In a 2008 survey done by The Neilson Company, they found that of the worlds internet users 85% of them have purchased something online and, according to a poll taken by Geek Sugar, 65% of people prefer shopping online to an actual bricks and mortar store. Like so many I am a convert to the ease and convenience of online shopping. To be honest, I never really liked shopping anyway (GASP!) I just like the end result - new clothes, new shoes, new books. The act itself though I could do without - tiny dressing rooms, crowded stores, long lines, pushy people, and why when I can shop for the same items online while lounging comfortably in my bed and often for less than what I would pay in a retail store. And c'mon who doesn't love getting a package?!

One of the things I do find lacking from the online shopping experience is the attention and help you get from a live sales person, especially on sites where you may not be entirely familiar with the products. Not so long ago I ordered a DVD player from a large online electronics retailer and I needed what turned out to be a very specific cable, so I could hook it up to an LCD monitor. I'm not very techy and really didn't know what I was looking for so I tried the live chat with a customer service rep where you type in your query, but he didn't really understand what I was saying and his questions were a little too complex for my rote technical understanding. It's not like you can show them what you're talking about either, because you can't see them and they can't see you. So I ordered the wrong thing. Turns out I had to go into their actual store anyway with my monitor and show it to them so they could suggest the right cable for me to buy. All this could have been avoided with 2 webcams.

Meanwhile, our development team was already working on an application that would have helped me immensely in purchasing the cable I needed. It's a video chat tool. If you’re on a site and you need some help you can talk face-to-face with a real live person and show them exactly what you need. The video chat allows the customer service rep to make suggestions by dragging products into the viewing area for the customer see and even click on. It's the attention and service you get from going to a store, without ever having to leave your home.

Face-to-face live video chat

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Sometimes we forget how easily video on retail sites can influence both our buying decisions and life. Periodically the Overlay Team will be looking at how video on eCommerce sites have influenced events in our own lives.

The Makeup Solution

I've been shopping around for some new beauty products for some formal events I have on my schedule. Perhaps unsurprisingly my search led me to Sephora.com. Now I'm pretty minimalist when it comes to makeup, which is really a polite way of saying I'm lazy. If I had to pick a look that summed up my approach to make up it would be "natural" but  a girl likes to glam it up every now and then. Cat's eyes, smokey eyes, sometimes we just need something with a bit of oomph. The problem is that I'm not really sure how to do it.

A bit of clicking around brought me to Sephora's Beauty Central page. It seems like the type of place where someone like me might be able to pick up a few points and indeed it was. I was thrilled to find that Sephora had a nice selection of how-to videos. I've found lots of instructions for how to do looks online but finding video in the same spot I could buy the products was gold. Sephora combines their videos with written instruction and recommend products. Watch + read + product suggestions = win for me.

I do wish that there also user-generated videos them trying the techniques. I'd love to see what colors and products people at home are using and what techniques they had the most success with. Makeup artists make it look so easy too. Some of the videos have looks that are probably too glam for my personal use but I found there's a practical take-away for me in all of them - a technique for liquid eyeliner even if I don't extend the line quite so far, how to apply false eyelashes even if the ones I try aren't going to be an inch long.

Thank you Sephora, for helping me glam up my night life. Now if I could just figure out what colors to use...

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