Imagine you're watching TV, and are interested in purchasing the coat you've just seen advertised. Instead of pulling out your smartphone to search for the item, you're able to get more information and buy the coat directly from your television. Sound good? Samsung, along with various retail partners, is aiming to make this functionality a reality in 2014.
At the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, Samsung announced their first commercial Curved Ultra HD TVs, as well as the integration of purchasing technology with their Smart TVs. According to ClickZ, Fandango will be launching a new service in Q1 2014 which offers movie trailers with fully-embedded ticketing capabilities on curved Samsung Smart TVs. The capability will be featured within the Movies & TV Shows panel, a video recommendation and discovery service on the TVs. Users will be able to watch video content and purchase relevant movie tickets directly from the TV.
"We're helping consumers discover movies that are best experienced in the theater with a branded storefront of movie trailers on Samsung's Smart TVs," said Mark Young, vice president of business development and strategy at Fandango. "Fandango is investing heavily in the video content space and we see Fandango as the Vevo of movie trailers."
In addition to Fandango, clothing store H&M plans to launch a partnership with Samsung Smart TVs for their Super Bowl push this year. Viewers with certain Samsung devices will have the ability to purchase items from H&M's David Beckham Bodywear collection when the brand's Super Bowl ad airs. A partnership with technology company Delivery Agent will allow viewers to engage with the ad on their televisions and opt-in to purchase products as they browse the new Spring collection from H&M.
H&M announced that they are the first retailer to launch a fully enabled television commerce, or t-commerce, campaign. As a whole, the initiative will include shopping from a commercial as well as the launch of an H&M t-commerce boutique on Delivery Agent's ShopTV app on select Samsung Smart TVs.
This is a big step towards further integrating television advertising and purchase transactions. We'll have to wait to the Super Bowl and beyond to measure the success of these intiatives, when these ads have been further tested and more advanced Smart TV technology enters viewers' homes.