Online shoppers love the ease and convenience of ordering office supplies and ottomans with the click of a mouse. Soon, however, they’ll be swept back to reality by a form of advertising that has confused, aggravated and delighted Americans for decades. We’re talking, of course, about the infomercial.
Sukhiner Singh Cassidy, a former Google executive, has started a company called Joyus that she says will be a sort of online Home Shopping Network. “If you think about the ways to sell online, video is underutilized,” Cassidy told reporters. “It’s a new way for brands to merchandise their product.”
Cassidy says her site will be similar to flash deal sites like Gilt Groupe and major market presences like Amazon.com that are trying to sell online goods like clothes that people prefer to buy in person. And while infomercials don’t bring to mind so much feelings of joy as of teeth-grinding frustration, Joyus is built around the idea of using videos to market these hard sells.
Read more at The New York Times.
