OOOOO Entertainment Leading The Shoppable Video Revolution Among Young Consumers
OOOOO Entertainment Commerce Limited (CVE: OOOO) is changing the way consumers purchase popular retail goods. OOOOO operates a technology platform that enables retailers, brands and entrepreneurs to share product-based opinions directly to consumers through live, interactive, shoppable videos. With a stagnant legacy retail shopping model in an age of COVID restrictions, more retail conglomerates are looking to diversify the way they sell products. OOOOO is a prime beneficiary of this switch.
Shoppable video is not a new concept. The millennial and Gen-X generations can remember parents or relatives that purchased cleaning products or goods through dedicated television advertising. The industry even sprouted icons such as Richard Simmons (Deal-a-meal), George Foreman (cooking grill) and Billy Mays (cleaning products). This was interactive advertising 1.0, where you had to be in front of the T.V. to be tuned-in.
But times have obviously changed. Internet-connected cell phones and social media are rapidly changing the retail shopping landscape. Particularly in Asia, hundreds of thousands of consumers tune-in to shoppable videos being pitched by influencers that have large followers in their trusted domain. OOOOO Entertainment CEO Sam Jones recounts how on one occasion, a Chinese influencer of beauty products sold $1.7 billion (with a “B”) in just one show in the live stream economy:
So I’m going to show you a video of a guy named Austin. Austin used to work on the Beauty Counter of a department store earning a tiny salary—very passionate about beauty products. He is now the world’s #1 live streamer in China. He’s doing 400 shows a year, or a little over 1 a day. And, he’s basically streaming to a few million people. And he’s telling them—he’s showing them products, he’s talking to them about his opinion of the products… And he has become, in the last few years, the kind of this new industry called the live stream economy. Now he did a show last week that sold $1.7 billion worth of product.
As OOOOO expands its business operations into additional countries, its economy at scale should add up. Unlike traditional retailers, the company doesn’t own expensive brick & mortar outlets or employ bloated staffs to run them. OOOOO strategically acquires warehouse studio space, where it can build professional-grade pod studios for a reasonable outlay. It then establishes relationships with in-vogue influencers and retailers, which attract viewers to the live shows. Finally, it is establishing partnerships with various users platforms to help expand its reach worldwide.
With the buildout of the 5G network advancing worldwide, streaming video is becoming faster and less interruptive on mobile. Young consumers—conditioned to spend more time interacting with their phone everyday than with live people—tune into social media personalities they trust. It’s retail 3.0, and OOOOO is at the forefront of this shift in the way younger consumer purchase goods.
Click on the embedded link to watch our follow-up interview with OOOOO Entertainment CEO Sam Jones, in his own words.