Innovation – that’s how.

In late August, Macy’s announced they were teaming with New York designer Rachel Roy for the launch of a new line called RACHEL Rachel Roy.  For those who have never heard of Rachel Roy, I’ll quote the LA Times: “Roy is a bona fide socialite who can flit easily between luxe and edgy. She was inducted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America two years ago and has seen her red-carpet-ready creations worn by First Lady Michelle Obama and Hollywood actresses Eva Mendes, Kate Hudson and Penelope Cruz.”  Sounds exactly like the kind of designer a stodgy retailer like Macy’s needs to break out of the mold – and hopefully out of declining sales territory.

Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom over at Macy’s.  Online sales remain a bright spot.  According to Internet Retailer’s Top 500 Guide, Macy’s online sales grew 28% in 2008.  With numbers like that, it’s no wonder the retailer is beefing up its online presence with a high-profile rollout of Roy’s latest collection.  And, unlike many apparel retailers, Macy’s understood the power of video in capturing the essence of fashion while developing innovative strategies for incorporating video despite high inventory turn.  The company made use of a professional set and video  production staff with the TalkMarket video production automation technology to optimize much of the planning, filming, and post-production work that too often scares retailers away from making meaningful investments in online video.

The videos are surprisingly simple.  There is no spoken audio. Videos are only 15 – 30 seconds in length. The model’s body language does the “talking” as several shots are blended together in a seamless sequence synced to edgy background music.  Sweet. Simple.  It works. Check out a couple of examples:

Of course, this wouldn’t be CommerceVideos.com without at least a few suggestions, which we’ll happily offer:

• The treatment on the product page isn’t ideal.  There is no “play” button, thumbnail, embedded player, or prominently placed button or link suggesting video.  The shopper has to dig through the “details” section to even to see a video is there.  Why go through the effort of producing video only to make it so hard to find?
• It looks like Macy’s is trying to incorporate some social elements into the videos, such as the “like” functionality featured just below the video player.  It’s a good first effort, but Macy’s isn’t really going to ’social-enable’ these videos until they enable consumer syndication to social networks, and push the videos out to video sharing services.  Note that Macy’s does feature a commercial on YouTube highlighting RACHEL Rachel Roy, but none of the actual product videos are there.  Not that I can really blame Macy’s, as the YouTube page hardly does its brand justice.  Like so many other retailers that are having their brands butchered on YouTube, Macy’s appears to have also fallen into the trap.  They’d be better off building a media destination like other retailers in other verticals have done to encourage this type of sharing (e.g. Home Depot TV, OnlineShoes.TV, even Ralph Lauren’s RL TV) if there is worry about losing people on the product pages.
• It would be interesting to see Macy’s explore adding some minimalist interactivity with the videos, such as JC Penney did with their Spring Runway Show. That would enable a shopper who’s interested in buying a dress to easily navigate to a product page featuring the earrings worn by the model in the video.

Macy’s YouTube channel: Nice videos.  Crappy presentation.

Based on the depth of Macy’s overall video library, it’s clear they’re still very early in the rollout of video, so we’ll spare them the usual grilling offered to merchants featured on CommerceVideos.com.  In all, Macy’s is doing a lot of things the right way that other large apparel retailers should take note of in growing a video commerce program:

1. They’ve figured out a way to maintain their brand integrity while automating some of the video production process (by using experienced staff in conjunction with some production automation techniques and technologies).  This helps to minimize the impact of inventory turn that other apparel retailers so often cite as a reason to steer away from video.
2. They’re using video in conjunction with a high profile product/line launch.  This decision will help maximize the impact of the video investment since the investment is paired with hot selling/high revenue, and presumably high profit margin products.
3. They’re keeping it simple.  Short video segments are stitched together to create a rich viewing experience.  A professional yet inelaborate set (at least in these videos) also helps.  A single model is featured across the line.  Scripting isn’t even a consideration.

Let me know your thoughts on the Macy’s video RACHEL Rachel Roy launch by commenting below and tweeting this post on Twitter.  Thanks!