Barnes & Noble jazzes up site with book-related videos

— -- It's the latest salvo in what Internet Retailer editor Kurt Peters calls an "online video revolution" in retail. Websites use video to give shoppers new ways to interact with products and, of course, to boost sales. Just as bricks-and-mortar stores want to keep shoppers inside as long as possible to increase the chance they'll buy, websites know you'll spend more if you hang online longer.

Barnes & Noble, the leading bookseller, is using a soft sell with its video programs, which its digital media vice president, Mike Skagerlind, calls "mini documentaries." One show, Tagged, tells the stories behind recommended books, such as how and why the authors began research for the first group of books featured, which have prison themes. An editorial board for the chain chooses the books to highlight from among all genres.

The other new show, Book Obsessed, features readers discussing their literary passions; they include a romance-novel lover and a couple who met at a mystery-novel convention and buy dozens of mysteries a week.

Other retailers stressing video: