Behind JoinStreamify, The Atlanta Livecommerce Startup Connecting Brands To New Customers

Move over Amazon. The nature of e-commerce is changing, thanks to live stream commerce options making shopping more personal and interactive.

Livestream commerce originated in China in 2015 and has become an integral part of the country’s e-commerce landscape ever since. A McKinsey report estimates the market reached $171 billion in 2020 and will jump to $423 billion by 2022.

While U.S. live commerce market is currently smaller, the Atlanta-based entrepreneurs behind JoinStreamify are connecting American brands to Gen Z and Millennial shoppers.

“We’ve always felt that the buying process could be a lot more fun and more personal,” co-founder Smitha Kommareddi told Hypepotamus. “We’re bringing people to the center of e-commerce.”

JoinStreamify’s Payment and Ecommerce Solutions

That personal approach to e-commerce, co-founder Nicolas Bailliache said, puts interactivity and instant payment options at the heart of Streamify’s tech platform.

Brands don’t have to set up costly, highly-produced QVC television events or rely on Amazon’s platform to find customers and sell products. Instead, brand owners set up a web-based live stream feed and connect directly with viewers.

On the payment side, check-out options are integrated directly into the feed, meaning consumers do not have to open another tab to complete a purchase.

A recorded version with the same buy-now capabilities is made available for those who missed the live session. Other brand-focused features include access to a network of influencers with live streaming experience and a product library built to help a brand build a strong inbound marketing pipeline.

Chat options and other integration features will be deployed soon, the team told Hypepotamus.

While early brands on the platform have been largely from the health and wellness space, the co-founders have seen other unique use cases pop up on the platform. Bailliache told Hypepotamus that a medical device company used the platform to provided needed education around specific products.

“Everywhere video is a key component of educating consumers, we can have a play in there,” he added.

 

Meet The JoinStreamify Team

“I was always bothered by going to a website and having to buy from a picture or from a limited amount of text,” said Bailliache. He sees live stream shopping as an opportunity to highlight the story behind a brand.

The co-founders’ passion for helping brands is apparent in every aspect of what they are building. That passion propelled the team to bring home the top audience prize at the 80th Atlanta Startup Village event this August.

“The spirit and energy of Atlanta really jive well with what we are doing,” said Kommareddi, adding that a focus on creating meaningful relationships with smaller brands has helped Streamify grow to date. “I have consciously made a choice to live in Atlanta, I love it here.”

Bailliache, a business and sales development expert who comes to Atlanta by way of France, and software engineer Kommareddi first connected at a blockchain hack-a-thon where both were working on problems surrounding supply chain and the nature of commerce.

Not only did Kommareddi and Bailliache meet at a blockchain conference; they have used money made from early crypto investments to bootstrap Streamify to date.

Kommareddi and Bailliache said an institutional funding round could be coming in the near future, they are focused on growing the platform and helping brands during the upcoming holiday shopping season.

Those looking to experience JoinStreamify — or want to get a head start on holiday shopping — can check out upcoming merchant streams from barrel-aged coffee company CloutCoffee and recovery drink company Tiiga during the week of October 2. The live sessions will happen on joinstreamify.com and will also be broadcasted on YouTube and Facebook.