenon outside of consumer surveys. Pinterest recently is adding support for Bigcommerce, IBM and Magento (eBay’s e-commerce platform offering) to its Buyable Pins feature. The feature, launched in June with Demandware and Shopify, lets consumers tap the “buy it” button on a pin they like and immediately purchase the displayed item with Apple Pay or credit card. Personal info can be saved to make purchases even faster.



New retailers now selling wares through Buyable Pins include Bloomingdales, Wayfair, DVF, and Steven Alan, as well as thousands of new Shopify merchants. They join retailers including Jo-Ann Fabric, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Michael’s and Gardner’s Supply Company.



In addition, YouTube recently released Shopping ads, a new advertising format that lets viewers click and buy products directly from videos. And retailers including Barney’s New York have enabled direct shopping from Instagram images. Given positive consumer response in the Adobe test, more of these programs will likely launch in the near future.