As televisions become smarter through innovation within the sets and peripherals such as cable boxes, DVR systems, and Blu-Ray players, companies enabling consumers to watch and shop feels like the logical next step. As noted in an Internet Retailer article, PayPal has already been working with cable and TV manufacturers on applications designed to reduce the friction of TV shopping. Basically, this has to do with to make online purchases without a keyboard:
The deal will reduce the number of fields a PayPal user buying via his TV has to fill to complete a transaction, says Delivery Agent CEO Mike Fitzsimmons. Right now it takes about 12 minutes to input information via remote control each time, he says.
Most consumers who spend 12 minutes inputting information using a remote control means they really want to buy something. Consumers creating wish lists or clicking on coupon offers provide a far less burdensome experience and can still put PayPal in the middle of the transaction:
The deal will also enable a consumer viewing a commercial on his TV to click on a pop-up box asking if he would like a coupon for the advertised product. After using his remote control to click a Yes button, he can log into his PayPal account to have the coupon downloaded to his PayPal account. He can then present the coupon in a bricks-and-mortar store.
Companies bringing shopping experiences to consumers via TV is an important step all on its own since consumers are viewing programming on all sorts of devices, some of which do have keyboards. Efforts such as PayPal’s will help reinforce this behavior whether one is sitting at home or at a remote location.
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