Written by: Katie Scott, Business Reporter
Streaming service Roku has partnered with Walmart to allow its viewers to purchase products straight from shoppable adverts.
AdWeek details: “Customers will press “OK” on their Roku remote on a shoppable ad and then check out with payment details pre-populated from Roku’s payment platform, meaning customers won’t have to enter their credit card numbers.”
Roku made its ambitions in the ecommerce sphere public in May. It has opted to take a partnership route and to avoid QR codes, which it admits had had poor results. The deal “evolves shopping beyond the QR code and will change the way customers interact and shop TV and video content,” Roku and Walmart wrote.
It’s certainly a totally new execution that you haven’t seen in streaming before,” Peter Hamilton, head of TV Commerce at Roku told AdWeek. “We’re going to learn a lot in these initial pilots. We’re going to continue to test and iterate and innovate. And I’m excited to see how this continues to evolve with Walmart and Walmart advertisers.”
Roku told TechCrunch that the shoppable ads will initially appear on The Roku Channel video-on-demand content and will roll out over time to other channels on the platform.
“We’re working to connect with customers where they are already spending time, shortening the distance from discovery and inspiration to purchase,” said William White, chief marketing officer at Walmart in a statement. “No one has cracked the code around video shoppability. By working with Roku, we’re the first to market retailer to bring customers a new shoppable experience and seamless checkout on the largest screen in their homes - their TV.”
