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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When you look at online marketing around the world, various regional differences and strengths begin to emerge.  The U.S. is the clear winner when it comes to social media and big interactive experiences, but it's the U.K. that leads the pack with a clear focus on eCommerce from more than a few big players.

Marketing Magazine (UK) recently posted an intriguing article on how luxury brands such as Selfridges and Faberge are now starting to cultivate an online retail space. Their approach, however, was not just to sell products online, but to create an experience that is as close to being in a real store as possible.

Being luxury brands, their stores are designed, decorated and lit to show off just that - luxury. Their websites are intended to be no different, but great design is only a piece of the puzzle. These brands need to give their discerning customers great service as well, and that means live people, available 24 hours a day by video, phone and chat.  It means being able to see every product in painstaking detail.  After all, if you're buying a piece of jewellery worth more than a condo in Manhattan, you're probably going to want to give it a bit more than a passing glance.

Of course, if your clientele knows that if they have to ask how much something in your store is, they can't afford it, this move is a no-brainer.  But the thing is, great experience is no longer only for the biggest marketing budgets, so there's nothing stopping smaller shops from giving a luxury experience online. In fact, as more and more competition drives down the price to the lowest point it can go, the only thing we'll have left to compete on online is experience and service.

A fifteen million dollar diamond-encrusted egg is a luxury. A brilliant eCommerce experience is just the cost of doing business.

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Buying online has become a regular part of the shopping experience, but even though the larger percentage of us has bought something over the Internet, the experience has changed very little over the past 10 years.

The funny thing is, when you stop and think about how we shop online compared to how we shop in a store, it's surprising that online commerce is as popular as it is.

When you set out to buy a product in the brick-and-mortar realm, you start by walking into a store. Your experience of that store has a major impact on your perceptions of the quality of the product and service within. If it's cramped, dark and dusty, chances are you'll turn around before you even got to the section you were looking for.

The same is true of the staff.  Smiling, friendly, not-too-pushy-but-attentive staff make the shopping experience more positive, helping you to find what you're looking for, to make recommendations, to demonstrate and to answer questions. 

Now consider the online shopping experience.  For most sites, you're merely presented with a catalogue, which can be searched and browsed, but not really experienced.  Some sites offer live chat to answer questions, but most still rely on email or FAQs to answer questions about the product.  It's the real-life equivalent of walking into a store full of catalogues and filling out a form to requisition the product you want to buy.  You don't get to experience the product, ask questions or compare beyond the pictures on the page.

Things are looking brighter for the experience side of online shopping, though.  Social shopping allows you to see reviews from people who have already bought, and for you to follow friends' recommendations.  Video eCommerce (of which we're obviously quite fond) takes the experience to another level, allowing you experience video product demonstrations and user recommendations, interact with sales staff face-to-face. 

Now, instead of walking into a store filled with catalogues, you're walking into a store filled with information - delivered by real people, ranging from your friends to store staff to celebrities.  You still can't reach out and touch the physical products, but it's much closer to the real retail experience that we've spent decades perfecting.

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We received a lot of feedback last time we gave the site a makeover- positive overall, mixed with some constructive criticism. What we were finding was that while people generally liked the look and feel of the site, they just weren't getting enough information. We decided that a content and design overhaul was in order and what better time than spring to introduce a new look and feel? 

Our new site is designed to not only look great and be easy to navigate, but also provide you with as much information as possible about what we do, the services we provide, our clients and everything in between. The blog also got a design update and is now integrated into the site's navigation instead of opening in a new window.  

Please take a tour, watch the video, catch up on the blog and as always we welcome your feedback.

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There was a time when air travel was considered a real privilege. Men and women donned their Sunday best like they would for any special occasion, while flight attendants wore uniforms that were just this side of enviable, more than appropriately stylish for the times. It was all very glamorous really. What's more, all passengers were treated like they were flying first class, because essentially they were.

Today's skyscape is a far different one filled with leisure suits, less than comfortable flying conditions and beyond heightened security, making travel more of a stressful occasion than a special one. Luckily there is FLIGHT 001(pronounced flight one) a site that's outfitted with all the flying essentials today's harried traveler needs, from regulation sized bottles for carry-on to kitsch travel accessories. Here are a few of the must-haves from FLIGHT 001:

1. Comfort is crucial when travelling. Does that mean I think you should wear pyjamas when you fly - no, it does not - but there's no reason for you to suffer in-flight with a stiff neck and the myriad afflictions associated with flying such as puffy eyes and sticky hands. For those flights that still allow carry-on (!), take the In Flight Comfort Kit. Comes complete with inflatable jersey neck pillow, earplugs, padded jersey eye mask, wet wipes and 10 sheets of paper soap and a handy little pouch to carry it all in.

In Flight Comfort Kit

2. Toiletries can often be a hassle, because you invariably forget something.  Just in case I think every suitcase should be packed with a Hemergency or Shemergency kit. These tiny kits have everything you could ever think to use in a jam plus a few things more!

The Shemergency Survival Kit

The Hemergency Survival Kit

3.  Packing (and unpacking) is probably one of my least favourite things to do, and I'm sure I'm not alone. There is an art to packing which very few have mastered, but the Flight 001 exclusive Spacepak can turn even the most helpless packer into a packing pro. According to Flight 001 "this system allows garments to undergo double compression and organization with 1 side for clean laundry and 1 side for dirty laundry." Ingenious!

F1 Spacepak Set

While we might never be able to recapture the luxury in the skies of yesteryear, it's nice to know there's something out there that can make today's travel a little less painful.

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I don't know about you, but this time of year just isn't as fun as I rememeber it being as a kid. As a kid what was your major responsibility when it came to celebrating the holiday season? For me, it was to make my parents some crude holiday-related craft at school and wake up at dawn on Christmas day to open presents. Totally stress free. Now that I'm an adult (and I use that term lightly), there are a lot of stresses associated with the holiday season. Family obligations, friends to see, dinners to cook, dinners to attend, the endless parade of holiday parties, and I haven't even mentioned gifts. It's not the gift giving I have a problem with, it's the shopping - scavenging through the overcrowded malls and waiting in long lines with other tired and stressed-out shoppers. I said, No more! and for the past few years I order all my gifts online. Of course, this is not a novel idea and many people shop this way year round, myself included, but it can become a bit more daunting when you have several people to shop for. What sites should you visit?

 I'm a big fan of department store sites where you can order gifts for your whole family in one spot, such as Nordstrom (they deliver to Canada too), and John Lewis in the UK. Most places will gift wrap, and shopping for one household on the same site saves on shipping costs too. 

Gloves and Scarves for Her from Nordstrom

Hampers are terrific for families and couples because you only need to send one for a household and there is generally something in every hamper that will appeal to everyone. Once reserved solely for the British elite, high end grocer-turned-department-store Fortnum & Mason's charm has spread to to the masses, and now even delivers their world famous hampers to North America. With prices to suit all budgets they are really great way to send some love in a basket. They sell out quickly this time of year, but they still have several varieties available, so don't miss out.

Fortnum & Mason Christmas Hamper

 For friends, co-workers and everyone in between, check out FredFlare.com. This quirky site has all kinds of inexpenisve gift ideas from the silly (bacon bandages anyone? $9),  to the downright pretty (gold brocade tulle corset dress $52). And with almost everything under a hundred dollars, you might even have enough left over to buy yourself something to!

Pocket Guitar Hero from Fred Flare

Happy Holidays!

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It’s been a few months since we launched Overlay.TV for Retail, and we’ve undergone some major changes since then.  Obviously, our goal is make shopping within video the norm – it is, after all, what we do.  But in talking to clients, analysts and media about our retail product, the opportunity for it to change the way we shop – even in some small way – is very real.

That’s why we’re very excited to announce the roll-out we’ve been hard at work on since the summer – Zappos.com.  For us, Zappos is a dream client – one with a huge fan base, and one that understands the role of new media channels and user-generated content in marketing.

Zappos is rolling out the video eCommerce integration in two phases, starting with “engagement pages” for specific brands like Nike (http://www.zappos.com/nike), and eventually incorporating video into every aspect of the site, allowing users to see the product from all angles and outside of a simple catalogue image.

It’s early days for video eCommerce, but you can expect to see some big things coming over the horizon.  Together with Zappos.com, we look forward to bringling online retail into the video age. 

Rob

Read full Press Release: http://www.overlay.tv/press_release.html

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We are looking for a talented Systems Administrator with commercial experience managing web applications and database servers. The ideal candidate has experience configuring, administering and hardening common Linux distributions, deploying and managing web applications, troubleshooting network problems, configuring firewalls, implementing extensive monitoring and is highly proficient in at least one scripting language. He or she should also be comfortable working in a small team, collaborating and presenting ideas.

Required Skills
Expert with Linux, specifically Ubuntu
Experience configuring Tomcat, Apache2, and MySQL
Experience with CDN’s
Version control systems

Desired Skills
Experience with Amazon Web Services (EC2, S3, EBS)
Deployment with Capistrano
Experience configuring Solr
Ruby experience highly desirable

Contact Information

Email: careers@overlay.tv

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What a beautiful day! Sun is shining, the air is crisp and Overlay.TV has been named one on of the top 20 innovative technology companies in Canada by the Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX). Each year CIX picks 20 Canadian owned and operated companies that have demonstrated, among other things, their ability to be innovative technology leaders in a competitive market.

Thanks to CIX for the honour and congratulations to everyone on the list including our Tech Capital portfolio partners PostRank and Metranome.

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