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Bergdorf tries on shoppable video to entice younger 5F audience

September 23, 2011

Bergdorf's shoppable 5F video

Department store Bergdorf Goodman is using a shoppable video to increase the hype surrounding its younger 5F collection to likely increase ecommerce sales.

Bergdorf released a video earlier this week featuring the winners of its previous 5F social media contest wearing a slew of top-name designers. The video is entirely interactive, letting consumers scroll over to view the label behind each product as well as click-to-buy or share the product with friends.

“Bergdorf Goodman did a great job of highlighting numerous products, people and places in the video,” said Abe McCallum, founder/CEO of Clikthrough, San Francisco, CA.

“We always highly recommend this because it gives the consumer much more information to explore while watching,” he said.

“Consumers will find it engaging because they take people through the whole Bergdorf Goodman experience and this gives them the backstory on the girls and the store.”

Bergdorf worked with Clikthrough to create the video.

Bergdorf, which is owned by Neiman Marcus Group, did not respond by press deadline.

Store finds its fit
The video introduces the new faces of 5F as they spend a day in the Bergdorf Goodman store. It can be found on the branded Web site at http://www.bergdorfgoodman.com.

The girls look like a group of close friends, skimming the racks on the fifth floor, getting frozen yogurt, trying on clothes in the dressing room and eating at the Bergdorf restaurant.

The video is set to a slow-paced song and consumers do not hear the girls’ conversation.

Every item that the girls wear, pick up or try on can be scrolled over to reveal the designer.

Scrolling over the Bergdorf 5F video

Should a consumer find herself intrigued by any of the apparel or accessories, she can click on the product to pause the video and see the full product name and price.

In the small box with the product information are Facebook and Twitter sharing options as well as a “buy now” button that links the shopper to the ecommerce store.

Clickthrough the Bergdorf shoppable video

Viewers can also click on the frozen yogurt or the food in the restaurant to reveal the appropriate floor location and phone numbers that they can call to make a reservation.

The video also reveals information about the newly-chosen faces of 5F, who were chosen earlier this summer through a social media contest with Bergdorf and Conde Nast’s Lucky magazine (see story).

Video clicks
By making almost every object in the video scrollable and clickable, Bergdorf has likely increased the engagement time of online consumers.

In addition, the video has the opportunity to drive sales since every object links through to the Bergdorf ecommerce store.

On average, consumers spend 32 percent more time with an interactive video than with a video that does not allow consumers to click for more information, according to Clikthrough (see story).

Indeed, many luxury retailers have ventured into the shoppable video realm in the past few months.

For example, Gucci released its first shoppable video for the pre-Fall collection this summer (see story).

In addition, Calvin Klein used click-through technology in a behind-the-scenes video with GQ for its men’s winter collection.

“Bergdorf is on the cutting-edge of new marketing initiatives and are reaching a demographic with clikable video that they never could before,” Mr. McCallum said. “It shows that they understand a passive video does not cut it anymore, but creating a more immersive experience with more information keeps consumers engaged longer.

“We [Clikthrough] consistently show that more than 50 percent of the people that watch a video click at least once,” he said.

“These are outstanding marketing numbers to prove that consumers want to know more [about the products] and ultimately that leads to greater conversion [of sales] because if viewers do want to shop, they can do so with a single click.”

Final Take
Kayla Hutzler, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York

Kayla Hutzler is an editorial assistant on Luxury Daily. Her beats are automotive, consumer electronics, consumer packaged goods, financial services, media/publishing, software and technology, telecommunications, travel and hospitality, real estate, retail and sports. Reach her at kayla@napean.com.