Cyrus Summerlin and Max Hellerstein, who previously created the Push for Pizza app (which allowed users to reserve a pizza with a button), are formally launching their new startup today, Down to Shop. The app payments itself as both a cutting-edge reinvention of QVC and “the funniest way to keep.” It permits customers to observe humorous motion pictures offering merchandise that may be bought immediately from the app. In an email, Hellerstein said the pair created Down to Shop out of dissatisfaction with present advertising and e-trade. Summerlin described it as “a hypermedia commerce platform.”
“We’ve created a self-aware, a laugh and wonderful, interactive surroundings that get clients to interact with brands like never earlier than — due to the fact they need to,” Summerlin stated. “What a concept!”
To do that, Down to Shop has recruited an innovative crew of Upright Citizens Brigade alums and Instagram influencers to famous people. It indicates that it is written, filmed, and edited inside the startup’s Los Angeles studios. The content material is constructed around 4-week seasons, with everyday episodes across five indicates each season.
You can download the iOS app now, then swipe via one-of-a-kind videos and games. Judging from the motion pictures available at release, the app is conserving authenticity to its promise of “content material first, marketing second,” with laid-back, tongue-in-cheek suggestions that show up to characteristic promoted merchandise.
Playing games and watching movies also earns Clout, the in-app currency used to make purchases. As for the goods available to purchase, the enterprise says it’s already working with more than 60 brands, including Sustain Condoms, Dirty Lemon (water), and Pretty Litter (cat litter).
Down to Shop’s investors encompass Greycroft, Lerer Hippeau, and Firstmark. The startup isn’t disclosing the size of its investment; however, following a regulatory filing, it raised $5.9 million in final falls.
