Video: The Great Retail Media Disruptor

Retail e-commerce sales have been on a steady rise, and the pandemic accelerated this trend with double-digit sales growth from 2019 to 2020. Now, as savvy retailers are looking to capitalize on the $100 billion dollar opportunity that is retail media, they will be looking towards the next challenge on the horizon: keeping shoppers engaged.  

Consumer shopping preferences continue to evolve, and so do the tools marketers have to reach and engage those shoppers. But, as more retail media networks emerge and consumer screen time increases, so will the number of ads shoppers are exposed to every day. Marketers will need to leverage ad units that tell a story and capture consumer attention – that’s how video is going to disrupt retail media.  

Here are three ways video will impact and disrupt retail media:

1) Videos Increase Engagement 

On a retailer’s e-commerce site consumers are flooded with product options. In these situations, a static advertisement just isn’t going to cut through the clutter. In a recent study, InMobi found that the average click-through-rate for video ads is 7.5x higher than display. Consumers also spend more time on a website that includes video, providing more opportunities for the retailer to influence incremental purchases along the consumer’s digital shopping trip.  

2) Videos Educate Shoppers 

Communicating a product’s value is difficult in a single image — this is why videos are such an effective ad medium. According to Amazon, 66% of consumers said they prefer watching a product video as opposed to reading about the product. The right video not only captures shopper attention but provides product education and purchase inspiration.  

3) Videos Impact Purchase Decisions 

Perhaps most importantly to marketers, video ads are also extremely effective at increasing purchase intent. Unsurprisingly, because videos are able to hold customer attention and cut through advertising clutter, a shopper's positive experience with a video ad increases their purchase intent by 97% and brand association by 139%​.  

InMobi Commerce helps retailers enhance their media offerings to include high-impact ad units like shoppable videos and integrated influencer content. This allows retailers to unlock incremental budgets from existing advertisers eager to influence consumer purchase decisions and creates trust and loyalty with their shoppers.