Welcome to another exciting and elucidating episode of the Omnitalk Ask an Expert series.

I'm your host, Anne Mazinga, and this is our second Ask an Expert Front Porch series with firework.

As a lead up to NRF, where they will be at booth number 3951 in a special lounge designed with front porches of all varieties where you can meet with fellow retailers and brands in our retail community to continue the conversations that we're about to have today in real life.

Today we are going to invite two more people to the front porch.

So please join me in welcoming beachwaver CEO and co founder Sarah Patempa and firework VP of strategic accounts for beauty, Christie Vanader.

Sarah Christy, welcome to the show.

Sarah, I was just saying to you before the show started that I was just at my local Target.

You just launched there and the products are flying off the shelves.

So I'm so excited to have you here joining us.

Thank you for having me.

It's been very exciting.

We've had such huge success in the live stream and social selling and now literally they've been selling out like crazy online that people are like, I want to be able to go into a store and shoot the product.

So it's been really exciting that we're able to get in before the holidays.

It's Q4.

It's like super exciting.

I know people want to buy it as gifts, so we're, we're very, very excited to be in Target in stores across the nation.

I know they are selling out fast, so hopefully next year too, we'll be able to have all the hair care there.

It's a very, very exciting time to grow the brand both online and in stores.

Oh, my gosh.

Well, we're so excited to talk to you about how you're doing that today.

And Christie, this is your first time on the show, so welcome.

Christie.

Thank you for having me.

I've met you in person many times, but it's an honor to be here and to talk about beachwaver, one of our favorite partners at Firework.

Awesome.

Yeah, I'm really excited to dig into too, especially how, you know, the beauty space is just so such a perfect spot and industry to really focus on live shopping and the really what you can unlock with that, as Sarah mentioned, both online and offline and preparing me as a consumer to, to really get.

Get what I'm looking for once, once I walk into the store.

Well, before we get started, I just want to give a quick reminder to those of you who are watching this live right now on LinkedIn.

We have the Beachwaver team.

We have the firework team.

Chris and I are here, and we are all ready to answer your burning questions about video commerce and about beachwaver as we continue throughout the program.

So please put your questions in the chat box to your right as we go along.

Well, Sarah, I want to start off as we always do.

I'd love to hear a little bit of your background and just kind of set the table for the audience who might be new to the beachwaver brand.

Yeah.

So I started my career as a celebrity hairstylist.

So I have traveled around the world styling musicians, actresses.

It's been very exciting and very cool working with anybody from Alanis Morissette, Alicia Keys.

I have Jewel, Camila Cabello.

I was on the Reputation Stadium tour with Taylor Swift and Camila.

So I got to travel all over, be there creating looks for concerts, red carpet events, you know, morning shows.

So my job as a celebrity hairdresser, I would be working with them, creating a look.

Once they walk on the red carpet, I would often get a phone call from InStyle or Glamour or Allure asking me for the how to.

Like, I saw this really cool look that you did on Reese Witherspoon.

Could you let me know how.

How I could get the look at home?

How can I recreate the look of a celebrity?

Right?

So for many years, I was like, you know, always asked, how do you get a beachy wave?

I just was asked for four or five years.

I'd worked with Procter and Gamble as a spokesperson for 10 years.

So I was doing a lot of press events, a lot of beauty editor desk sides, dinner parties, just trying to help that consumer, that woman at home who's thinking, hey, I struggle.

I don't really know how to curl my hair.

I would love to make it easier, save money, be able to do it at home, right?

So I.

For four or five years, I was making videos, creating content about how easy it was to curl your hair by holding a curling iron upside down and wrapping it backwards and wearing a glove.

Yeah.

A lot of people were like, I don't.

What do you mean?

I'm like, hold it upside down, wrap it backwards, wear a glove, go this way on this side, go that way on that side.

I wrote articles.

I did videos.

People were like, you know?

And what I found really interesting is beauty editors sometimes didn't know how to do their own hair.

They were like, well, I'm actually a journalist.

I'm a Writer.

I didn't go to beauty school.

I don't really know how to do that look.

I don't know how to do a braid and a beachy wave.

So I really kind of made it my mission to help the editors be able to write that article that would inspire somebody at home.

So I was actually on the phone 14 years ago with the beauty editor, and there was no zoom and there was no FaceTime.

And she was like, so wait, tell me that again.

And I'm like, lip, pull it upside down.

Wrap it, like, to the right, like backwards.

And she's like, I really don't want to write that article.

I don't understand myself.

And I don't think they're going to understand.

So I got off the phone with her and I sketched out the idea for the beach waiver.

I literally was like, this is something that people are struggling with.

I kept hearing it every time I did an interview.

So I sketched it out.

A curling iron that would rotate to the left and the right based on the side you're curling.

My sister Erin actually switched careers from a corporate lawyer to an entrepreneur.

Joined me as my co founder.

My younger sister left her job on reality TV doing casting for Top Chef and Project Runway.

She joined me, and it took us two years.

We launched initially on QVC.

They told us, you're lucky if you have four to five earrings.

And we were on 50 times.

Our first.

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

That is incredible.

What a story.

I feel like.

I know.

I feel like you and your sisters need to have your own reality show.

I mean, I feel like you've got all the right parts and components and I definitely would be watching.

Well, I'm really excited to dig in.

More to that, Sarah, thanks for sharing.

And Christie, I'd love for you, for those people who might be joining us for the first time, who are new to Firework, to just give everyone a quick overview on Firework and especially your work in the beauty industry.

Sure.

I've been in the beauty industry for, wow, almost 30 years.

The last 10 within beauty tech.

Before Firework, I was with a virtual try on company called Perfect Corp.

So.

So I like, I'm all in with this beauty tech, right?

So basically every day and I'm hearing the challenges from beauty customers, right?

Like in the digital space, how do they translate, you know, to opportunities to really engage their audiences?

And Sarah and beachwaver have done this better than anybody, I think, within the beauty space.

Right.

So basically, Firework is a video commerce company that transforms digital stores with Video powered shopping experiences.

So our ultralight weight video infrastructure enables E commerce brands to really introduce these interactive video shopping experiences without sacrificing site speed.

So we basically have four products that this powers interactive short shoppable video and digital showroom which some people call live that.

We'll talk about that with Sarah because they incorporate both of those.

But we also power one to one so we can shop with a customer.

And also Ava, which is our AI digital human that can shop with customers and answer their questions to 24 7.

Wow.

Well, I want to dig in and, and just kind of understand.

Sarah, I'd love to hear from your perspective what, what kind of prompted firework and this technology to reach the top of your priority list.

Our business is all about education and all about how can.

Right.

We are based in the sense of, you know, I have this expertise.

I am setting up a celebrity for the red carpet with a two hour hair and makeup session.

Right?

Yeah.

But if you're sitting at home, how do you do it?

Right.

So that has always been our mission, is to empower women to feel more confident in their journey.

So for us it's always been about yes on camera, qvc.

I'm speaking to millions of people, right.

But I don't get that automatic feedback.

I don't get that interaction.

I can't answer the questions live as much.

Right.

So only way to really explain the products is through video and live streaming is where I really thrive because I want to ask you questions about your hair.

I want the feedback so I can give you that expertise.

I want to answer your question and then I want you to buy the right product.

I want you to feel like, yes, yes, that's me, yes, my hair is greasy and flat.

Wait, what did she say?

I want that rice based dry shampoo.

Like, you know, like want people to feel like they have an informed educational show when they're purchasing their beauty products.

They're not just like, I don't know, I'm buying it because it's trendy.

I don't know, is this the right one for me?

I don't know.

And I was looking at, well, what is the tech stack?

What is the customer journey?

All right, so they're joining our text fam, we called it, and they're joining maybe our email list.

But the text fam became where I felt like I want to, I want to talk to you.

So we would do little videos for me going out to the whole text fam, we would do a welcome flow about, you know, recommendations.

My clients Kind of why I created it, about the founders, my sisters.

So we really made it so personalized.

And while I was building the tech stack, I was like, I don't want to just be live on social media.

Can I be live on our website?

Hey, you made it all the way to the site.

You're about to shop, right?

We all know, like, your conversion rate is so important.

Getting them to the checkout, are they going to convert?

Are they going to buy?

Are they going to, like, abandon their cart and go around?

I don't know.

Let me do some more searches online before I know I want to buy this.

So when we came across Firework, I was like, yes.

Like, this is exactly what I'm looking for.

I mean, Abby and the team will know that I literally put everything up.

I was like, yep, daily lives short from videos.

Where can I put it?

Where can I learn the code?

I'm going to put the carousel in.

I'm going to put the live pop up.

So then we built this whole thing with our team where I was like, all right.

Immediately, the entire tech stack is leading.

We only send a text message if we are live on the website.

I don't want to send thousands of people to the website and there's nobody there to speak to them.

Like, and we look at it like, there's a huge, huge movement right now in Asia about being.

Your website is a store.

So if you walk into a Best Buy, somebody greets you, hello, welcome to the store.

What are you looking for?

Do you need a camera?

Do you need this?

So if you're going to come to beachwaver.com, i need to be like, hey, what are you looking for?

How can I help you?

What's your hair type?

Like, which curling irons on sale?

Where do I get the deal?

What's my.

How does it work?

How does this.

So it really became like, that is our vision, that's our mission, is making our website an experience that the customer feels like they're a part of.

Right?

So really what it sounds like if I summarize what you just said, Sarah, is like, you are.

You are truly using this to prioritize a unified commerce experience for your customers, whether they're coming into beachwaver.com or they're going to get your product in a Target store, for example.

And so this, this has really floated to the top of your priority list because it allows you to kind of go beyond the brand packaging or the still images that you're putting, you might be putting out or typical brands might be putting out into the market.

You're really kind of giving them the full experience no matter where they encounter beachwaver.

Absolutely.

And when you're there and you join a live stream and then you are walking in a Target store and you're like, oh yeah, I've seen her.

I've watched those videos.

Now I can experience that.

I can pick it up and I feel more comfortable making that purchase.

Right.

I do feel like I'm part of that family.

I'm part of that.

I want to support that brand.

I know they're women.

I know they're based in Illinois.

I've seen their videos in the warehouse.

We know that they're, you know what I mean?

And so I do think there's that big sentiment in business.

Right.

That, okay, I know who I'm supporting when I walk into that Target store and that's why I'm buying it.

And I had a really, really beautiful moment where I live stream a lot and I've gotten to know a lot of the people that join.

I know their usernames, I know their handles.

And I was actually on target.com when we launched and I was reading reviews and I was like, oh my gosh, Coach Mamie, Tammy, I was like, I know her.

Oh my God, yes.

Literally leaving reviews and shopping in her Target.

And I had Stevie Spears, he was shopping in his Target and he literally was like, sarah, I'm in my Target.

It's there.

And like I got emotional because I was like, wow, these are people that join our live streams and they're literally going and seeking out the product in their store.

Like, this is a phenomenal moment.

I feel like, because it's no longer like digital lives alone and store experience lives alone.

Like they really, they, they are going to take that experience and like cross channel.

Well, I think this is really interesting too.

And Christie, I'd love for you to jump in here too because I, you know, beauty as a category for this makes a lot of sense.

But I think what I'm learning here and what I think is really important about what Sarah just said kind of goes back to you are having a relationship, you're developing a relationship in a digitally native way, which is how this next generation of consumer, especially Gen Z, is really starting to engage with brands.

But Christie, how do you think about this from the perspective of maybe, you know, a non beauty brand too?

Like, why is this still an important area of focus for retailers and brands listening who may not have the same type of content or the same type of person that Sarah is doing, doing daily live streams.

Like, how did they still embrace this and utilize this to kind of create that unified shopping experience for their customers?

Well, we have Zoom calls every day with brands, right.

That are kind of like, how do we do it?

I wish I could bring Sarah to everyone in my Zoom call.

I'm going to put her, I bet.

Every brand listening, I'm going to put.

Her on my beauty team.

Yeah.

So, and I'm a big Beachwaver fan.

I watched about 10 videos before I actually purchased my first one.

And you really, you know what's so great?

Sarah talked about she started it as educational, right.

She just wanted to educate.

And what she's done is create this amazing community of followers.

So we don't really even talk about it.

But think about the lifetime value of one of those customers, right?

Because they know they can buy it through TikTok shop or they can buy it on the fire, you know, on their website, on beachwaver.com or they could walk into their Target and maybe buy one for, like, I'm going to buy one for my niece for the holiday time.

Right.

And I think what, what's happening is a lot of brands are putting a lot of money into, like, creating content for social.

Right.

Talk and Instagram.

But then when you go to their page or their home, you know, website, what do you see?

You see static images.

There's a disconnect there for sure.

Like, wait a minute, where was the really cool videos that I was watching on Instagram?

And.

And when people go down rabbit holes of watching videos, wouldn't you rather have them go down the rabbit hole on your own site?

Yeah, right.

Instead of on Instagram or TikTok, where all of a sudden the algorithm is going to push, you know, beachwaver competitors to maybe that.

That customer because they know they have an intent to purchase.

Right.

So once you get them to the site, if you can have that same experience, and I encourage everybody to go to beachwaver.com because what they do really well is they use our floating player.

So even when you just go in and you don't really know what you're looking for, the floating player pops up on the home screen and it's either the current digital showroom that's live or one that's just been recorded, or it could be a video.

They have an interactive hair that as you answer the questions, a different video will pop up to help you find the right product.

So they really leaned in from the very beginning on I want to Put video everywhere.

I just don't want to put the homepage.

I want to put it on PDP pages.

Right, right.

It's really been amazing to work with.

And Christie, how would you say, you know, it sounds like that was kind of key to beachwaver's success using, using Firework.

But for the other brands and retailers listening out there, I mean, how much video do they have to have?

Like, what's, what's key to their successful onboarding when they're approaching a video commerce strategy?

Well, we always tell them to use kind of a mixture, Right.

It should be a mixture of like branded content that you probably already have, but you should also embrace UGC content.

I mean, this is content that people are pushing your brand and you don't even know it.

Right.

So through the Firework console, you can actually search for hashtags.

You can search in TikTok and Instagram, beachwaver.com and look and see who's talking about your brand.

And they could utilize those videos as well.

So, you know, utilize UGC content.

Right.

Besides just expert and branded content.

So it's nice to have a mixture.

Yeah.

Well, Sarah, I'm curious, from your perspective as the independent brand here, like, how did you think about setting up, like, what the right strategy was to support your ongoing video commerce efforts?

Like, how do you decide who's going to be in the videos?

And I mean, share, share with us, like how the shampoo is made, if you will.

We have some phenomenal programming.

One is called the Beach River Campus Wave and our Beach River Babes program, which is called the Wave.

And these are programs that really are driven by us being women owned, we're independent.

I started the company with my sister, who's a lawyer.

We have a really incredible set of IP.

We've got 12 patents, 21 trademarks, nine new patents pending.

Then I've got my sister Emily, who does video photography, really into creative.

Right.

So we all do very different things.

And we really wanted to build this program throughout colleges that gave us a kind of an insight into their experience and they got an insight into our experience as founders, as female entrepreneurs.

So every semester we have 100 college students across the country, okay.

And we, they apply through social media, through video commerce, and they could be majoring in anything.

We've had everybody from beauty school students to nursing students to business majors to, you know, marketing, communication.

So they could be studying anything.

And what we do is we host a webinar for them every single month and we teach them about whatever they're interested in.

We have interns from that program and they get a box every month.

They have marketing initiatives, they have ways that they need to create content or, you know, have tasks and learn about engagement and social media, learn about product development.

They've tested products for us before we've launched them.

It's a very, very exciting program.

So what we found was that the Campus Wave members are so comfortable on camera.

They are, they love social media, they love going live, they love creating content.

Right.

So what we really did was tap into our internal team and just say, hey, are you comfortable?

Would you want to host a live show on the website?

We're going to be talking today about the difference between this size curling iron and this size.

We're going to be talking about the new shampoo.

And you know, Veronica was the one who tested the sample when the lab samples came in, so helped us develop the product.

Now go on camera and talk about it.

So the way we build out the team is really from the community first.

And then I mentioned ugc.

That's our Campus Wave members.

Those are our Wave members.

Those are people at home who purchased the iron.

They wanted to join, they wanted a coupon code, they wanted to share with their friends and family.

So we go to them.

It's really like if you're listening to the show and you're thinking, how do we create live content?

How do we make short form video?

It's just turning your camera on.

We don't.

We rarely use a crew.

We take our cell phone and we're like, go live.

And as long as you have a strategy to send people to the live.

Are you emailing, texting, supporting on social.

Hey, join Bri.

She's going to be live on the website.

Anyone want to hang out with Bree?

She's there, right.

And that has really driven this phenomenal community effort.

Like Bri, for example, is live every single night on TikTok.

On Thursday nights she's got a crew that hang out with her and it becomes this like very casual, very comfortable space that anybody can do.

Yeah.

And it goes back to kind of what you were saying earlier.

Like you again are creating this environment that if you were in a store, especially for a beauty brand, if you were having live events and doing demos and all these things in the store, you've, you've really developed that in store and you, you've created this own like not UGC but maybe like employee generated content platform.

How do you, what, what do you advise though?

Because I think Sarah, that's great in this category.

But it takes a lot to really, I think have, have the confidence in, you know, especially with, with labor being such an issue right now.

For a lot of the retailers and brands listening, like, how are you?

What is the strategy there?

How would you advise another retailer considering doing this to get that kind of quality engagement or employee generated content?

I think honestly, you're starting with a very simple survey of who works for you and who wants to share the story of a product they love.

It's like so basic, right?

It's like.

And you don't even realize.

Oh, wow, I didn't realize.

Tom, my brother in law loves the me and my curls mousse and he uses the charcoal bar.

That guy's never been on camera.

He's always.

And now he's like, he's.

He has a viral following.

People love him because he's literally like, he made a video once.

He was like, I'd recommend this to anyone with hair.

And it was like, okay, thank you, Tom.

Thank you very much.

And literally like he went live once where he sold a thousand mooses to a bunch of 14 year old boys who were watching on TikTok because.

And their mom was like, oh my God, my son has frizzy hair.

Yeah.

Like, he could really use some defining mousse.

Yeah.

So it really does come down to.

It doesn't have to be that complicated.

It could be.

It could be somebody on your marketing team or customer service team.

It could be you, whoever's listening.

Literally, if you are listening and you're like, well, I'm trying to run this strategy.

It could be you.

You should turn the camera on and try it.

Right.

And have to be like, you don't have to be trained as if you're going on national television.

Right.

You're really just saying, this is my product.

This is why we made it.

This is how you use it.

It's honestly something we've done too, is we've used it within the product pages on the website.

That's very beneficial because if I'm literally on a product page, let's say, like, right, For a product like Braid Balm, this product is so viral, has been selling thousands a week on Amazon.

Like, it's very, very popular.

And literally it's because I have a, I have an account where I just do braids and I.

It's a tic tac account with over a million followers.

And I live.

But it started with no followers.

Right.

I started with nothing.

It's not like I.

And all I did was apply the product and create basic braids and provide education.

So whatever product you make, whatever thing you sell, it doesn't matter what it is.

I just need to know how does it work, how do I use it, when do I use it, and why would I buy it?

Right?

So if you're watching and you sell anything, like we're talking about like a camera at best buy, you sell any product, it doesn't matter what the product is.

I just need to be educated.

I'm on your product page.

I want to know how to use it.

Does this work for me?

And, and then maybe I'll try it.

The other thing I'll say is you talked about retail in store experiences.

We've actually brought our video commerce in stores.

Explain that.

How are you doing that?

Department store, we, we provided iPads for every store and we put it on the retail display.

And that is a phenomenal way to take your user generated content, employee content, founder content, and show a video experience in store.

It's actually very successful and I would love like a partnership with Target.

That would be a phenomenal way on an end cap, bring in a video.

This video is so popular.

I mean we are talking hundreds of millions of views on TikTok per month on our products.

So somebody is watching these videos on the braid bomb.

And then I'm walking through my Target store.

If I walked in and I saw an end cap and I was like, oh wait, that's that brand that keeps popping up on my feed.

Or I've been on their website, I've watched their founder and you're just buying your groceries and you're buying your stuff, right?

You're buying everything.

You walk by that you stop and you see the video.

That experience.

Experience is possible to bring in store too.

Yeah.

Sarah, you've given such incredible examples just now.

And you're, you're so charismatic.

I, I want to buy pretty much anything that you're selling me.

But I'm curious now, like, how do you define what success looks like?

You're, you're getting the views, you're getting awareness.

You have these ideas for bringing the video commerce in store even and bringing people that are finding you on TikTok, you know, they're, they're into the Target store now.

How do you, how do you define success?

Like what does that look like and is it different or are there similarities between some of the other social commerce efforts or even like the QVC efforts that you've done?

So I would define it in two ways.

One, being somebody, anybody, any customer that we've changed their own experience and we've given them the confidence to do their own hair and that really makes everything worth it, right?

If I meet somebody who's like, oh my God, I could never curl my hair before.

Yeah.

And I have had your product and my hair looks so good, right?

So I think it's like that.

The feedback on the products and anyone watching, if you start to incorporate this type of video commerce, you're going to get the same feedback, right?

If you sell whatever, you sell a cleaning supply product now, they use it in their home, they're going to give you that feedback and it's going to make you feel like, okay, my social efforts, my video livestream, all of it feels right, worth it if you literally can change someone's life.

So that's, that's one.

The second I will say is data is analytics.

We love numbers.

We are obsessed with them, right?

So it is not.

Yes, it's fun.

Yes, it's cool.

We're going to live stream, we're going to talk all day.

You don't really want a live stream and nobody's watching.

You don't really want to put a video out and be like, oh, why am I doing this?

Like, literally nobody's watching.

But I will tell you, you know, this live stream stuff didn't exist before and now we've got millions and millions of views because we put, we lean into it or putting effort into it.

So the data is very important.

So when you look at the website, you can literally look at all the analytics.

In the back end of Firework you can see how many people were viewing that video.

But it's not without effort.

We put the tech stack behind it, right.

We've got the pop up video where we've got the carousel.

Even when we're recruiting for Campus Wave, we actually use Firework on those product pages.

So it's not, it's like to build the community, we're using video commerce where we make, we.

You can make organic videos that have nothing to do with sales as well because you're trying to build the numbers and trying to build out the amount of people that apply for that program.

So I'm using a carousel on that product and that page.

Right.

So there's a lot of ways you can do that.

And the other thing I will say is defining success.

We just hit very quickly now.

We're at 1.1 million orders on TikTok shop.

Wow.

So hitting over a million orders on a social commerce platform from your live streaming and Short form video proves that that video commerce does build a community, right?

Like looking at our website and saying, okay, we have 15 million views, you, you know, viewers coming per month and a good percentage of them are watching the video and I can see directly that they're shopping from that video.

I'm like that success from a business perspective.

I know I just, my conversion rate is higher when I send the text that goes to a live stream because they get their questions answered faster and they, they're going to shop.

And then when you see the increase in sales or like you were saying, your target is sold out of the product, it's like that success that I know is built from this like omnichannel approach of education based content.

Well, and Sarah, I, I'm almost wondering like how much would you say as an independent brand that being a content creator and the manufacturer of these products, like what's the level there that you would say a brand or retailer listening should be, should be thinking about as they kind of head into this, this next generation of shopping?

I think it's vital to the success of a brand, right?

I think this like new generation, I have some phenomenal employees, campus wave members that I get that feedback.

I have an 11 year old daughter too who will give me the feedback.

They're very, very well educated in what they're shopping and why they're shopping the brand.

And I think it's very important because they're driving those purchases through the videos they watch on their phone, right?

So when they're with their parents in Target, when they're walking through the store, they're like, oh, I want, and I know, I know all the products that they want, right?

And you know that skincare brand is trending because of the video commerce and the videos they're producing, right?

So it is very, very connected.

So yes, if you're a retailer, I would highly encourage you to jump on all these apps, go check out the websites that are doing video commerce because I think that's the future of which brands are going to succeed, right?

Because if you, you can have the flashy big budget ad campaigns and you can pay for your end cap and you can pay for a celebrity spokesperson and you can pay for all that stuff, right?

But at the end of the day, if you don't have like a core community of a following, like you said, your lifetime value is not going to be there.

They might get the flashy excitement of a celebrity spokesperson or a pay to play moment of like a.

Right.

But after that, like, well, why Am I going to go back and buy that brand?

Maybe I'm going to buy a brand where I really feel connected to the company.

And you know, I never in my life, like 14 years running this business have seen the repeat purchasing that I've seen.

And I'm talking, I kind of one of our customers in the past year.

I mean, it's actually like off the charts.

The numbers are insane.

Anywhere from like 30 to 40 orders to.

I have a customer base that's making anywhere from 60 to 140 orders.

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable, unbelievable.

And I know, I mean, and it's not one person, it's thousands.

And they feel so connected and they feel so proud.

That's why when the products went on the shelf on Target, even if it was just the small travel, because, you know, maybe they didn't really know that we have this community behind us.

I have these customers who are watching on Livestream who are like supporting us on social media, going into that store, finding their local Target and being like, I have to buy it and I have to write a review.

Not because we, it's a program, whatever.

It's because they've been watching and learning and growing with us.

So yeah, if you're watching, I'm telling you, it's like it's the future.

It's where people feel connected and they want to support that brand.

Yeah, yeah.

Christie, would you agree with that?

I mean, would that be your advice for the retailers and brands listening?

Absolutely.

Because think about average order value, right?

Somebody may come to Beachwaver and think, okay, I'm going to finally, you know, buy my beach waiver.

But then they, Sarah starts talking about the braid balm and the, and the leave in conditioner and they're like, oh my gosh, I got to add this to my cart too.

I didn't even know this existed.

I didn't even know they had hair products, right?

So we see on average a 35% increase in average order value.

Because somebody may come and then they start again going down the rabbit hole of watching videos and they're like, I gotta get this product too.

Oh my God, I love this brand.

I gotta get this product too.

Right?

So the data behind tying it to specific videos, you can actually see the conversion and the average order lift from the specific videos.

So you can, you can optimize your content saying which videos are outperforming others.

It's really, really cool.

The same way that I would if I walked in and had a really good associate helping me where they're upselling or they're telling me about like you, you're gonna buy the beach waiver wand.

You need to make sure that you have the braid balm for this other for the third day of your styling or whatever it might be.

Yeah, for sure.

Well, I'd love to close us out here with kind of where the future of this is going.

Sarah, I'd love to start with you from a beachwaver perspective.

I mean, where do you see you?

I want to thank you for your time and just sharing your story with us because I think it really gives a lot of the brands that and retailers watching somewhere to shoot for and really what to see what the future potential is.

But where are you going to go next?

Because I think that's even more of an indicator for those listening of what they should be getting on their own roadmaps.

I would love to see more video commerce in store.

I would love to see more like cross channel.

If I'm on my app, I'm in the store, I've got a video I know exactly which.

Right.

I would love to see that starting to really come across in that retail experience.

Because I want our customers.

Because I know you said like that like an upsell, right?

Like great barriers are heat protectant.

Hairspray goes exactly with your beach over.

So one thing I've also, we have been very proud of this Target launch because we actually put two categories in the same space in the store.

So typically you would split categories, right.

You're not going to see this category with that category.

And we have as a brand more of a journey type product.

Right.

So if I'm sectioning my hair, I need clips.

If I need heat protectant, I need to spray this, then I'm curling my hair.

Right.

So there's a journey with cross category.

So we're very proud that in line in the store, in the tool section, we were able to also put hair care styling products that go with the tool next to each other and then we work with charities.

So the candles and the diffusers are produced by Brighten down in Chicago.

That's all about supporting single moms returning to the workforce.

And that's where I will say a lot of companies, if you're listening, and retailers knowing the brand that kind of gives back and has a mission statement like that, you really can only tell that story through video.

Right.

Because if I do walk in the store, do I know what kind of company that is?

Like, do I know that maybe they are women owned and they're giving back and they're working with really phenomenal charities and even my viral TikTok show.

I do a packing show every week.

Every single week.

We cross categorize with other companies.

I've done a Tarte cosmetics collab, a Stila collab, Ricky Loves Ricky collab.

I do a collab every week and I do a charity.

So every time they shop on my TikTok live show that they're going to possibly see their order packed.

We make sure we're very clear with like, hey, if you don't get order packed, you're also helping us donate to a local charity.

So it's been a really phenomenal journey.

And I think that retailers, I'd love to see the future of storytelling and education find its way into the shopping experience and across category as well.

And then the other really cool thing is AI, right?

So kind of the flip side, you want the human experience.

I want to feel connected.

I want the human experience.

AI is really cool.

And we've been working on kind of this really fun version of me where we came and we filmed, where if it's the middle of the night, you're shopping or you're in a different time zone, you can pop onto the website and I could answer your questions.

And I've been really like instrumental in kind of making it very personalized, trying really hard to improve the technology of.

If you're speaking to this AI character, you actually are getting the advice that I would give, right?

Everybody on the team listen to it, give feedback.

We're taking a while to develop that because I think it is, it's like you, you want your questions answered, right?

And I think that again, like, I can just the.

The key theme throughout this conversation, Sarah has been really enabling all of the things that your consumers are hearing about when they start and they find you on TikTok, you are giving them that consistent through line of an experience, no matter how they are connecting.

With Beachwaver video commerce being such a key part of maintaining that experience when they land on the site.

And then, you know, I think really like, I love your idea of bringing this into the store and I think that will be a really key thing for us to continue to watch for because you're able to do that so brilliantly.

You can cross, you know, you can take cross category items and put them all together.

You can do suggested products.

You can use AI influence on the site to kind of recommend other products or answer questions in a way online that we haven't quite figured out in a retail store setting.

And you know, with the advances in retail media and so many more things, I think we're going to continue to see that develop.

There definitely is an opportunity area there.

Well, I want to thank you both so much for joining us today, Sarah, for sharing your story and your advice and just all of the things that you've Learned in your 14 years of Beachwaver and Christie, for kind of helping us understand what the, what the backside of this, how you as a retailer, brand can actually, you know, bring this to life using the firework platform.

If people want to learn more about beachwaver, get their hands on the products.

Sarah, what's the best place for them to do that?

You can add to our website, which is beachwaver.com if I don't.

If we have an international audience here, we also have beach.comau in Australia, Beachwater Co UK in the UK also in Canada, beach over CA and then just now we're launching in Europe, so we'll be launching that as well.

So you can check out the different international sites.

And we actually are very proud that we were able to implement this full strategy.

So we actually use video, commerce and firework on our international sites.

Amazing.

Which is also really cool and a really phenomenal way to launch into a new market.

Right.

Bring that content you've developed in the US and bring it to the other markets.

So we're very proud of that strategy.

And then if you're on social media, you can check out the brand at the Beach Waiver.

And we also have the international sites there too.

And then my personal one is at Sarah Potempa on Instagram.

And then the viral TikTok one is at Sarah Potempa Hair.

If you want to learn to braid, you can go there.

Oh, my God.

I will be following immediately after this recording.

Thank you so much, Sarah.

Christy, you're going to be at nrf, coming up here at the firework front porch in the right across from Starbucks.

I know, at booth 3951.

Where can people get in touch with you if they want to meet you at nrf?

They want to talk to you about how they can try to recreate the beach waiver magic that Sarah just explained.

What's the best way for them to get in touch with you?

Yeah, I would say LinkedIn.

I love LinkedIn.

They can just send me a message and I can set up a call and then also, you know, meet us on the third floor, booth 3951.

And then like you said, in that Crystal Palace Lounge, we'll have our Front Porch Lounge.

It is adjacent to Starbucks.

And if you've ever been to nrf, pretty much everybody knows where Starbucks is.

Oh, yes.

That's the fuel that gets us through, that's for sure.

Well, that wraps us up.

Thank you so much to Sarah Potempa of Beach Waiver and Christy Vanader of Firework for sitting down with us today.

And on behalf of all of us here at omnitalk, as always, be careful out there.