Online shopping just got more interesting- and for some, a lot more fun. Typically when one online shops they simply:
- Add their item of choice to the shopping cart
- Pay a standard, inflated price
- Shopping experience = Over
VidFall, a daily deal site founded in September of 2013 realized that their idea could fill a need in the marketplace, and optimize otherwise bland online shopping experience. Vidfall gives consumers the opportunity to get deals for products without having a coupon of sort, while making shopping fun at the same time.
The way that they are able to actually give these deals is through the revenues that are generated as the advertisements are viewed. These videos are completely relevant to the product which further peaks the viewers interest, as well as amps them up further to “win” the product. An example of this could be a group of people bidding on a GoPro. In that session, the video at hand would feature GoPro footage. It could be someone snowboarding, surfing, or an actual advertisement for that product.
We recently caught up with Co-Founder and Director of Product Development, Steve Messa, to chat a bit about VidFall and how it works.
Boldwerks: How exactly does the VidFall Process work? How do you obtain the goods used in the deals?
Messa: VidFall is a shopping entertainment platform. We hold events called “Crowd Deals” where shoppers come together to generate discounts on products by watching video advertisements and engaging with the brand. We aim for one big Crowd Deal a day (which draw hundreds to thousands of participants), and smaller ones throughout the day. Brands give us products to be featured in the deals as part of the advertising package they purchase.
Boldwerks: How are you able to drop the price of the given product?
Messa: We are able to drop the price because of advertising. We show advertisements in the Crowd Deals, or we show sponsored video content. Brands pay us to hold the event, and a portion of those advertising dollars create the discount generated by our community of users.
Boldwerks: How do you drive people to engage with the videos that make up what VidFall is all about? If the number of viewers drives the price, you obviously need to make sure there’s a crowd in place to make the engagement worth the end users time. So, yes, please expound upon how VidFall targets and markets your services.
Messa: Marketing is a hugely important part of a successful Crowd Deal. We have nearly 25,000 users at this time of writing on the VidFall platform, and we’ve attracted these users by promoting our Crowd Deals on social media and on a variety industry blogs. The true key to successful marketing, though, is having a product that people want to use. Our community truly loves using VidFall (and since they get great deals, why wouldn’t they?). This makes our marketing efforts on social media infinitely more effective.
Boldwerks: Is the quantity of viewers directly related to the savings generated for that product? Is there a formula that calculates this?
Messa: We calculate the price fall two different ways, each for a different type of video content. For video advertisements, the price falls upon completion of every ad. The more users watching ads, the more ad completions there are, which in turn yields faster price reductions. For live streaming events, the video never actually “completes” since it’s a continuous stream, so this price fall is calculated by a specific rate for the number of users in the deal for a specific period of time. In other words, we’ve developed a way to ensure the price falls according to the size of the crowd in live stream events, as well.
Boldwerks: How does competition further drive the end users purchasing practices / habits? How are people receiving VidFall as a competitive buying platform?
Messa: Competition is key to VidFall, but there’s more that goes into a Crowd Deal that makes it even more attractive to brands as a shopping platform. First, there’s the anticipation leading up to the Crowd Deal. We promote the Crowd Deal for a week leading up to the event, and users get extremely excited and even have a say in the products featured in the event. Next, the limited number of items available, combined with the fear of missing a great deal, creates a thrilling and fun competitive dynamic. In turn, not only is shopping on VidFall a thrilling experience, but it makes winning a deal from a brand that a user loves even more satisfying.
Boldwerks: Lastly, what got you interested in putting this type of company together?
Messa: Joel (Robinson) founded this company about six months before I jumped in as a co-founder. He started VidFall because he saw a need for a deal website that did not prey on its community. Other deal websites and penny auction sites require you to put money in up front in a way similar to gambling. From this, Joel had the idea of crowdsourcing advertising dollars to subsidize discounts on products, and when I hopped in as a co-founder, we transformed this concept into the VidFall shopping platform that exists today, and grew the VidFall community of users from roughly 800 to 25,000 and growing.
The products that VidFall offer consumers range from goods, services, and travel of all types. As their company expands, these options will as well.
VidFall’s site mainly applies to the Millennial Generation of consumers. This age segment is enthusiastic about technology. They love streaming online videos. And they like to have convenience in everything they do. As a millennial myself, I am constantly watching videos, and online shopping. Being able to combine these two acts to generate a savings toward goods I would buy anyways makes this process much more enjoyable.
With time, engaging, action oriented advertisements could evolve and exponentially further interface with target consumers. What if advertisements also had the capability to virtually interact with the consumer. Through a game or some other unique networking platform? VidFall is bringing advertisements in a new direction that promotes growth and produces revenue. Through promotion and creating awareness, these ads are doing a lot more than saving money for the consumer; they’re creating memorable experiences and bolstering brand recognition. Win-win.
