Roku Teams With Shopify on Streaming Shopping

Roku and Shopify have teamed up to combine streaming TV with shopping.

The partnership lets Roku viewers buy goods from Shopify merchants from their TV via Roku’s Action Ad service, according to a Tuesday (July 11) press release.

“Bringing a Shopify purchase experience to television for merchants is an industry first, and innovation opportunities like these are precisely the reason I came to Roku,” Roku Senior Director of Ad Innovation Peter Hamilton said in the release. “Roku democratizes access to TV advertising, and now, we’re collapsing the funnel for Shopify’s merchants.”

Viewers see an ad for a Shopify merchant, press “OK” on their Roku remote, find out more about the product and purchase it from their TV, the release said.

From there, they can check out using Roku’s payments platform and go back to what they were watching after finishing their purchase.

“Integrating Shopify purchases into Action Ads is the first commerce integration for independent Shopify merchants on TV streaming, creating a completely new advertising channel for Shopify merchants to explore,” the release said.

Merchants taking part in the program include men’s apparel seller True Classic, connected rower Ergatta, and wellness brand Olly, according to the release.

The partnership comes as several companies are combining video platforms and shopping.

Companies — including a few of the world’s tech giants — have begun looking to livestream shopping as the “next best bet for online selling.”

Sports merchandise eCommerce firm Fanatics this winter tapped former Alphabet and Snap executive Nick Bell as CEO of its new Fanatics Live division.

“We see a big opportunity here to create entertaining commerce experiences because that brings people together and really opens up the collector market to a much wider base of fans,” Bell said. “We want the commerce aspect of this to be the byproduct of entertainment.”

Roku’s partnership with Spotify follows a collaboration last year with Walmart that lets viewers purchase Walmart products from its platform.

Walmart Chief Marketing Officer William White said at the time that the idea is to connect customers “where they are already spending time, shortening the distance from discovery and inspiration to purchase.”

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