Rakuten Buy.com has started to produce videos that merchants can use to promote their products and brands via e-commerce sites and other marketing avenues such as corporate presentations.

Based in Aliso Viejo, CA, the offices of the production arm, BuyTV Services, features a recording studio where video professionals can make the promotional messages. BuyTV Services employees also can travel throughout North America to record on location, says Sheree Martin, BuyTV’s executive producer. “BuyTV Services is available to any businesses that are looking to improve their online presence, as well as existing Rakuten Buy.com merchants,” Martin says.

Rakuten Buy.com is No. 36 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

Merchants that make videos through BuyTV can link to those presentations via the production arm’s platform on video-sharing site Vimeo. Merchants also can embed videos on their own web sites, or receive videos on CDs or USB drives. “BuyTV can embed a link at the end of the video as a call to action, in order to allow customers to purchase directly from the vendor,” Martin says.

She says BuyTV works with clients to determine pricing, with costs depending on such variables as length, location and general complexity. “On average, a 30-second to 1-minute video can cost approximately $1,500, and a 3- to 5-minute video shot can cost approximately $5,500,” she says.

Beauty and health products e-retailer ZoeOrganics.com is one of the initial merchants to feature on their sites videos produced by BuyTV. The video focuses on the reasons behind the company’s founding, and its mission. “It’s so fulfilling to see something that documents what I have put my heart and soul into these past five years, and it’s fantastic to share who we are beyond text and photos,” says Heather Hamilton, the retailer’s founder and CEO.

In 2012, online apparel retailer Karmaloop, No. 138 in the Top 500, launched a full-service video production company anchored around music videos, commercials and branding.