Delivery Agent, Inc., the market leader in turning TV viewers into customers for more than 350 of the world’s leading global brands, announced the launch of ShopTV™, a t-commerce (television commerce) application available on select Samsung Smart TVs. Samsung, the number one TV brand, is the first consumer electronics company to deploy comprehensive t-commerce for the television.
The ShopTV t-commerce application, pre-loaded in 2012 and 2013 Samsung Smart TVs, expands the function of the TV in the home by allowing viewers to shop for products seen in network programming and advertising via their remote control. Viewers, with remote in hand, can easily shop 24/7 by network, show, or brand from the comfort of their couch. Powering this shopping experience is Delivery Agent’s platform which maps over 1MM products to a network, show, episode, character, scene or ad and then makes those products available for sale across more than 500 shows.
Over the last decade, attempts to bring t-commerce to the viewer have been hampered by technical, rights and scale issues,” said Mike Fitzsimmons, Delivery Agent CEO. “As the market leader in driving Smart TV adoption, Samsung’s deployment brings critical mass and moves t-commerce from a concept to a business benefiting consumers, advertisers, networks and device manufacturers.
In a second phase launch planned for this year, Samsung Smart TV viewers will be able to opt-in to shop directly from television programming and advertising while simultaneously viewing. In addition to completing transactions, this functionality will allow viewers to receive targeted offers or request additional information from programmers and advertisers, all via the remote control.
Consumers spend an average of 5+ hours per day viewing television programming,” said Eric Anderson, VP of Content and Product Solutions at Samsung Electronics America. “Our partnership with Delivery Agent allows us to offer Samsung Smart TV viewers an opt-in t-commerce experience tied to products contextually relevant to the programming they’re viewing. We believe it’s a powerful addition to the robust experience on Samsung Smart TVs.
Last month, Delivery Agent announced the release of the “U.S. Consumer T-Commerce Purchasing Report” which revealed a strong interest from consumers to engage with and shop for products directly from the TV screen. Highlights from the report include: 68% of respondents were interested or very interested in using their TV to shop; 82% were interested in purchasing products seen in or tied to their favorite shows and 76% were interested in purchasing products or services directly from the commercials.
Parks Associates estimates that of the 136 million TV households in North America projected in 2013, Smart TV homes will be present in 32 million, or 23 percent. By 2017, more than half (53%) of TV households will own a Smart TV.
The ShopTV application and marketplace will also be available to any consumer who wants to shop their favorite TV shows via the web or mobile devices at www.shopthetv.com
