VideoRetailer.org - Exploring the Intersection of Video and e-Commerce.

Honeyshed is Closing - Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater

Adweek is reporting today that Honeyshed.com, a trendy MTV/QVC style online store will be shutting down. Publicis, the main backer of the site has decided to pull the plug on the business, after 15 months of existence.

The site had a few good ideas on the content side, successfully blending ecommerce content with entertainment to create a compelling user experience inside the video player. According to Adweek, the site accrued over 117,000 visitors in December, which isn’t so bad given the site’s low tech approach to e-commerce which makes it hard to compete against established retailers (basic ecommerce features, virtually no SEO, limited video sharing capabilities, awkward shopping experience).

Honeyshed didn’t succeed not because it didn’t have a good video player or the best shopping cart out there. With more patience and solid backers, this site could have done relatively well over the years. The biggest flaw in the Honeyshed model is content distribution. By comparing itself to QVC, the Honeyshed founders probably shot themselves in the foot and inflated expectations. Both QVC and HSN had a massive initial asset: a large audience thirsty for deals on day one, which they continued to build up over the years with cable companies to reach millions of users.

Stepping back and looking at the bigger picture, video commerce is likely to take off growing off existing e-commerce operations, because it offers a simple value proposition to the site’s owner: video improves conversion, increases loyalty and minimizes product returns. The Honeyshed setback is neither good nor bad news for the video e-commerce. Just stay away from comparisons with QVC for the time being and focus on the bottom-line.

ShopNBC’s Video Commerce Endeavor Is Inspiring

When Justin Foster from the Video Commerce Consortium talked about ShopNBC’s video commerce experiments at Streaming Media West last fall, many of us were impressed by the vision and commitment from a company that’s been competing for years against the Home Shopping Network and QVC, but somewhat trailing behind. True, HSN and QVC still retain the lead in terms for marketshare and brand awareness, but ShopNBC.tv has taken a clear lead in the nascent video commerce space with a site that’s designed as an entirely new channel.

It’s not hard to find ShopNBC.tv. Personally, I’m seeing the ads popping all over the place on the internet, like this prominent and wide banner on WebWorkerDaily, one of my favorite blogs.

The site itself has been carefully built as a new destination site, using Flash as the presentation layer. After landing on it, you are immediately taken into the video experience, since it’s streaming the TV content live, without needing to install or activate anything. Yes my friends, the homepage is boldly featuring live video content, which is sort of a powerful statement: this is video, this is ShopNBC.tv.

The navigation on the site is innovative too. Unlike many ecommerce destinations nowadays, which feature countless links to site sections, departments, brands, etc, ShopNBC.tv is betting on a simplified shopping experience with simple yet intuitive rollover menus that allow you to shop by category, brand or host. The search is also elegantly designed and consistent with other elements on this page. Also impressive the fact that the video never stops playing, all navigational content is overlayed right on the page without any interruption.

Interesting also what happens when the user is ready to buy a product - as the click button is redirecting the user to the ultra-elaborate ShopNBC.com, and the most seamless fashion.

On the critical side, the biggest concern would be the extensive use of Flash, which limits SEO visibility and linking (everything happens under the same URL). Another limitation, which I am sure will be overcome soon, is the lack of social media features which would enable sharing across blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.Nevertheless, what an amazing shopping experience. ShopNBC.tv will no doubt be the benchmark for many video retailers moving forward:

1. ShopNBC.tv was designed as a new destination site, with its own identity and user experience.

2. ShopNBC.tv is a true video shopping site. Video is the center of the shopping experience, and ShopNBC.tv doesn’t make any excuses about it.

3. ShopNBC.tv is the innovator to follow. We are not aware of any similar project in the industry that marries video and commerce so well.