When retailers like Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) let customers post product reviews years ago, the world collectively stood up and cheered. Finally, the power of communication was reaching beyond fluff-filled marketing speak and into the hands of consumers that could communications the strengths and weaknesses of millions of products to each other.A new and paradigm-shifting way of communicating product reviews is now under way. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth probably a small book. Amazon.com and other retailers like Orvis are beginning to allow customers to post video reviews of products directly to each retailer's website. In a fashion championed by YouTube, customers can now increasingly hear and see what other customers like and dislike about a growing range of products. Marketers, time to change your thinking if you sell primarily over the web.
While video reviews may pit some retailers against the marketing departments of the vendors they buy from, it will eventually lead to more consumer empowerment in the buying process. How often have you purchased a product only to find that it did not perform as expected or didn't fit the marketing description? Before long, you may be able to get a complete virtual tour of a whole bevy of retail products from informed consumers armed with the latest $99 video-capable digital camera. Although video reviews are in their infancy, expect them to become the norm for the under-30 crowd which moves more heavily into the disposable income spending brackets -- and who know YouTube-like technology like the back of their hand.
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