The History of eko, and the Future of Retail
How a love of storytelling made us want to change how people shop online.
For a startup that started up as a rock band, the beginning of eko was actually pretty simple. We’d secured a few patents on our original interactive video tech, and we had a dream: to bring the art of storytelling closer to real life, through the power of choice. We felt like the promise of the internet — to bring us closer together through technology — still had so much untapped potential. We wanted to connect creators more closely to their audiences, combining the best parts of in-person entertainment, movies, and games.
Fast forward ten years later, and we’ve powered everything from award-winning videos for music legends; to groundbreaking branded experiences with companies like Coca-Cola, Subaru, and Ikea; to live-action entertainment. Our achievements in entertainment got us called the century’s defining art form, and led us to our biggest partner ever: a joint venture with Walmart with hundreds of millions in funding.
In this unprecedented partnership, entertainment started out as our main focus. But we soon discovered that what made our choice-driven entertainment so compelling also created much more engaging and inspiring shopping experiences. When viewers make choices that change the story in real time, they’re actively personalizing their experience, whether they’re shopping for groceries or enjoying an episode of their favorite interactive show. And getting a more relevant emotional experience means that when viewers are presented with an opportunity to take an action, such as to purchase a product, they are much more likely to act than if they’d been watching a linear video or browsing a website. In short: we found that interactive video storytelling was an excellent way to reduce friction and boost confidence among consumers.
We also discovered that, although e-commerce shatters growth expectations every year, there are a lot of things people miss about shopping IRL. In fact, only 15% of consumers describe themselves as satisfied with the online shopping experience. Product review fraud is rampant, and consumers often consult extensive sources in their research before ultimately abandoning their online carts altogether. A recent report from Salesforce even showed that four-fifths of consumers and business buyers consider the experience a brand provides to be just as important as its products or services.
Finally, in a pandemic year, when a crisis forced millions of new consumers online, the lack of innovative, engaging digital experiences came into sharp relief. As our technology began to power more and more experiences for Walmart, helping customers stay entertained and engaged while they shopped, we realized that the problems eko could solve in retail were coming into sharp relief as well. Even in 2021, less than 15% of retail happens online. We see our role as helping to bridge that gap, combining the best parts of IRL shopping with online experiences and e-commerce.
Since we decided to focus on e-commerce, we’ve powered vast hubs of always-on experiences with our partner Walmart. Cookshop, Make It with Walmart, Baby Gift Finder, Wonder Lab, and more all debuted to great results, and continue to expand. The returns have been impressive: Our Try & Buy templates, which let consumers test out products right from the product page, have been shown to have up to 40% higher add-to-cart rates compared to linear product videos. We also found our experiences propel brand love and category awareness, with Cookshop users reporting a 27% increased perception of Walmart as the place to buy healthy food, and a 26% increased likelihood of shopping at Walmart for groceries. Over and over again, we find customer experiences powered by our technology boast higher rates of engagement in both time spent and click through rates than industry standards for branded content.
Narrowing our focus to e-commerce, and setting our sights on creating a customer experience platform that engages and converts customers better, was a big decision for us. But as it turned out, our storytelling mission from ten years ago was preparing us for this opportunity all along. Giving retail customers what they need to make informed decisions right from the product page, painting vivid pictures so they can imagine products in their own homes and lives, posing new possibilities to inspire new purchases, boosting purchase confidence and ultimately reducing purchase friction: all of it depends on robust, human storytelling that connects to people on a personal level.
So, we’ll see you in the digital shopping aisles, empowering your favorite brands to make both fun and useful shopping experiences. In other words: we’re bringing digital experiences closer to real life, through the art of storytelling and the power of choice.
Happy shopping 👋,
Team eko.
