Solution Drives Sustainable Ecommerce For Brands During COVID-19 and Beyond

Independent digital commerce specialist Astound Commerce has announced the launch of its new proprietary shopping solution VTail, developed specifically for video-etailing. The capability allows for the quick implementation of video-etailing experiences into existing ecommerce sales channels. It is designed as a way to engage with existing clients and bring new customers to stores, remotely.

Nearly two years before the pandemic, the engineers at Astound Labs, the company’s internal incubator, recognized the importance of video-etailing, and had been developing the tool for its clients. Astound’s unique offering includes seamless integration with websites and apps; group text chat; live-voice interaction, including invitation options; easy engagement with consultants; simplified scrolling to the order button; scheduled and private tours; and quick connection to similar or related products in catalogue.

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“Astound’s next step for VTail will be embedding AI to further enhance angy and all commerce ecosystems,” sayd Dmitry Golovatsky, Managing Director of Astound Labs. “We’ve been working on VTail for a long time, and during this difficult period it has really stepped up to be the right tool to sustain retail commerce for brands. But more than that, it points to the future. The pandemic will pass, but from this point on, ecommerce is retail commerce. And video shopping has become foundational to all ecommerce systems,” he continued.

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Brick-and-mortar has suffered disproportionately due to COVID-19, with 14% to 50% of shoppers favoring online commerce over shopping at physical stores. And even as stay-at-home orders begin to relax, in-person shopping may remain undesirable for consumers who will want to replicate the in-store experience through video-streaming and video-conferencing. Now, in many cases, video-etailing constitutes the central strategy for brands, and it is the only way to reach shoppers still reluctant to return to brick and mortar.

“Many other platforms consider video-etailing as a secondary function,” says Roman Martynenko, Cofounder and Executive Vice President of Global Services at Astound Commerce. “While typically these tools are jury-rigged add-ons to a game-sharing or media-sharing platform, VTail is designed from the bottom up strictly as an video-etailing solution.”

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