Online shoppers will soon be able to examine how a dress fits a model or how soft that fluffy toy really is before they push the buy button.
Taobao.com, the most popular online shopping website in the country, said yesterday that it has linked up with four video hosting websites to provide a new video service for Taobao’s users. The deal, which was inked a month ago, will be available online by Saturday.
Sellers can showcase their products through the embedded video player supported by the video websites. Taobao will share profits generated from this service with the sites.
“This kind of video service will help buyers see more clearly the qualities and other characteristics of the products,” said Huang Huiwen, vice president of tudou.com.
“We cannot be certain about the exact development direction of this kind of video services,” a public relation manager of Youku, one of the video providers, told the Global Times. “And what can we do is just to follow the users’ using habits and cater to their demands.”
“What I’m concerned most about is the quality of the videos,” said a seller on Taobao, who tested the video service.
“I have used this video service for only 10 days, and I have not found any good qualities,” the seller told the Global Times.
“Not all the goods need to be shown on videos,” said Zhang Yanping, an analyst with iResearch. “Books, for example, can be an exception.”