Why video ads are perfect for retail advertising

Unlocking the power of in-banner video for retail media

Retail media is the fastest growing segment within advertising, according to a report by GroupM – WPP’s Media Investment Group – published in September of 2022. Retail media is growing faster than search, social or even CTV. However, the market is still in its proverbial infancy, and we can expect it to develop rapidly in the upcoming years.

Currently, in Europe, there are mainly two ad formats being used, namely Sponsored Products and Display Ads. 

Both are ad formats that have proven themselves to be quite capable in retail advertising. They are scalable, they are not perceived as annoying by the consumer, and they do what they are supposed to do: they help give the brand more visibility and increase the likelihood of the consumer buying the advertiser's product. 

But, as mentioned earlier, the market is evolving rapidly and new formats are, although slowly, being embraced by retailers as well. And what do we think is the most impressive one?

Video Ads

Amazon recently announced it was rolling out video ads and offering them within its own shopping environment.

Why is Amazon doing this?

If a picture says more than 1,000 words, then a video might say 1,000,000 times more. Moving images and sound not only reinforce your message, but consumers also indicate that they much prefer consuming video over text: 

The main reasons for retailers not to experiment with video ads seem to have been eliminated, as research indicates that consumers actually appreciate video ads.

Step by step and what do you need

1. Make it easy for yourself. Find an easy to adopt solution or tool to help you develop video ads for your customers.

2. Consider the user experience. Define ad sizes and placements that fit well into your shop's look and feel, and don't disrupt the shopping experience.

3. Consider scalability. You can for example work with a fixed template, like Amazon does, to save design time.

4. Make it brief. Go for short videos: 6 to 15 second keep the interest, but don't take too much of the customers' time.

5. Report on what matters. Not only clicks are relevant, but also awareness metrics like plays, view through rate or time in view offer the advertiser guidance on the success of a campaign. 

6. Think out of the box. Experiment with video ads on a page that does not get many visitors or cap the volume tightly. Build up the volume carefully and research how consumers interact with it. Take feedback seriously. 

We love helping retailers and advertisers develop and set up more creative and interactive ad formats. In fact, that's what we do the best!

In addition to our managed creative service where we take care of everything from planning to reporting, we can also help you start your conversational ad journey with our Cavai Cloud as a self-service tool.

Would you like to explore how we do that, please contact us, and we'll be more than happy to help you reach your advertising goals.