Added: 01/16/2006 |
Television-based commerce - TV stores and shopping channelsTelevision is certainly one of the most influential forces of our time. Through the device called a television set or TV, you are able to receive news, sports, entertainment and information. The average American spends between two and five hours a day glued to "the tube"! Isn?t it a perfect platform for television-based commerce? More than half of all consumers say they're most likely to learn about products or brands they'd like to buy from TV stores, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB). And indeed, a great amount of people prefer to buy things without leaving their houses. The reasons for such a preference are numerous. First of all it's convenient; second, a consumer can get the necessary information straight on TV with the usage explanation and possible modifications and transformations; third, a consumer can learn much about the newest production put on the market, etc. In what way can this selling be organized?
Television-based commerce can be realized either as being embedded in the video stream or outside the video stream in a so-called "walled garden". Such "walled gardens" provide the television connection of the consumers. Within walled gardens, sellers can set up TV stores in Web-like shopping malls, where viewers can order different products and services as home delivery of a pizza, a holiday booking, and CDs, videotapes and electronic products purchasing, etc. While "walled garden" commerce is a reality in European iTV services, embedded commerce is still some way off. With the help of embedded commerce, viewers could use their remotes to buy the CD of a music video they are watching or to order goods shown on television shopping channels.
TV channels offer access to a prominent and striking, organized marketing effort overseas: QVC (the most famous TV stores line presenting an enormous variety of products that can be ordered both on TV and on-line) alone reaches 4 million households in the United Kingdom. Nowadays, born in the United States video retailing concept, has spread to other countries as well. For example, the Home Order Television in Germany and the SkyShop network in the Philippines, advertise and boost American outputs to tremendous international audiences. QVC's international audiences are remarkably similar to the United States viewers in terms of their incomes, educations and lifestyles. The variation of the most popular products among consumers all over the world is extremely uneven: space-saving fitness equipment, home gyms and non-stick cookware, for example, are hot-sellers in Europe and Asia, while car wax is selling well in Japan; in France, consumers love sterling silver and have an affinity for 18 karat gold jewelery.
Of course, there are some difficulties while purchasing from TV stores. Not always what you see is what you finally get. It's not a secret that photographers can work wonders, and even the most unattractive product can have quite an "appetizing" view. But there is also a way out - almost all TV stores and channels have their own Internet sites where one can ask and get the essential and necessary information. So, if you ask whether to buy on TV or not the answer is "Yes, it's worth saving your time".
Article comments:
No comments for this article yet. Post your comment now!
