February 13, 2026
Video has moved far beyond being just another marketing tactic, it has become a driving force behind modern commerce. The global video commerce market is projected to grow rapidly over the next few years, signalling that video is no longer optional but foundational to brand growth and consumer engagement.
Today’s shoppers do not just watch video, they compare, decide, and buy through it. Short-form content like Reels, TikToks, and YouTube Shorts has become one of the most persuasive ways to discover and evaluate products, while user‑generated content (UGC) is now a critical part of the decision-making process. The result is a complete shift in how consumers shop and how brands must respond.
Many brands have already made video a core commerce channel. For example, one global beauty brand used creator and UGC video across product detail pages and retail partners to lift add‑to‑cart rates and drive double‑digit conversion gains on key hero products. That kind of result moves video from “nice‑to‑have” to a strategic investment conversation.
Yet, despite the promise of video commerce, execution at scale remains a challenge.
The new era of video commerce
Sourcing a steady stream of fresh, relevant video content across channels is hard. Even brands with active creator programs struggle to maintain volume and variety that feels native to each platform. Brand safety and governance slow things down. Without strong moderation, rights management, and controls, UGC can feel risky, especially to legal and compliance teams.
Fragmented tools and workflows make it difficult to prove impact. When video sourcing, publishing, and measurement live in different systems, it is nearly impossible to build a clear, defensible ROI story.
The result: video is treated as a campaign asset, not a sustained, full‑funnel content engine.
A practical framework for scalable, brand‑safe video commerce
To turn video into a reliable growth engine, brands need a practical, repeatable framework. Think of it as a four‑step loop:
Source intelligently: Activate creators and your existing customers to fuel a constant pipeline of short‑form and longer‑form content. Use tools and workflows that help you discover brand‑aligned creators and high‑performing UGC where it already lives (TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, reviews, social galleries).
Secure and standardize: Put rights management, moderation, and brand guidelines at the centre so legal and brand teams are comfortable from day one. Standardize key elements: captions, aspect ratios, sound and quality standards, so any approved video is ready to deploy across channels without extra work.
Distribute across the full funnel: Match format to intent: short, thumb‑stopping videos for discovery; tutorials, testimonials, and deeper stories for consideration and conversion.
Bring social‑style video on‑site: think portrait carousels and shoppable galleries on PDPs, brand sites, and retail partner pages so shoppers stay engaged and can buy without leaving the experience.
Measure, learn, and reinvest: Move beyond views and likes. Track impact on add‑to‑cart, conversion rate, average order value, and revenue at product and category level.
Feed insights back into your brief: Double down on formats, messages, creators, and placements that prove they drive measurable outcomes.
With this loop in place, video commerce stops being a one‑off campaign and becomes a scalable system.
Building the video commerce ROI business case
Even when teams believe in video commerce, budget and ROI are often the biggest hurdles. To unlock investment, the business case needs to be clear, defensible, and aligned to leadership priorities.
Here is a simple structure you can use:
1. Clarify the problem in numbers
- Highlight current gaps: low PDP engagement, high bounce rates, weak conversion, over‑reliance on paid media, or slow organic growth.
- Use existing data to show where shoppers are dropping off and where richer product storytelling would help.
2. Connect video commerce to specific KPIs
- Position video as a lever to improve metrics the business already cares about:
- PDP engagement (time on page, scroll depth)
- Add‑to‑cart and conversion rates
- Returns reduction through better expectation setting
- Revenue per visitor and contribution to category growth
3. Use case‑study style proof points
- Reference examples from brands or categories similar to yours that have seen measurable lifts from video on PDPs and across channels, conversion increases, higher click‑throughs from social to site, or stronger performance at retail partners.
- When possible, connect these lifts to forecast impact on your own product and traffic levels.
4. Present a phased investment plan
- Start with a focused pilot: a defined set of SKUs, one or two priority markets, and clear success metrics.
- Estimate the cost of sourcing/activating video (creator fees, tools, internal time) vs. potential upside in revenue or efficiency (e.g., reduced production costs vs. traditional shoots).
- Show how successful pilot results can roll into a broader rollout, what “phase 2” and “phase 3” look like and what additional budget would unlock.
5. Address risk and governance up front
- Emphasize how moderation, rights management, and centralized controls protect brand equity and reduce risk.
- Highlight that a structured video commerce program is safer than ad‑hoc creator and UGC usage scattered across teams.
When leadership can see a clear line between investment, risk management, and measurable commercial impact, video commerce becomes much easier to champion.
Video commerce at the consideration stage
Video is powerful at every stage of the funnel, but its impact during the consideration phase is especially strong, and often underused.
At this stage, shoppers are asking: Is this right for me? Will it work on my skin, my body type, my home? Long‑form demos, creator try‑ons, side‑by‑side comparisons, and honest testimonials help answer these questions in seconds. They reduce doubt, showcase real‑world results, and create emotional reassurance that static images cannot match.
Embedding these videos on PDPs and key category/landing pages means shoppers are not forced to leave your site or retailer pages to get the answers they need. The payoff: more confident buyers, fewer abandoned carts, and a stronger case for scaled investment.
Stay ahead with a connected, measurable video strategy
The future of commerce is visual, immersive, and deeply human, and video is how brands will meet that future head‑on. A scalable, brand‑safe video commerce strategy does more than entertain, it builds trust, reduces friction, and drives measurable revenue across channels.
If your brand is ready to stop treating video as just another asset and start using it as a core commerce catalyst, now is the time to put a concrete framework and ROI story in place.
