A picture paints a thousands words – a video tour many more. That is the thinking behind a new ‘Book by video’ service being trialled on UK Ariport Car Parks site and app, which could usher in a new era in how people shop, especially on text-unfriendly mobile screens.
Users can now view and experience airport car parks, hotels and lounges before deciding which one to book with the service. The unique feature means that customers can see elements first hand, such as the level of car park security, hotel amenities and airport lounge facilities, before deciding to buy, rather than simply reading about them from the company’s perspective.
Users of the new view video function will be able to clearly see what each provider is offering them with a guided tour. For airport car parks this means customers can see things like airport car park arrival/departure procedures, security levels and how often transfer buses run and how long they take.
For airport hotels they’ll be able to view restaurants, bars and rooms that are in each hotel plus get to know about transfers to and from the airport. When it comes to airport lounges you’ll get a guided tour inside allowing you to see first hand the magnificent décor, comfy seating areas, food & snacks on offer and of course the bar area.
Chris Fryer, Developer at UK Airport Car Parks, explains: “The way people want to shop has changed, they no longer want to read about what they should expect to receive but see footage of it with their own eyes, giving them a better understanding of what to expect and pick out a product or service that best suits them and their needs. By embracing modern technology and listening to what our customers want they can now watch short video clips and view available airport car parks, hotels and lounges for themselves through UK Airport Car Parks.”
Fryer continues: “Our new View and Book by Video function was developed with mobile users in mind. Just imagine being on a small mobile device and having to read through endless text to get an idea of what an airport product is like. Instead from our site simply watch the video and click book if it meets your requirements!”
To access the new feature users simply need to go to the UK Airport Car Parks website and select ‘View & Book Products by Video’ in the top right corner of any of their pages. From here they can select their chosen product or service to view an informative video and will be shown similar offerings at the same airport to ensure they have the best deal.
UK Airport Car Parks compare the availability and prices of the UK’s major providers of airport car parks, hotels and lounges to bring its customers the best deals. The company’s new function ensures that customers know exactly what they are purchasing and can pick the right product for their needs.
WHAT WE THINK
This is an interesting – and brave – move by UK Airport Car Parks. Images are, in the Instagram age, essential, but to date very few companies have really managed to grasp what they can do with video. In Fashion retail there have been attempts to showcase the clothes sashaying around to get a feel for how they hang, but these have been limited and to date we don’t see much in the way of video as a core component of the online marketing palette.
Putting video previews of car parks may be a prosaic way to get video commerce into the mainstream, but it – along with hotels and restaurants, airports and many other places – are ripe for this sort of development.
With many of us returning from summer holidays, who wouldn’t have liked a video ‘walk through’ of everything from the car park to check in the transfer and your hotel before hand?
What is particularly inspiring about UK Airport Car Parks’ approach is that, rather than just add video to its site, its has tied it up with BOOKING. The video is a lead into the booking process which is a great leap forward.
How the videos are made and get into the site are unclear at this point (we did ask…) but this is definitely one to watch and could herald a new era in leveraging video for commerce. And it’s a boon to all budding video makers too.
