CompleteCoverage: CES 2013
Samsung announced Monday that it would be building Delivery
Agent's in-show shopping applications into its new line of smart TVs.
The move, announced on Monday at the Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas, will make it easier for viewers to buy items seen in TV
shows, and create a new revenue stream for Samsung at a time when TV set profit
margins are razor thin.
Samsung in December made a $5 million investment in Delivery
Agent, which has established partnerships with TV content makers including 20th
Century Fox, Showtime and 50 others representing more than 500 shows.
The idea of being able to cash in viewer demand for, say,
the sweater Jennifer Aniston was wearing in Friends
has been around longer than Friends.
But Mike Fitzsimmons, CEO of Deliver Agent, says that building the technology
into the set makes a big difference and allows viewers to buy the clothes off New Girl star Zooey Deschanel's back
more easily.
Using a laptop, viewers had to perform about 12 clicks to
complete a T-commerce transaction. "There was a tremendous amount of friction,"
Fitzsimmons says. Having an app on an Internet-connected smart TV is
"absolutely taking friction out of the purchasing process," he said. "From the
data we have seen in trials, you'll see mass levels of engagement."
Samsung will also be retrofitting some of its older sets and
DVD players to work with the Delivery Agent application.
