• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, October 22, 2015

With the holiday shopping season upon us, retailers would be wise to shore up their online video catalogues. That’s because brand videos can go a long way in helping shoppers buy for the holidays.

One in four shoppers say that online videos are a regular source they turn to for gift ideas, and 32% of online shoppers intend to use video more this holiday season to inform their gift buying, according to a just-released study from Google/Ipsos MediaCT.

That report also found that U.S. consumers have doubled the time they spend watching fashion and apparel shopping videos this year compared to a year ago.

That bodes well for the fashion business -- but studies also reveal how valuable videos can be in aiding consumer electronics purchases. Google said that 64% of consumer electronics shoppers watch YouTube videos on those products one week before the purchase, and 65% watch related videos the week after the purchase, bolstering the role that these videos play in supporting a purchase. The video giant said that in 2015 so far, U.S. consumers have watched 60 million hours of unboxing videos, equaling 1.1 billion views.

It’s worth noting that videos can, of course, be valuable beyond the holiday season. In another study, YouTube reported that 58% of “YouTube-watching moms” said they usually search for videos about products before making a purchase -- including fashion items, cars and kids and baby products.