Ep. 10 - Searchable Video: The Next Retail Edge with Vyrill's Ajay Bam

Shoppers aren’t just influenced by video anymore, video is the shopping experience. We sat down with Ajay Bam, co‑founder and CEO of Vyrill Inc., to unpack how short, authentic clips now drive discovery, trust, and conversion across digital retail and physical stores. From TikTok Shop’s staggering growth to Amazon’s video‑led PDPs, the signals are clear: if customers can’t search inside your videos, they can’t find answers, and they won’t buy.

Ajay takes us inside the machinery that turns content into commerce. He explains how AI cracks open video across 21 dimensions: speech, on‑screen text, scenes, sentiment, objects, and brand safety, so retailers can moderate at scale, index what matters, and surface the exact five seconds that resolve a shopper’s doubt. We explore Vyrill’s four Cs: capture licensed UGC and reviews, curate with brand‑safe filters, connect videos to search and PDPs with instant loading, and convert by attributing revenue to specific clips. The payoff is speed and control: use the content you already have, license what you need, and promote what sells.

We also dive into personalization and agentic commerce. Instead of one reel for everyone, AI can assemble video experiences that reflect real intent, preferences, past purchases, even color variants rendered inside the clip. That same structure makes your catalog legible to shopping agents and large language models, improving recommendations and organic reach. Beyond the website, we look at omnichannel plays: app modules, email, retail media, and in‑store screens that loop creator‑led demos or unlock reviews when a shopper scans a shelf tag.

If your video strategy stops at “upload and hope,” you’re leaving revenue on the table. Hear practical KPIs to track: content mix, safe‑publish rate, search‑to‑clip CTR, clip‑level conversion lift, contribution to GMV and AOV, and why distribution and measurement matter as much as creation. The brands that win will move faster, test weekly, and treat video as core infrastructure: searchable, safe, fast, shoppable, and accountable. Enjoy the conversation, then subscribe, share with a colleague who owns your PDPs, and leave a quick review to help more builders find the show.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Alo everyone and welcome to the Digital Front Door. I'm Scott Benedict. You know, I'm particularly excited about today's episode because we're going to talk about a topic that is right at the intersection of content, commerce, and competitive survival, quite frankly, and that is the rapid rise of video as a primary driver of discovery, of trust, and of conversion in digital retailing. And platforms like TikTok have fundamentally changed consumer shopping behavior, not only here in the US, but in other markets around the world. In fact, TikTok shop generated more than$500 million in revenue here in the US alone over this past Thanksgiving holiday weekend, proving that video is no longer just influencing commerce. I would argue it is commerce. It's certainly a big component of it. But here's the hard truth: a lot of retailers and a lot of brands just don't understand video, especially authentic, user-generated video. And because of that, they risk becoming irrelevant to shoppers because increasingly shoppers gravitate towards platforms that feel faster, more human, more trustworthy than perhaps traditional e-commerce experiences. That's part of the reason why I'm excited to welcome uh Ajay Baum, who is the co-founder and CEO of Viral, a video intelligence platform that is helping brands and retailers unlock the value of video commerce at scale. Many companies know that video sells. About 95% of video content remains, though, unsearchable, unstructured, and underutilized. And one of the great things I think you'll hear from Ajay today is that Viral is involved in solving that problem by combining AI-powered video search, some deep analytics capabilities, and shoppable experiences that are transforming video from a marketing expense to truly a measurable and optimized uh revenue engine. So, Ajay, welcome uh and thank you for joining us today.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Thank you, and thanks for that great introduction as well on the on the topic. I really appreciate it. And uh yeah, so thanks for having me.

Why Video Now Dominates Commerce

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Absolutely, and I'm excited. And I thought maybe we would start today kind of with the the sounding vision uh that you and the team at Viral have had. And I'm curious, what was the original insight that led you and the team to kind of launch Viral? And perhaps as a as a component of that, how much did the the the explosive growth of platforms like TikTok shop validate your original concept, your original thesis behind the business that video would become such an incredibly important part of digital commerce?

Meet Ajay And Viral’s Origin

The Two Big Video Problems

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Yeah, so um, so Scott, first of all, uh just a quick intro for the audience, just on my background. I've been in e-commerce for about uh 22 years now. Um, previously built and sold a mobile shopping app company before. So I've been in the space for a long time. So I'm a very keen observer of shoppers and consumers. And so what happened was about four and a half years ago, uh just around the timeframe, around COVID, uh, you know, I began noticing that a lot of uh shoppers were on their phones. Uh and it actually started with uh my family. Uh I have a lot of nephews and nieces, and uh they're always on their phone. And when uh they're always uh watching video. Uh and this is around 2020 timeframe. Um, and um what I quickly realized, you know, I started speaking with them and quickly realized that um uh uh they were like, so I asked them, I said, how much time do you spend on an average day watching video? And and in 2020, uh YouTube had been around for 15 years. Uh Instagram had just introduced short form video uh for the first time around 2019. So the answer was uh they're spending about an hour, uh 10 minutes every day, every day watching video. And so I really expanded my market research and uh actually ended up interviewing about 200 consumers. And of course, you know, video was was dominant across the board. Everyone was like, yes, we do watch video, and videos are very important uh when you make purchases, uh, especially about$50, uh, where uh brand trust and uh you know you have questions about the product and you want them to be answered. And and what better than than video? So uh first of all, on the shopper side, you know, I think I think uh there was a they were watching video, so there was clearly there was a behavior that was happening. And then on the uh brand and retailer side of things, you know, when I also spoke with about 100 brands and retailers, and quickly I realized that there were two big challenges, uh, business challenges when it comes to video, uh, in order to scale and leverage video. And the first challenge was, you know, most marketing and e-commerce teams, uh, they want all video to be moderated in some form or shape. And when I say moderated, uh, it's not necessarily to remove negative sentiment, but it's primarily uh to ensure that video is brand safe when they're promoting video. So making sure there's no nudity or profanity or minors in the video, you know, which really flout a lot of uh uh legal requirements and laws around around the world. So uh what happens is too uh is uh they work they're capturing video, and every time they get a video, whether it's reviews or they're making influencer video, someone on their team manually watches the video. So you can maybe watch five videos, maybe four videos a day, but when you are a retailer that's carrying uh hundreds or thousands of SKUs, and you want to start putting videos or capturing video reviews uh from customers, uh that doesn't really scale. So the first problem I realized is uh everyone is short on time on the team. Uh and you can't scale by manually watching videos. And then the second problem is you know, 95% of the world's video content today is not searchable. Uh, hence it's not very useful. So, you know, you're buying a car, you're on the BMW website, you've selected a car model, and there are 20 videos on the page. And uh, Scott, you're looking for a car with leather seats uh that's blue in color that features a male driver. I'm looking for a car with child seats. How do you know which of those 20 videos are talking about leather seats versus child seats? So uh uh because the content is not searchable, uh it creates a very uh deep, uh very frustrating shopper experience. Customers will select a random video. If they're lucky, they'll find the answer based on the thumbnail. But 90% of the time is the wrong answer. So here we are, you know, you're spending millions of dollars, BMW spends in millions making video every year, and the video ROI is very poor. And so essentially these problems on the on the brand retailer side is what led me into sort of getting into this space and trying to solve this problem on, you know, how do we solve the video ROI and distribution and consumption problem and help help brand scale video, really? So though that's where the company started, the journey began with all things video.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

And that makes so much sense. And it seems like that's how so many companies uh in our space get started these days, is there's a problem that's identified that no one has solved, and someone steps forward and finds a great way to solve it, particularly in some cases by leveraging technology that's there to be to be used, uh, and they're just not using it the right way. I I'm kind of curious uh uh about your views on on TikTok. I think TikTok has given every retailer, every brand, every marketplace a run for their money by compressing these shopper elements of discovery and trust and and transaction uh kind of into a single experience. I'm curious, kind of from from your view, what do you think uh TikTok has gotten right about video commerce? And why are so many retailers struggling to replicate that success in their own digital platforms or properties?

What TikTok Got Right

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yeah, that's a that's a that's a great question. And uh so first of all, you know, I think congratulations to TikTok. Uh they finally became a US subsidiary yesterday. I I think it was signed off. Finally, it's done. Uh it's in the it's actually a headline this morning in the in the papers. Uh, but that aside, I think I think what TikTok uh got it right, and they got it right in two years or three years. That's a very short time uh to get a billion people on your platform and get them and make it very sticky. So I think I think there's three key elements to TikTok. Uh, first, TikTok has done a phenomenal job in understanding video, what's inside the video. And because they understand what's inside the video, they're able to create the best personalized, uh, very sticky uh video experience when you when you land on TikTok and you open your TikTok ad. Well, and what I mean by that is it surfaces the most relevant content on your uh on your phone, on your device, based on a number of different signals, you know, whether it's whether what's happening in the market versus what you browsed in the past or what you loved or what you clicked and what you selected. So I think the first thing is, you know, I gotta applaud uh TikTok for getting the the algorithm right on how they surface at the right video at the right time at the right place, right? So that's that's the first thing. Uh the second thing is uh I think they really understood that uh people have short, short attention spans. And so TikTok is a platform, right? I think it's it's short form video primarily. Uh in fact, uh videos on TikTok were are and even now are I would say 99% of the content is less than three minutes long, or even shorter. I would say it's actually less than a minute, uh, right. And and so they they got that right, which is you know, customers don't have to time time to watch an entire 30-minute video. Uh, and if you're able to get the customer's attention in a in a minute-long video, in the first three seconds, you've got the customer, and they got it right. That's the second part. Uh, they got it right. The third part, and I believe this is the most important part for why uh you know uh other brands and retailers or other platforms didn't get it right, and they did it, was uh TikTok has always focused on authentic, relevant, fun, entertaining content, short form video. Meaning essentially user-generated video content. And um, and really that gets to the bottom of shopper behaviors, which is people like to see other people uh shopping or buying or browsing or watching or creating, then have a brand tell them what's what's right or wrong and what they should be considering uh for their purchase. So TrickTalk really got the authenticity part really well and they got it right. And I would say from day one, um 90% of TikTok content before they got into the whole advertising space uh was primarily authentic video, user-generated video content. And uh people love, and and I think as humans, we're very creative. Uh, you know, we we think out of the box. And to be able to wake up every morning and see a creator putting something new, something different, uh, it's gets your attention essentially. It's not boring anymore, right? And I think this is an area where uh I think even other social media platforms like YouTube, uh, you know, even though YouTube has been around for 15 years, uh, they have not been able to, they've done, they've not done a phenomenal job behind their beyond their advertising model uh to really build a YouTube shop, right? They could have done that, but they didn't. And again, all these factors, short form video, authentic lack of authentic content, or being able to find and serve authentic content uh has played a big role. And this is something that uh, you know, other uh there's a there's a so when you talk about other brands and retailers, uh there's a lack of tools uh to capture and license authentic video content at scale. And again, the problem is uh content moderation and search, right? Those capabilities. And that's why I think a lot of other uh companies' partners are lagging behind YouTube, TikTok, and Amazon, uh, because they lack these capabilities.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Yeah, and I want to go maybe uh a level deeper on that because I think that's uh as I've learned from you and and others in the space about really some of the powerful value of video, is that a number of these platforms, uh, including YouTube, including uh Instagram, the content is powerful, but it's largely unsearchable, uh, either in the broader context or for specific elements like you were referencing earlier. Walk us through how viral kind of attacks that and how you make videos searchable, actionable, and how you get great analytic insights back for your for your clients that helps them be better marketers and better sellers uh in the space.

Making Video Searchable With AI

The Four Cs And Shoppable Video

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Yeah, absolutely. So I think I was very fortunate with Viral that uh uh around the time period I started Viral, uh AI was progressing as well, right? I think we have seen massive leaps in uh how you can leverage AI to solve a big problem or repetitive problem, right? And today I think one of the big uh advan benefits that we all have is uh we can have uh both AI-powered software and hardware uh that can really help us scale. And I think you know, if you look at video, video has been around for 35 years. Uh with airport security was the first big application where you can you know you identified people at the airports, you know, they were uh uh for security reasons. But uh being able to analyze a billion faces every day is only possible today. Uh the scale. And then the reason we can achieve that scale is AI. Uh, this was not possible even five years ago, right? So, first of all, I think uh my timing of was very good in terms of uh founding the company. Um, so coming back to your question, you know, our superpower is video search. So I realized that content moderation was the big problem uh that that WARL was really uh trying to solve. And so we're one of the few companies in the world that can analyze the video text, audio, images, and transcription in uh 21 dimensions. Uh so we analyze the video for sentiment, topic, scene, demographic, diversity, brand safety, product safety, uh, trends, keywords, engagement, object recognition, color recognition, and so on. And we make the video searchable inside out. So we so we make the audio track searchable, we make the image track, the background in the video searchable, we make the text in the video searchable as well. And it's really this capability to be able to moderate the video. So, for example, you can say, hey, show me videos on the Warwell platform uh that don't have any nudity in the video uh that doesn't mention the word Amazon if you're TikTok. And uh we want to make sure that there is no unlicensed content or unlicensed music in the background in the video, right? So Warwell is able to essentially uh moderate those videos and surface the right content uh for the right uh brand or retailer depending on their preferences and priorities. So uh this capability is what powers, and we're able to make all the videos searchable with all these dimensions. So these this capability is what really powers our platform. So we powered the four Cs of commerce. Um, first we help brands and retailers uh leverage their existing video content. So what we found was uh I would say 96% of world's uh brands today and retailers are producing a lot of social video on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. But what I discovered was none of that content is actually being uh leveraged on their uh e-commerce site. And and the reason is uh for that is the content needs to be at scale, needs to be captured, needs to be reformatted for your PDP, for your product pages, and needs to load on your PDP in less than two milliseconds. So there's a lot of work that needs to happen behind the scenes uh to make that happen at scale, right? So that's one of the reasons uh like that automation didn't exist until Warwell came out. So we help brands and retailers leverage their existing content. Uh today they're leaving about 30% additional revenue and engagement on the table because they're not leveraging that video right, right? So, and then we also have a mechanism to capture video reviews at scale as well. So uh so we help brands uh create licensed, uh authentic, user-generated content. So after a customer makes a purchase, uh you can send them an email, QR code, part by viral, inviting the shopper to make a video review after the product arrives. And um, this capability landed us a partnership with TikTok Shop. So we're actually uh the company that's powering video reviews on TikTok shop at scale for 500,000 TikTok merchants. So we have a very strong partnership with uh TikTok Shop and TikTok to do this. So first is capturing video or capturing video reviews. Uh second is curating that video content so brands can build their own filters. You know, for example, TikTok shop has its filter where you know you can't have nudity, miners, profanity, can mention the word Amazon in the uh in the videos or or certain keywords, right? For obvious for competitive reasons and so on. So we're able to rate rank uh and uh analyze all the content at SKU level and offer insights to TikTok seller, uh TikTok sellers or brands and retailers. Uh, we then power the third C, which is for non-TikTok shop customers. Uh, if you're a big retailer, we can now enable product discovery with video. So, you know, we all on a on a retail website, you know, you're always there with some intent. You're looking to buy perhaps headsets. Uh, you know, I'm looking for uh Bose headsets. So the first thing you do is you type the keyword uh Bose headset on Amazon. And imagine or any retailer website, and imagine now being able to surface the the review, the clip that's talking about the headset and why they why the shopper loves it. And this can be hyper-personalized. So the key to the key to success with video commerce is uh being able to make the content searchable, personalized, being able to recommend similar videos for similar product or categories or brands uh in a purchase so you can you so customers can see a variety of product uh to make their product decisions. Being able to see the product in action is very important. That's why video works. You can see the product, the person, and the emotions. Uh, and then of course you can buy now from the video with the viral experience. And also the other big problem now is SEO and geo. Uh geo is you know the capability to bring surface video content in Chat GPT. So that requires uh to that requires Chat GPT to really know what's in the video. So all these capabilities are it's a we're a one-stop platform to essentially enable all these capabilities for all things video. Um and that's really what makes uh world very special and unique and different.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Yeah, yeah. And you you raise a point. I was gonna ask you this later, but I I think I want to pull this forward because you hit an important point. And I've recorded some episodes uh recently talking about how uh agentic commerce means that optimizing your presence online isn't just optimizing your PDP, but uh obviously shopping agents look at they look at videos, they look at radiance round of views, they they they look very holistically at how an item or a brand uh is depicted in determining what it is that they recommend uh to a shopper in a in a chat GPT or another agenic uh uh format. So I'm curious how some of the capabilities that you just described and that I think you enable for your for your clients, they move beyond videos as just a static playback asset, if you will, into kind of a dynamic personalized shopping experience, especially when compared to what shoppers have historically experienced on an Amazon or Walmart.com or wherever they're shopping, that the right way to think about it and maybe how do you admise your clients to think about it going forward?

Agentic Commerce And Personalization

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Yeah, so a couple of things. So, you know, um I mentioned the the the the four C's of commerce and the fourth C that I really uh that Waro does is we track conversion and we do conversion optimization as well. So if we know a particular video is always driving a conversion on your site of sale, we can surface that content, right? Now, having said that, I think the future of commerce, in my opinion, is going to be super personalized, video-led shopping experience, right? So Scott might see a very different uh purchase experience buying a Bose headset, where Scott, perhaps, you know, we know that you prefer your pref your preferred color is black, uh, your, you know, your your face is round or or or oval or you know, whatever that is. And we know your demographic, your your age, perhaps even where you zip code where you live. And so what's going to happen is the the the shopping experience that you'll see will feature a black-colored headset, perhaps even in the video review or in the videos, right? And with AI, you can actually generate a color coded, dynamic product on the go inside the video, right? So, and you'll see reviews that features uh a target demographic of someone who has purchased a product that looks like Scott, right? Versus a Gen Z and a 20 year old, uh, you know, perhaps. Might have seen a very different experience where you know it's a female, she might actually see reviews of other shoppers uh buying uh the same Bose headset, but her preference is red colored or pink colored headset, right? And being able to dynamically serve that video and even serve the color of the right headset in the video. And and I think what's changed now with AI is you can multiply for a fraction of the cost, right? What I mean is you can dynamically change the color of the headset, the product in the video, uh, for example, right? With the colors, with the colors that you carry uh on your uh on on the PDP or you carry at the variance that you carry in your so I think that's the direction where everything is headed. And I think personalized experiences make the most sense. And I I strongly believe that the personalized uh experiences will will help multiply revenue as well. It's going to be uh a both an engagement multiplier and uh a revenue multiplier as well as we move forward. And this in order to do delivery uh dynamic uh personalization, it really requires deep understanding of what's in the video. You can't really do it without with understanding, and also you need to have a deep understanding of the signals and intent uh on the site and you and perhaps even uh your past historical data with a customer has purchased in the past as well uh to help you deliver that experience. So it's a bunch of different signals, if you will, uh both your present and past, um, and your settings in your account that will help uh drive that dynamic personalization. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

You know, one of the things that that occurs to me as you're talking about that is that, you know, in my role as a consultant, one of the things I counsel a lot of brands and a lot of retailers on is the metrics by which you measure, track, and optimize your business from physical retail to digital retail, residing in silos, and we we try to find a way to bring those things together in the broad context. Now, if you look within the context of video commerce, I suspect that there's probably metrics that a lot of brands and a lot of retailers aren't thinking about or aren't looking about, and probably need to come forward and be some of the more critical KPIs in terms of how you manage the business, optimize the business. What's your view on maybe some of the metrics, the KPIs that both brands and retailers aren't thinking about, but from your perspective and what viral does, hey, you ought to be looking at these things. What do you think about that?

New KPIs For Video ROI

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Yeah, absolutely. So I think a couple of things, right? I think uh one of the big challenges uh that I see is uh brands are producing all this content, whether it's UGC or or brand or influencer content. But the the big thing I see is uh the content is not uh properly distributed across all their channels, right? So uh you absolutely so that's the number one thing is you know, don't just let your content sit on social media. The content can also be leveraged on your on your PDP, on your mobile app, in your uh on uh in your mobile app experience as well and and more. So, and also across your channels as well, across Amazon, Walmart, and other retailers. And uh I think what we're seeing across the board is that all retailers now are slowly try is opening up the the video hose, if you will, and and partnering with companies like us that help them with content moderation at scale. So as as as suppliers, brands, uh vendors are uploading video content, even that requires content moderation as well. You can you know all it takes is one bad video uh to go on the site and create a and create a PR crisis uh for the brand. And I think that's the nervousness that brands and retailers have, and that's why they need the content moderation capabilities. So um I think the problem today is not content creation and consumption, the problem is distribution and ROI. So uh most most brands and retailers today put have videos. They put uh some do some do have videos on their PDPs, but what we notice is the videos are very static. Uh, they're not nothing is being measured or compared. Uh, you know, there is no attribution yet uh for video on your PDPs and how you can you can leverage that attribution to maximize your revenue and and conversion as well. So I think uh, you know, there's a there's a number of key KPIs uh that brands should be thinking about, you know, everything from starting to look at how many videos you have on your page, on your PDP, uh, what type of videos you have, it's not just about having a video, it's about having a branded video. I would say uh 20% of your content should be branded and influencer content, and 80% should be UGC, authentic user-generated uh video and reviews, right? So having that mix is extremely important and being able to track that mix and understanding what content you have, but what content you don't have. So you can actually run campaigns dynamically run with uh, and I think you rightly pointed out now with agentic commerce, and viral is a fully agentic uh platform as well. You know, we offer not only a mechanism to capture insights at scale, uh, we have a Ask Viral agent to do that. We also have a shopper agent as well for customers to ask questions as well on your e-commerce side. So uh I would say uh, you know, starting to track your uh your content, what you have, what you don't have, starting to measure your full attribution on your page, everything from uh engagement with with your different uh videos and what video is ultimately improving your uh you know, improving your GMV and improving your AOV and all the key parameters uh that e-commerce uh uh companies are already tracking, but you need to bring video in the mix uh to do all do all that and to be able to optimize that as well. And I think you'd be surprised how quickly uh you know you can learn a lot from video because video is very multidimensional. So, you know, you can quickly understand what uh from video engagement, you know, what videos are really performing really well. And so what type of video you should, and of course, this varies by by category as well. So, for example, in the beauty category, uh reviews, unboxing videos, how do videos do really well? But in the uh in the automotive category, it's usually infomercial of the car because car is a very rich feature product. Uh a review from an expert such as a dealer talking about why the car is amazing, and of course, having reviews from customers on why they purchased the car can also be very helpful, right? So, all of this, I think ultimately all of this together is going to help you uh drive that. And I think, you know, to TikTok and and Amazon's credit, uh, even Amazon now has uh in my uh you know, and in my math, they have more than 250 million videos now on their on their on their PDPs. And if you look at the new Amazon experience, and I when I say new, I meant I mean the video led experience, it's Amazon is leading every PDP page with video now. Uh, you can and I I believe that the future of commerce is video, it's just going to start and end with video, period.

Omnichannel And In‑Store Video

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Yeah. And you know, it's interesting because so much of what we talk about on this show is is omnichannel related in the fact that digital influence doesn't just happen in the context of e-commerce, it happens in physical stores as well. And some of the things I've been reading on on Byral's website and in some of the things that that we've talked about, it feels like there's a role video plays throughout a different omnichannel shopping scenarios. And that can be obviously product pages, could but it could be in email, it could be in uh digital uh or social media uh advertising. How do you advise your clients or or how do how do you think both brands and retailers need to think about video beyond just the PDP or in a digital experience, but even in a physical store shopping scenario?

Winners, Losers, And Speed

SPEAKER_00 29:52

Yeah, that's a that's a great question. And uh I would say two areas. Uh the first is retailers are big on retail media right now, on sponsored content uh and preview content that they surface on their on top of the page. So what's cool about uh in-store experiences is you know, we always have, you know, when you walk into a store, there's now a whole network of digital displays at the store. Uh, there's a host of uh TVs, uh, and uh, and of course, we're carrying our phones as well as we walk inside the store. So I would say these are all the different touch points inside the store where you can influence the shopping behavior, right? Whether it's on the digital display, it might be some fun video for a review from a customer that's just playing uh for a number of products in a loop, uh, or perhaps new products that were just introduced in the store. You know, I think what's interesting is, and for me, this is always the case, uh, whether I'm walking into a Target or Home Depot, or even like, you know, maybe even a luxury store, you know, I'm lost. The first question I ask myself is where do I go? Where do I begin? But imagine you have a digital display, and and and this is, I'm sure this is coming. I'm sure Walmart is already thinking about this, is you enter the Walmart store, and if you're if today we have Walmart greeters who greet people and say hello, uh, imagine having a digital display that greets you personalized, quickly scans your face and says, Hey, you know, looks like you're back in for to buy toilet paper. And this is that you should be moving left or right uh for your purchase, or you could even speak to digital display and say, hey, where can I find I'm looking for Halloween is coming up. I need to pick up a Halloween gear. Uh right. So uh so first I think the user of digital displays is going to evolve, uh, in my opinion, for uh in-store shopping experiences. Uh, the second is uh delivering retail media inside the store, both, you know, as you're walking around, you know, we always uh I'm we everyone is opening their phone now and they're doing comparison shopping. I mean, I think you know, people will not admit, but you know, you see a lot of people actually then looking back on their Amazon Prime account and seeing and doing price comparison, right? Whether and especially for higher purchase products, right? People are price sensitive. Do you want to pay$300 versus$380 for uh uh for purchasing a rice cooker, right? Or whatever, whatever electronics you're you're purchasing, right? So I think uh people do do the price comparison or product comparison, or even they go on YouTube, Instagram inside the store and TikTok to watch reviews, right? So what if the reviews were enabled from the SKU itself? Like you you pick up that product and you scan the QR code with your Target app or the uh or the barcode on the product. It doesn't even have to be a QR code. And Target opens up and says, Hey, would you like to see reviews, unboxing videos for this for this product, right? So we can bring so I think there's a massive opportunity for retailers to bring that uh experience on your mobile device inside the store. And I think uh, you know, something that has been replicated really well is airlines. Uh, you know, you walk into United and you you United invites you to open your connect your phone with their Wi-Fi. And guess what? They're delivering retail media. Essentially, they're delivering ads and and and sponsored content inside the flight and as you're flying across across country, right? And they have your full attention, you're you're there, right? So I think similar experiences are evolving and I believe will evolve in retail media as well, where you both between uh screen in-store screens and uh your phone, uh, it's going to change uh how we shop inside stores as well. It's gonna make it easier, in my opinion. And then of course, you know, I think uh last thing I would say is, you know, self-checkout is being tested right now across the board. It's worked in some cases, it hasn't. You know, Amazon Go tr Amazon tried it with Amazon Go, but for other reasons, you know, it wasn't necessarily fraud. It was also that people love talking to someone at the cashier. They want to say hi when they I think we're we're social animals, right? I think that's that's where I strongly believe that the you know, as much as there's robots and everything, the human interactions will never go away. That's what makes us human.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Yeah. It's it's so funny because uh there's been entire Saturday Night Live skits about uh Amazon Go and the concept of checking out uh uh in that kind of a fashion. It's it's funny to go back and look at that. But it makes me kind of think about the maybe the last point I wanted to touch on with you is that there's so much change going on in our industry right now that a lot of our focus is in the here and now and in the moment about making sure whether we're a brand or a retailer, that we're we're taking advantage of the opportunities that are right in front of us. But I wonder if you ever have a moment to kind of step back and look forward uh based on how you see things evolving from your perspective next three to five years. What are the brands, retailers, what are the tendencies that you see from your view and from the view of viral that are really going to be the winner? What's going to separate the winners and losers? I guess is the way I want to frame the question in terms of companies that are ready to embrace the customer the way that they want to shop and with the tools that they want to shop with. What do you think separates winners from losers in that scenario as we look forward into the future?

SPEAKER_00 35:10

That's a great question. And in fact, I think even as we're speaking, I think the winners and losers are sorting out, right? I mean, you know, Sachs just filed for bankruptcy last week, uh, Sachs Fifth Avenue. And so if you look at the uh I I would say I would say the between the winners and losers is uh everything from, you know, if you I I think the winners are going to optimize and personalize uh the shopper journey from all the way from uh product discovery, whether you're uh asking a question on Chat TPT and recommendations for a headset to uh product discovery on your site with led with video to actually landing on the PDP with a with a dynamic personalized experience uh that just hits the nail. Like you've got the customer's attention, and then finally being able to uh ship and deliver the product on time uh with really improved and sophisticated logistics. As and I think this is already happening across the world, you know, whether it's uh uh shipping logistics across the oceans, or it's whether it's freight or and and really the product arriving in time, but also product arriving uh with uh I would say a sustainable uh environmental uh footprint. Uh, you know, where and I think all of this can be, I think this is where AI can comes in, is AI is does a phenomenal job with replicating and optimizing uh the can optimize the customer shopping journey uh from uh from end to end. And so I think you know, if you look at the winners today, you know, if I if I consider uh uh you know TikTok shop as a winner, I mean TikTok shop, as I understand, uh is going to do about uh 20 billion in sales. Well, and this is they're achieving something that eBay has taken 20 years to get there, 25 years to get there in in like one year, right? And so uh, you know, I think they get it right. I mean, they they get they get all these touch points, uh right, right. And you you know, whether it's fortunate or unfortunate, uh, it is the algorithm that drives the uh that ultimately is going to drive the the uh the purchase, uh if you will, uh, with all the signals, being able to capture all the signals around the shopper uh to deliver the right experience, right? And uh and this is and the challenge is I would say is the winners are moving fast. They're not taking three years to do to try something out. I mean, it's like we work with many brands and retailers, and I think there has to be a mindset, uh, it's not just simply uh AI and product and and optimizing experiences. Across the organization, there has to be uh a mindset of being able to test quickly, test fast, uh, you know, prove whether it works or not, and move quickly into production and test. And and I think that uh, you know, I think retailers, and I think I see this across even uh, you know, I would say all brands and retailers is uh they're looking for the perfect experience. And and it's not about the perfect experiences getting out there faster, better, quicker. I mean, Amazon is continuously, TikTok is continuously introducing new experiences every week, every uh every month. Like I monitor these platforms and they're continuously testing, and the customer doesn't care, doesn't even remember the last uh chapter experience. I mean, Amazon is not perfect by any means at all. There's sort of a lot of noise on the PDP on the on the on Amazon, but they quickly they iterate. And so I strongly believe that this, you know, to your answer, it's it's not just about the tech and the AI, but it's the mindset of the culture that you create in the company across the board and to and to to be able to test and iterate with AI tools uh is going to be the key to success as well. Yeah.

Closing Insights And Resources

SPEAKER_01 38:47

Ajay, you know, uh it's interesting. Every encounter I have with you, I learned something more. And I'm so grateful for you to take the time uh to join us today. And and I think one of the things I'm taking away from our conversation is you're helping us kind of frame video as not just content. It is that, but it's really part of the infrastructure of modern commerce. And I think if our listeners take anything away from this, not only is TikTok a new channel, but it's also outdated some of the retail shopping experiences that are out there in video uh as an element is really not optional anymore. It's part of how shoppers learn, validate, decide, and make informed decisions uh and when video is shoppable, it's analyzable if you're the the brand and connected in the right ways, as you were mentioning uh to the shopper journey, it really becomes a pretty powerful revenue driver for both a retailer and for a brand in ways that I think we collectively as an industry are just beginning to understand. So I'm so grateful for the conversation. I learned a lot. I think our audience has learned a lot, and uh uh I appreciate you coming on today.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Yeah, thank you. And I will just add, I think you concluded really well. You summarized really well, and I would just add one uh comment on that is uh ultimately brands want to be sticky, right, uh, to their site. And I think law uh video is very sticky and engaging. And so I will I will add that it also will help you uh yeah, you know, make your brand more sticky to your customers as well and and and get more loyal customers as well. So, Scott, thank you again for the opportunity. Uh, you know, lots going on, and hopefully we'll continue the conversation. And I'm sure every six months there'll be something new if we if I if you were to chat again, I'm I'm sure the world would have changed in six months again.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

And so we'll come back that is a fact of life in the in the business that we're living in. And and so thank you again. I'll tell our listeners to if you'd like to learn more about viral and how uh Ajay and his team help brands turn video into a powerful revenue generating engine, uh, visit their website at viral.com. We'll put a uh a picture of the URL up on our screen here so that everybody can find it very, very easily. So uh again, Ajay, thank you. Thank you everyone for listening for the digital front door. I just got thinner did.