DSGi is planning to allow its customers to post videos on its e-commerce sites to give them more user appeal.

It intends to add the functionality to its Dixons site early next year and from there will consider adding it to its other brands’ sites.

DSGi managing director for e-commerce deVere Forster said: “We have plans to bring user-generated content from a video point of view. We’re already publishing written content from users, so there’s so reason why we can’t publish visual content. This is just the next dimension. It will be a bit like The Gadget Show, but on our site.”

He continued: “It’s another way of engaging customers and making sites more interesting.”

DSGi works with Reevoo to publish independent user-generated product ratings and reviews on its Dixons and Currys sites.

Reevoo chief executive Richard Anson said that the two sites are already displaying high levels of user-generated content from customers. He explained that, of the DSGi customers it invites by e-mail to post a review of products they have bought, more than 17 per cent reply with content that gets published. Between 60 and 70 per cent of products on the two sites have reviews.

He added that the addition of video would complement text-based reviews, rather than replace them, as text can be quickly scanned, while videos need to be watched for longer to get an impression of the product.