_Background

Building the ultimate appliance shopping experience

Buying major appliances is a big decision, and for customers, it can be a complicated one. That’s why Trail Appliances is focused on providing top-quality product information that makes the process easier. "We want to provide customers with the most seamless, easy and compelling major appliance shopping experience on the web," explains Josh Johnston, Senior Director of Online Experience at Trail Appliances.

For Trail Appliances, it's all about aiming high. "Even though we operate as a regional retailer, we're determined to build 'the ultimate tech stack' that allows us to compete with much larger national chains and deliver an industry-leading online experience", Josh continues.

Video quickly became a key part of that strategy. Trail Appliances saw that while specs and images matter, they don’t always give the full picture. "If a picture says a thousand words, video speaks volumes," says Josh, pointing to the value of video in helping customers better understand products and feel confident in their choices.

_Challenge

Bandwidth barriers to effective video use

Trail Appliances recognized the value of video, but implementing a complete strategy across their product range proved challenging. Manually managing videos for thousands of products was overwhelming their team's bandwidth.

"Sourcing and tagging videos to the right products, replacing outdated content, adding new ones—all this is very tedious and time-consuming to do manually, and our team could not keep up," explains Josh. "This challenge is especially tough in our business, because of the wide product range and constant model updates."

Beyond the resource challenges, Trail Appliances also struggled with the format and technical embedding of videos on their product pages. Without a standardized approach, the customer experience was inconsistent, undermining their goal of providing a compelling shopping experience.

_Solution

Automation that scales with ambition

With Syncle, Trail Appliances quickly overcame the limitations that had previously hindered their video strategy. With automated product videos appearing directly on PDPs without any manual effort, their team could shift focus to more strategic tasks.

“One of the biggest advantages was Syncle's ability to source videos for thousands of products. We could never have done this ourselves,” explains Josh. This significant boost in video coverage greatly improved their product pages, providing customers with the information they needed to make confident purchasing decisions.

Josh highlights, “We’ve seen this reflected in our conversion rates, with customers who clicked on videos converting significantly more than those who didn’t.” This clear correlation between video engagement and sales has reinforced the team's commitment to investing in video content.

Beyond boosting online conversions, Syncle has also strengthened Trail Appliances' omnichannel strategy. “Our store staff are highly experienced and well-trained, and they regularly use the videos provided by Syncle to support sales and educate customers,” explains Josh. “Many customers also watch videos online before coming into the store to make a purchase.”

This seamless connection between digital research and in-store experience has added real value. “Having a video library available, both for our team and for customers who prefer to research on their own, has been an unexpected but tremendous benefit,” he adds.

_{Future plans}

The right video at the right moment

Looking ahead, Trail Appliances plans to strengthen their video strategy by adding more of their own content and working with vendor partners to create exclusive material. “With Syncle’s MP4 Upload feature, we’re excited to start incorporating the videos we’re producing in-house,” says Josh. “Our vendor partners are also supplying new, product-specific content, and Syncle’s flexibility with video formats makes it easy to manage.” This approach lets Trail Appliances complement the wide range of manufacturer videos with unique, tailored content that better speaks to their customers.

Perhaps most importantly, Trail Appliances is focused on optimizing the customer journey through strategic video placement. “We want to ensure we’re showing the right video at the right time in the customer journey, and partnering with Syncle makes that possible,” shares Josh. This targeted approach aims to deliver the right information to customers at each stage of their decision-making process.

Josh has been very pleased with the partnership, describing it as both flexible and reliable. "The biggest thing with Syncle is that there are no nasty surprises. What you see is exactly what you get," concludes Josh. "Syncle delivers on their promises, is easy to work with, and offers great flexibility. All of these factors make them a strong partner."

*Results from trailappliances.com (2024)