How Beachwaver Became Successful Going All In On Video Commerce | Ask An Expert
In this episode of the Omni Talk Ask An Expert series, Beachwaver CEO Sarah Potempa and Firework’s VP of Strategic Accounts Kristi Vannatter reveal how Beachwaver uses live video commerce to enhance customer engagement and drive sales. They discuss Beachwaver’s journey from QVC to Target, building a dedicated fan base, and using video to bridge online and in-store experiences.
Key moments:
- 0:13 – Introduction to the Beachwaver and Firework Front Porch Series and upcoming presence at NRF 2025.
- 1:01 – Beachwaver’s journey from social media to Target’s shelves and the role of live video in driving product sales.
- 7:06 – Firework’s video commerce capabilities, including interactive video, live streaming, and personalized AI assistance.
- 16:48 – Strategies for creating engaging live video content and using brand ambassadors to build community.
- 24:40 – Sarah’s future vision: bringing video commerce into stores and using AI to support omnichannel customer experience.
Perfect for retail professionals, this conversation explores the latest trends in social and video commerce, AI for customer experience, and omnichannel strategies to create a connected brand community.
#beachwaver #videocommerce #retailinnovation #omnichannel #liveshopping #ecommerce #retailtechnology #beautyindustry
Music by hooksounds.com
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Transcript
Welcome to another exciting and elucidating episode of the Omnitalk Ask an Expert series.
Anne Mazinga:I'm your host, Anne Mazinga, and this is our second Ask an Expert Front Porch series with firework.
Anne Mazinga: they will be at booth number: Anne Mazinga:Today we are going to invite two more people to the front porch.
Anne Mazinga:So please join me in welcoming beachwaver CEO and co founder Sarah Patempa and firework VP of strategic accounts for beauty, Christie Vanader.
Anne Mazinga:Sarah Christy, welcome to the show.
Anne Mazinga:Sarah, I was just saying to you before the show started that I was just at my local Target.
Anne Mazinga:You just launched there and the products are flying off the shelves.
Anne Mazinga:So I'm so excited to have you here joining us.
Sarah Patempa:Thank you for having me.
Sarah Patempa:It's been very exciting.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:So it's been really exciting that we're able to get in before the holidays.
Sarah Patempa:It's Q4.
Sarah Patempa:It's like super exciting.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:I know they are selling out fast, so hopefully next year too, we'll be able to have all the hair care there.
Sarah Patempa:It's a very, very exciting time to grow the brand both online and in stores.
Anne Mazinga:Oh, my gosh.
Anne Mazinga:Well, we're so excited to talk to you about how you're doing that today.
Anne Mazinga:And Christie, this is your first time on the show, so welcome.
Anne Mazinga:Christie.
Christie Vanader:Thank you for having me.
Christie Vanader: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.
Anne Mazinga:Awesome.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:Get what I'm looking for once, once I walk into the store.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:We have the Beachwaver team.
Anne Mazinga:We have the firework team.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:So please put your questions in the chat box to your right as we go along.
Anne Mazinga:Well, Sarah, I want to start off as we always do.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:Yeah.
Sarah Patempa:So I started my career as a celebrity hairstylist.
Sarah Patempa:So I have traveled around the world styling musicians, actresses.
Sarah Patempa:It's been very exciting and very cool working with anybody from Alanis Morissette, Alicia Keys.
Sarah Patempa:I have Jewel, Camila Cabello.
Sarah Patempa:I was on the Reputation Stadium tour with Taylor Swift and Camila.
Sarah Patempa:So I got to travel all over, be there creating looks for concerts, red carpet events, you know, morning shows.
Sarah Patempa:So my job as a celebrity hairdresser, I would be working with them, creating a look.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:Like, I saw this really cool look that you did on Reese Witherspoon.
Sarah Patempa:Could you let me know how.
Sarah Patempa:How I could get the look at home?
Sarah Patempa:How can I recreate the look of a celebrity?
Sarah Patempa:Right?
Sarah Patempa:So for many years, I was like, you know, always asked, how do you get a beachy wave?
Sarah Patempa:I just was asked for four or five years.
Sarah Patempa:I'd worked with Procter and Gamble as a spokesperson for 10 years.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:I don't really know how to curl my hair.
Sarah Patempa:I would love to make it easier, save money, be able to do it at home, right?
Sarah Patempa:So I.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Anne Mazinga:Yeah.
Sarah Patempa:A lot of people were like, I don't.
Sarah Patempa:What do you mean?
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:I wrote articles.
Sarah Patempa:I did videos.
Sarah Patempa:People were like, you know?
Sarah Patempa:And what I found really interesting is beauty editors sometimes didn't know how to do their own hair.
Sarah Patempa:They were like, well, I'm actually a journalist.
Sarah Patempa:I'm a Writer.
Sarah Patempa:I didn't go to beauty school.
Sarah Patempa:I don't really know how to do that look.
Sarah Patempa:I don't know how to do a braid and a beachy wave.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:So I was actually on the phone 14 years ago with the beauty editor, and there was no zoom and there was no FaceTime.
Sarah Patempa:And she was like, so wait, tell me that again.
Sarah Patempa:And I'm like, lip, pull it upside down.
Sarah Patempa:Wrap it, like, to the right, like backwards.
Sarah Patempa:And she's like, I really don't want to write that article.
Sarah Patempa:I don't understand myself.
Sarah Patempa:And I don't think they're going to understand.
Sarah Patempa:So I got off the phone with her and I sketched out the idea for the beach waiver.
Sarah Patempa:I literally was like, this is something that people are struggling with.
Sarah Patempa:I kept hearing it every time I did an interview.
Sarah Patempa:So I sketched it out.
Sarah Patempa:A curling iron that would rotate to the left and the right based on the side you're curling.
Sarah Patempa:My sister Erin actually switched careers from a corporate lawyer to an entrepreneur.
Sarah Patempa:Joined me as my co founder.
Sarah Patempa:My younger sister left her job on reality TV doing casting for Top Chef and Project Runway.
Sarah Patempa:She joined me, and it took us two years.
Sarah Patempa:We launched initially on QVC.
Sarah Patempa:They told us, you're lucky if you have four to five earrings.
Sarah Patempa:And we were on 50 times.
Sarah Patempa:Our first.
Anne Mazinga:Wow.
Anne Mazinga:Wow.
Anne Mazinga:Wow.
Anne Mazinga:That is incredible.
Anne Mazinga:What a story.
Anne Mazinga:I feel like.
Anne Mazinga:I know.
Anne Mazinga:I feel like you and your sisters need to have your own reality show.
Anne Mazinga:I mean, I feel like you've got all the right parts and components and I definitely would be watching.
Anne Mazinga:Well, I'm really excited to dig in.
Anne Mazinga:More to that, Sarah, thanks for sharing.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Christie Vanader:Sure.
Christie Vanader:I've been in the beauty industry for, wow, almost 30 years.
Christie Vanader:The last 10 within beauty tech.
Christie Vanader:Before Firework, I was with a virtual try on company called Perfect Corp.
Christie Vanader:So.
Christie Vanader:So I like, I'm all in with this beauty tech, right?
Christie Vanader:So basically every day and I'm hearing the challenges from beauty customers, right?
Christie Vanader:Like in the digital space, how do they translate, you know, to opportunities to really engage their audiences?
Christie Vanader:And Sarah and beachwaver have done this better than anybody, I think, within the beauty space.
Christie Vanader:Right.
Christie Vanader:So basically, Firework is a video commerce company that transforms digital stores with Video powered shopping experiences.
Christie Vanader:So our ultralight weight video infrastructure enables E commerce brands to really introduce these interactive video shopping experiences without sacrificing site speed.
Christie Vanader:So we basically have four products that this powers interactive short shoppable video and digital showroom which some people call live that.
Christie Vanader:We'll talk about that with Sarah because they incorporate both of those.
Christie Vanader:But we also power one to one so we can shop with a customer.
Christie Vanader:And also Ava, which is our AI digital human that can shop with customers and answer their questions to 24 7.
Anne Mazinga:Wow.
Anne Mazinga:Well, I want to dig in and, and just kind of understand.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Sarah Patempa:Our business is all about education and all about how can.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:We are based in the sense of, you know, I have this expertise.
Sarah Patempa:I am setting up a celebrity for the red carpet with a two hour hair and makeup session.
Christie Vanader:Right?
Anne Mazinga:Yeah.
Sarah Patempa:But if you're sitting at home, how do you do it?
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:So that has always been our mission, is to empower women to feel more confident in their journey.
Sarah Patempa:So for us it's always been about yes on camera, qvc.
Sarah Patempa:I'm speaking to millions of people, right.
Sarah Patempa:But I don't get that automatic feedback.
Sarah Patempa:I don't get that interaction.
Sarah Patempa:I can't answer the questions live as much.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:I want the feedback so I can give you that expertise.
Sarah Patempa:I want to answer your question and then I want you to buy the right product.
Sarah Patempa:I want you to feel like, yes, yes, that's me, yes, my hair is greasy and flat.
Sarah Patempa:Wait, what did she say?
Sarah Patempa:I want that rice based dry shampoo.
Sarah Patempa:Like, you know, like want people to feel like they have an informed educational show when they're purchasing their beauty products.
Sarah Patempa:They're not just like, I don't know, I'm buying it because it's trendy.
Sarah Patempa:I don't know, is this the right one for me?
Sarah Patempa:I don't know.
Sarah Patempa:And I was looking at, well, what is the tech stack?
Sarah Patempa:What is the customer journey?
Sarah Patempa:All right, so they're joining our text fam, we called it, and they're joining maybe our email list.
Sarah Patempa:But the text fam became where I felt like I want to, I want to talk to you.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:My clients Kind of why I created it, about the founders, my sisters.
Sarah Patempa:So we really made it so personalized.
Sarah Patempa:And while I was building the tech stack, I was like, I don't want to just be live on social media.
Sarah Patempa:Can I be live on our website?
Sarah Patempa:Hey, you made it all the way to the site.
Sarah Patempa:You're about to shop, right?
Sarah Patempa:We all know, like, your conversion rate is so important.
Sarah Patempa:Getting them to the checkout, are they going to convert?
Sarah Patempa:Are they going to buy?
Sarah Patempa:Are they going to, like, abandon their cart and go around?
Sarah Patempa:I don't know.
Sarah Patempa:Let me do some more searches online before I know I want to buy this.
Sarah Patempa:So when we came across Firework, I was like, yes.
Sarah Patempa:Like, this is exactly what I'm looking for.
Sarah Patempa:I mean, Abby and the team will know that I literally put everything up.
Sarah Patempa:I was like, yep, daily lives short from videos.
Sarah Patempa:Where can I put it?
Sarah Patempa:Where can I learn the code?
Sarah Patempa:I'm going to put the carousel in.
Sarah Patempa:I'm going to put the live pop up.
Sarah Patempa:So then we built this whole thing with our team where I was like, all right.
Sarah Patempa:Immediately, the entire tech stack is leading.
Sarah Patempa:We only send a text message if we are live on the website.
Sarah Patempa:I don't want to send thousands of people to the website and there's nobody there to speak to them.
Sarah Patempa:Like, and we look at it like, there's a huge, huge movement right now in Asia about being.
Sarah Patempa:Your website is a store.
Sarah Patempa:So if you walk into a Best Buy, somebody greets you, hello, welcome to the store.
Sarah Patempa:What are you looking for?
Sarah Patempa:Do you need a camera?
Sarah Patempa:Do you need this?
Sarah Patempa:So if you're going to come to beachwaver.com, i need to be like, hey, what are you looking for?
Sarah Patempa:How can I help you?
Sarah Patempa:What's your hair type?
Sarah Patempa:Like, which curling irons on sale?
Sarah Patempa:Where do I get the deal?
Sarah Patempa:What's my.
Sarah Patempa:How does it work?
Sarah Patempa:How does this.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Anne Mazinga:Right?
Anne Mazinga:So really what it sounds like if I summarize what you just said, Sarah, is like, you are.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:You're really kind of giving them the full experience no matter where they encounter beachwaver.
Sarah Patempa:Absolutely.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:I've watched those videos.
Sarah Patempa:Now I can experience that.
Sarah Patempa:I can pick it up and I feel more comfortable making that purchase.
Anne Mazinga:Right.
Sarah Patempa:I do feel like I'm part of that family.
Sarah Patempa:I'm part of that.
Sarah Patempa:I want to support that brand.
Sarah Patempa:I know they're women.
Sarah Patempa:I know they're based in Illinois.
Sarah Patempa:I've seen their videos in the warehouse.
Sarah Patempa:We know that they're, you know what I mean?
Sarah Patempa:And so I do think there's that big sentiment in business.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:That, okay, I know who I'm supporting when I walk into that Target store and that's why I'm buying it.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:I know their usernames, I know their handles.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Anne Mazinga:Oh my God, yes.
Sarah Patempa:Literally leaving reviews and shopping in her Target.
Sarah Patempa:And I had Stevie Spears, he was shopping in his Target and he literally was like, sarah, I'm in my Target.
Sarah Patempa:It's there.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:Like, this is a phenomenal moment.
Sarah Patempa:I feel like, because it's no longer like digital lives alone and store experience lives alone.
Sarah Patempa:Like they really, they, they are going to take that experience and like cross channel.
Anne Mazinga:Well, I think this is really interesting too.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:But Christie, how do you think about this from the perspective of maybe, you know, a non beauty brand too?
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:Like, how did they still embrace this and utilize this to kind of create that unified shopping experience for their customers?
Christie Vanader:Well, we have Zoom calls every day with brands, right.
Christie Vanader:That are kind of like, how do we do it?
Christie Vanader:I wish I could bring Sarah to everyone in my Zoom call.
Christie Vanader:I'm going to put her, I bet.
Anne Mazinga:Every brand listening, I'm going to put.
Christie Vanader:Her on my beauty team.
Christie Vanader:Yeah.
Christie Vanader:So, and I'm a big Beachwaver fan.
Christie Vanader:I watched about 10 videos before I actually purchased my first one.
Christie Vanader:And you really, you know what's so great?
Christie Vanader:Sarah talked about she started it as educational, right.
Christie Vanader:She just wanted to educate.
Christie Vanader:And what she's done is create this amazing community of followers.
Christie Vanader:So we don't really even talk about it.
Christie Vanader:But think about the lifetime value of one of those customers, right?
Christie Vanader: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.
Christie Vanader:Right.
Christie Vanader:And I think what, what's happening is a lot of brands are putting a lot of money into, like, creating content for social.
Christie Vanader:Right.
Christie Vanader:Talk and Instagram.
Christie Vanader:But then when you go to their page or their home, you know, website, what do you see?
Christie Vanader:You see static images.
Anne Mazinga:There's a disconnect there for sure.
Christie Vanader:Like, wait a minute, where was the really cool videos that I was watching on Instagram?
Christie Vanader:And.
Christie Vanader: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?
Christie Vanader:Yeah, right.
Christie Vanader:Instead of on Instagram or TikTok, where all of a sudden the algorithm is going to push, you know, beachwaver competitors to maybe that.
Christie Vanader:That customer because they know they have an intent to purchase.
Christie Vanader:Right.
Christie Vanader: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.
Christie Vanader: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.
Christie Vanader:They have an interactive hair that as you answer the questions, a different video will pop up to help you find the right product.
Christie Vanader:So they really leaned in from the very beginning on I want to Put video everywhere.
Christie Vanader:I just don't want to put the homepage.
Christie Vanader:I want to put it on PDP pages.
Christie Vanader:Right, right.
Christie Vanader:It's really been amazing to work with.
Anne Mazinga:And Christie, how would you say, you know, it sounds like that was kind of key to beachwaver's success using, using Firework.
Anne Mazinga:But for the other brands and retailers listening out there, I mean, how much video do they have to have?
Anne Mazinga:Like, what's, what's key to their successful onboarding when they're approaching a video commerce strategy?
Christie Vanader:Well, we always tell them to use kind of a mixture, Right.
Christie Vanader:It should be a mixture of like branded content that you probably already have, but you should also embrace UGC content.
Christie Vanader:I mean, this is content that people are pushing your brand and you don't even know it.
Christie Vanader:Right.
Christie Vanader:So through the Firework console, you can actually search for hashtags.
Christie Vanader:You can search in TikTok and Instagram, beachwaver.com and look and see who's talking about your brand.
Christie Vanader:And they could utilize those videos as well.
Christie Vanader:So, you know, utilize UGC content.
Christie Vanader:Right.
Christie Vanader:Besides just expert and branded content.
Christie Vanader:So it's nice to have a mixture.
Anne Mazinga:Yeah.
Anne Mazinga: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?
Anne Mazinga:Like, how do you decide who's going to be in the videos?
Anne Mazinga:And I mean, share, share with us, like how the shampoo is made, if you will.
Sarah Patempa:We have some phenomenal programming.
Sarah Patempa:One is called the Beach River Campus Wave and our Beach River Babes program, which is called the Wave.
Sarah Patempa:And these are programs that really are driven by us being women owned, we're independent.
Sarah Patempa:I started the company with my sister, who's a lawyer.
Sarah Patempa:We have a really incredible set of IP.
Sarah Patempa:We've got 12 patents, 21 trademarks, nine new patents pending.
Sarah Patempa:Then I've got my sister Emily, who does video photography, really into creative.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:So we all do very different things.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:So every semester we have 100 college students across the country, okay.
Sarah Patempa:And we, they apply through social media, through video commerce, and they could be majoring in anything.
Sarah Patempa:We've had everybody from beauty school students to nursing students to business majors to, you know, marketing, communication.
Sarah Patempa:So they could be studying anything.
Sarah Patempa:And what we do is we host a webinar for them every single month and we teach them about whatever they're interested in.
Sarah Patempa:We have interns from that program and they get a box every month.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:They've tested products for us before we've launched them.
Sarah Patempa:It's a very, very exciting program.
Sarah Patempa:So what we found was that the Campus Wave members are so comfortable on camera.
Sarah Patempa:They are, they love social media, they love going live, they love creating content.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:So what we really did was tap into our internal team and just say, hey, are you comfortable?
Sarah Patempa:Would you want to host a live show on the website?
Sarah Patempa:We're going to be talking today about the difference between this size curling iron and this size.
Sarah Patempa:We're going to be talking about the new shampoo.
Sarah Patempa:And you know, Veronica was the one who tested the sample when the lab samples came in, so helped us develop the product.
Sarah Patempa:Now go on camera and talk about it.
Sarah Patempa:So the way we build out the team is really from the community first.
Sarah Patempa:And then I mentioned ugc.
Sarah Patempa:That's our Campus Wave members.
Sarah Patempa:Those are our Wave members.
Sarah Patempa:Those are people at home who purchased the iron.
Sarah Patempa:They wanted to join, they wanted a coupon code, they wanted to share with their friends and family.
Sarah Patempa:So we go to them.
Sarah Patempa:It's really like if you're listening to the show and you're thinking, how do we create live content?
Sarah Patempa:How do we make short form video?
Sarah Patempa:It's just turning your camera on.
Sarah Patempa:We don't.
Sarah Patempa:We rarely use a crew.
Sarah Patempa:We take our cell phone and we're like, go live.
Sarah Patempa:And as long as you have a strategy to send people to the live.
Sarah Patempa:Are you emailing, texting, supporting on social.
Sarah Patempa:Hey, join Bri.
Sarah Patempa:She's going to be live on the website.
Sarah Patempa:Anyone want to hang out with Bree?
Sarah Patempa:She's there, right.
Sarah Patempa:And that has really driven this phenomenal community effort.
Sarah Patempa:Like Bri, for example, is live every single night on TikTok.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Anne Mazinga:Yeah.
Anne Mazinga:And it goes back to kind of what you were saying earlier.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:How do you, what, what do you advise though?
Anne Mazinga:Because I think Sarah, that's great in this category.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:For a lot of the retailers and brands listening, like, how are you?
Anne Mazinga:What is the strategy there?
Anne Mazinga:How would you advise another retailer considering doing this to get that kind of quality engagement or employee generated content?
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:It's like so basic, right?
Sarah Patempa:It's like.
Sarah Patempa:And you don't even realize.
Sarah Patempa:Oh, wow, I didn't realize.
Sarah Patempa:Tom, my brother in law loves the me and my curls mousse and he uses the charcoal bar.
Sarah Patempa:That guy's never been on camera.
Sarah Patempa:He's always.
Sarah Patempa:And now he's like, he's.
Sarah Patempa:He has a viral following.
Sarah Patempa:People love him because he's literally like, he made a video once.
Sarah Patempa:He was like, I'd recommend this to anyone with hair.
Sarah Patempa:And it was like, okay, thank you, Tom.
Sarah Patempa:Thank you very much.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:And their mom was like, oh my God, my son has frizzy hair.
Sarah Patempa:Yeah.
Sarah Patempa:Like, he could really use some defining mousse.
Anne Mazinga:Yeah.
Sarah Patempa:So it really does come down to.
Sarah Patempa:It doesn't have to be that complicated.
Sarah Patempa:It could be.
Sarah Patempa:It could be somebody on your marketing team or customer service team.
Sarah Patempa:It could be you, whoever's listening.
Sarah Patempa:Literally, if you are listening and you're like, well, I'm trying to run this strategy.
Sarah Patempa:It could be you.
Sarah Patempa:You should turn the camera on and try it.
Anne Mazinga:Right.
Sarah Patempa:And have to be like, you don't have to be trained as if you're going on national television.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:You're really just saying, this is my product.
Sarah Patempa:This is why we made it.
Sarah Patempa:This is how you use it.
Sarah Patempa:It's honestly something we've done too, is we've used it within the product pages on the website.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:Like, it's very, very popular.
Sarah Patempa:And literally it's because I have a, I have an account where I just do braids and I.
Sarah Patempa:It's a tic tac account with over a million followers.
Sarah Patempa:And I live.
Sarah Patempa:But it started with no followers.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:I started with nothing.
Sarah Patempa:It's not like I.
Sarah Patempa:And all I did was apply the product and create basic braids and provide education.
Sarah Patempa:So whatever product you make, whatever thing you sell, it doesn't matter what it is.
Sarah Patempa: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?
Sarah Patempa:Right?
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:I just need to be educated.
Sarah Patempa:I'm on your product page.
Sarah Patempa:I want to know how to use it.
Sarah Patempa:Does this work for me?
Sarah Patempa:And, and then maybe I'll try it.
Sarah Patempa:The other thing I'll say is you talked about retail in store experiences.
Sarah Patempa:We've actually brought our video commerce in stores.
Anne Mazinga:Explain that.
Anne Mazinga:How are you doing that?
Sarah Patempa:Department store, we, we provided iPads for every store and we put it on the retail display.
Sarah Patempa:And that is a phenomenal way to take your user generated content, employee content, founder content, and show a video experience in store.
Sarah Patempa:It's actually very successful and I would love like a partnership with Target.
Sarah Patempa:That would be a phenomenal way on an end cap, bring in a video.
Sarah Patempa:This video is so popular.
Sarah Patempa:I mean we are talking hundreds of millions of views on TikTok per month on our products.
Sarah Patempa:So somebody is watching these videos on the braid bomb.
Sarah Patempa:And then I'm walking through my Target store.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa: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?
Sarah Patempa:You're buying everything.
Sarah Patempa:You walk by that you stop and you see the video.
Sarah Patempa:That experience.
Sarah Patempa:Experience is possible to bring in store too.
Anne Mazinga:Yeah.
Anne Mazinga:Sarah, you've given such incredible examples just now.
Anne Mazinga:And you're, you're so charismatic.
Anne Mazinga:I, I want to buy pretty much anything that you're selling me.
Anne Mazinga:But I'm curious now, like, how do you define what success looks like?
Anne Mazinga:You're, you're getting the views, you're getting awareness.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:How do you, how do you define success?
Anne Mazinga: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?
Sarah Patempa:So I would define it in two ways.
Sarah Patempa: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?
Sarah Patempa:If I meet somebody who's like, oh my God, I could never curl my hair before.
Anne Mazinga:Yeah.
Sarah Patempa:And I have had your product and my hair looks so good, right?
Sarah Patempa:So I think it's like that.
Sarah Patempa: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?
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:So that's, that's one.
Sarah Patempa:The second I will say is data is analytics.
Sarah Patempa:We love numbers.
Sarah Patempa:We are obsessed with them, right?
Sarah Patempa:So it is not.
Sarah Patempa:Yes, it's fun.
Sarah Patempa:Yes, it's cool.
Sarah Patempa:We're going to live stream, we're going to talk all day.
Sarah Patempa:You don't really want a live stream and nobody's watching.
Sarah Patempa:You don't really want to put a video out and be like, oh, why am I doing this?
Sarah Patempa:Like, literally nobody's watching.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:So the data is very important.
Sarah Patempa:So when you look at the website, you can literally look at all the analytics.
Sarah Patempa:In the back end of Firework you can see how many people were viewing that video.
Sarah Patempa:But it's not without effort.
Sarah Patempa:We put the tech stack behind it, right.
Sarah Patempa:We've got the pop up video where we've got the carousel.
Sarah Patempa:Even when we're recruiting for Campus Wave, we actually use Firework on those product pages.
Sarah Patempa:So it's not, it's like to build the community, we're using video commerce where we make, we.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:So I'm using a carousel on that product and that page.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:So there's a lot of ways you can do that.
Sarah Patempa:And the other thing I will say is defining success.
Sarah Patempa:We just hit very quickly now.
Sarah Patempa:We're at 1.1 million orders on TikTok shop.
Anne Mazinga:Wow.
Sarah Patempa: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?
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:I'm like that success from a business perspective.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Anne Mazinga: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?
Sarah Patempa:I think it's vital to the success of a brand, right?
Sarah Patempa:I think this like new generation, I have some phenomenal employees, campus wave members that I get that feedback.
Sarah Patempa:I have an 11 year old daughter too who will give me the feedback.
Sarah Patempa:They're very, very well educated in what they're shopping and why they're shopping the brand.
Sarah Patempa:And I think it's very important because they're driving those purchases through the videos they watch on their phone, right?
Sarah Patempa: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?
Sarah Patempa:And you know that skincare brand is trending because of the video commerce and the videos they're producing, right?
Sarah Patempa:So it is very, very connected.
Sarah Patempa: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?
Sarah Patempa: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?
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:They might get the flashy excitement of a celebrity spokesperson or a pay to play moment of like a.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:But after that, like, well, why Am I going to go back and buy that brand?
Sarah Patempa:Maybe I'm going to buy a brand where I really feel connected to the company.
Sarah Patempa:And you know, I never in my life, like 14 years running this business have seen the repeat purchasing that I've seen.
Sarah Patempa:And I'm talking, I kind of one of our customers in the past year.
Sarah Patempa:I mean, it's actually like off the charts.
Sarah Patempa:The numbers are insane.
Sarah Patempa:Anywhere from like 30 to 40 orders to.
Sarah Patempa:I have a customer base that's making anywhere from 60 to 140 orders.
Anne Mazinga:Unbelievable.
Anne Mazinga:Unbelievable, unbelievable.
Sarah Patempa:And I know, I mean, and it's not one person, it's thousands.
Sarah Patempa:And they feel so connected and they feel so proud.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:Not because we, it's a program, whatever.
Sarah Patempa:It's because they've been watching and learning and growing with us.
Sarah Patempa:So yeah, if you're watching, I'm telling you, it's like it's the future.
Sarah Patempa:It's where people feel connected and they want to support that brand.
Anne Mazinga:Yeah, yeah.
Anne Mazinga:Christie, would you agree with that?
Anne Mazinga:I mean, would that be your advice for the retailers and brands listening?
Christie Vanader:Absolutely.
Christie Vanader:Because think about average order value, right?
Christie Vanader:Somebody may come to Beachwaver and think, okay, I'm going to finally, you know, buy my beach waiver.
Christie Vanader: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.
Christie Vanader:I didn't even know this existed.
Christie Vanader:I didn't even know they had hair products, right?
Christie Vanader:So we see on average a 35% increase in average order value.
Christie Vanader: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.
Christie Vanader:Oh my God, I love this brand.
Christie Vanader:I gotta get this product too.
Christie Vanader:Right?
Christie Vanader:So the data behind tying it to specific videos, you can actually see the conversion and the average order lift from the specific videos.
Christie Vanader:So you can, you can optimize your content saying which videos are outperforming others.
Christie Vanader:It's really, really cool.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:Yeah, for sure.
Anne Mazinga:Well, I'd love to close us out here with kind of where the future of this is going.
Anne Mazinga:Sarah, I'd love to start with you from a beachwaver perspective.
Anne Mazinga:I mean, where do you see you?
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:But where are you going to go next?
Anne Mazinga:Because I think that's even more of an indicator for those listening of what they should be getting on their own roadmaps.
Sarah Patempa:I would love to see more video commerce in store.
Sarah Patempa:I would love to see more like cross channel.
Sarah Patempa:If I'm on my app, I'm in the store, I've got a video I know exactly which.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:I would love to see that starting to really come across in that retail experience.
Sarah Patempa:Because I want our customers.
Sarah Patempa:Because I know you said like that like an upsell, right?
Sarah Patempa:Like great barriers are heat protectant.
Sarah Patempa:Hairspray goes exactly with your beach over.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:So typically you would split categories, right.
Sarah Patempa:You're not going to see this category with that category.
Sarah Patempa:And we have as a brand more of a journey type product.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:So if I'm sectioning my hair, I need clips.
Sarah Patempa:If I need heat protectant, I need to spray this, then I'm curling my hair.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:So there's a journey with cross category.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:So the candles and the diffusers are produced by Brighten down in Chicago.
Sarah Patempa:That's all about supporting single moms returning to the workforce.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:Because if I do walk in the store, do I know what kind of company that is?
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:I do a packing show every week.
Sarah Patempa:Every single week.
Sarah Patempa:We cross categorize with other companies.
Sarah Patempa:I've done a Tarte cosmetics collab, a Stila collab, Ricky Loves Ricky collab.
Sarah Patempa:I do a collab every week and I do a charity.
Sarah Patempa:So every time they shop on my TikTok live show that they're going to possibly see their order packed.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:So it's been a really phenomenal journey.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:And then the other really cool thing is AI, right?
Sarah Patempa:So kind of the flip side, you want the human experience.
Sarah Patempa:I want to feel connected.
Sarah Patempa:I want the human experience.
Sarah Patempa:AI is really cool.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:And I've been really like instrumental in kind of making it very personalized, trying really hard to improve the technology of.
Sarah Patempa:If you're speaking to this AI character, you actually are getting the advice that I would give, right?
Sarah Patempa:Everybody on the team listen to it, give feedback.
Sarah Patempa:We're taking a while to develop that because I think it is, it's like you, you want your questions answered, right?
Anne Mazinga:And I think that again, like, I can just the.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:With Beachwaver video commerce being such a key part of maintaining that experience when they land on the site.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:You can cross, you know, you can take cross category items and put them all together.
Anne Mazinga:You can do suggested products.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:There definitely is an opportunity area there.
Anne Mazinga: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.
Anne Mazinga:If people want to learn more about beachwaver, get their hands on the products.
Anne Mazinga:Sarah, what's the best place for them to do that?
Sarah Patempa:You can add to our website, which is beachwaver.com if I don't.
Sarah Patempa: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.
Sarah Patempa:So you can check out the different international sites.
Sarah Patempa:And we actually are very proud that we were able to implement this full strategy.
Sarah Patempa:So we actually use video, commerce and firework on our international sites.
Anne Mazinga:Amazing.
Sarah Patempa:Which is also really cool and a really phenomenal way to launch into a new market.
Sarah Patempa:Right.
Sarah Patempa:Bring that content you've developed in the US and bring it to the other markets.
Sarah Patempa:So we're very proud of that strategy.
Sarah Patempa:And then if you're on social media, you can check out the brand at the Beach Waiver.
Sarah Patempa:And we also have the international sites there too.
Sarah Patempa:And then my personal one is at Sarah Potempa on Instagram.
Sarah Patempa:And then the viral TikTok one is at Sarah Potempa Hair.
Sarah Patempa:If you want to learn to braid, you can go there.
Anne Mazinga:Oh, my God.
Anne Mazinga:I will be following immediately after this recording.
Anne Mazinga:Thank you so much, Sarah.
Anne Mazinga:Christy, you're going to be at nrf, coming up here at the firework front porch in the right across from Starbucks.
Anne Mazinga: I know, at booth: Anne Mazinga:Where can people get in touch with you if they want to meet you at nrf?
Anne Mazinga:They want to talk to you about how they can try to recreate the beach waiver magic that Sarah just explained.
Anne Mazinga:What's the best way for them to get in touch with you?
Christie Vanader:Yeah, I would say LinkedIn.
Christie Vanader:I love LinkedIn.
Christie Vanader: us on the third floor, booth: Christie Vanader:And then like you said, in that Crystal Palace Lounge, we'll have our Front Porch Lounge.
Christie Vanader:It is adjacent to Starbucks.
Christie Vanader:And if you've ever been to nrf, pretty much everybody knows where Starbucks is.
Anne Mazinga:Oh, yes.
Anne Mazinga:That's the fuel that gets us through, that's for sure.
Anne Mazinga:Well, that wraps us up.
Anne Mazinga:Thank you so much to Sarah Potempa of Beach Waiver and Christy Vanader of Firework for sitting down with us today.
Anne Mazinga:And on behalf of all of us here at omnitalk, as always, be careful out there.
