Raczum – Brazilian Live-commerce Platform Bets on Purchased Content and Promises an Experience from Watching to Buying

Edu Gazzinelli, CEO and founder of Raczum tells us about video advertising.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times?

Edu Gazzinelli: In general, I believe that society itself — and that includes my family members and me —  are going through a very intense and different time, which requires dedication and investment in mental health, and above all, a great capacity to adapt to the ‘new normal.

Tell us about yourself, your career, and how you founded Raczum.

Edu Gazzinelli: I am a publicist by training, and throughout my career, I worked in advertising agencies acting as a UI / UX designer or in UI / UX design in addition to also working directly on projects to create digital products, as well as Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) and digital marketing. During this period, I acquired an experience that made me take a critical look at digital products, apps, platforms, and such, in addition to also having the mindset that digital products must be scalable — and above all, they must always be constantly launched, tested and optimized.

As a great consumer of video content, such as series, movies, and YouTubers, in addition to being a natural consumer of e-commerce, I always saw myself in the situation of watching content and wanting to acquire some item used by the actors or even displayed on the stage; however, finding those items on Google was not an easy task. That was how Raczum came about – it uses technology to identify and display products in real-time videos, leaving the experience of those who watch and want to consume the products as organic and practical as possible.

How does Raczum innovate?

Edu Gazzinelli: We innovate with our video recognition technology in real-time while the video is displayed.

How does the coronavirus pandemic affect your business, and how are you coping with it?

Edu Gazzinelli: As we are a company that interfaces with influencers, e-commerce, and users who consume multimedia content, the pandemic ended up accelerating some of our results, as online content producers are increasingly looking for ways to monetize their content. Both e-commerce/online shopping in quarantine and the number of hours a user spends on social media have grown substantially.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Edu Gazzinelli: Yes, we had to make difficult choices. Since the sudden increase in production of online content and sales in e-commerce has grown, we had to make major adaptations to the ‘new normal, in addition to the LGPD frameworks and our internationalization after acceleration from Startup Chile.

What specific tools, software, and management skills are you using to navigate this crisis?

Edu Gazzinelli: We are using Discord as the main tool for exchanging messages and organizational communication and Pipefy as a tool for managing demands and tasks, as well as the Google platform and its tool hub (Gsuite). The main skills that needed to be developed were related to flexibility and optimization of internal communication: knowing how to separate what should be dealt with instantly, such as exchanging messages on a daily basis and implementing review and delivery meetings that were previously in a different format and less often.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Edu Gazzinelli: Currently, our competitors in Brazil are the LiveCommerce Mimo platform and the LiketoKnow.it app, which indicates products in content from content creators. Our biggest difference is that our competitors deliver a list of products without being shown simultaneously in the video. Raczum offers a unique and practical experience for our users, in addition to having more than 100 Brazilian partners and major players in the market, such as the B2W group (Americanas, Submarino, Shoptime), Netshoes, and Dafiti, among others.

Your final thoughts?

Edu Gazzinelli: To get the idea out of the paper, Raczum relied on an angel investment by AmoPromo, a renowned company in the tourism segment, recognized for first-rate products such as “PassagensPromo,” “SegurosPromo,” and “ParceirosPromo.” According to Gazzinelli, the investment happened for three extremely favorable reasons for the profitability of the business: the high pulverization of buyable content in online videos; the marketplace environment for direct businesses; and, mainly, the authenticity of the solution that the project offers to the digital public. The platform for buyable content is unprecedented, especially in Brazil, where 86% of connected users watch videos online, according to a Google research with McKinsey.

The intention of the founders is to increasingly attract new brands and e-commerce. After all, buyable content presented in the video is a trend that is here to stay and expand. ‘Raczum started integrated with one of the biggest streaming platforms, and we intend to spread the possibilities of using it with a strong investment in technology. We intend to expand with the integration of other video distributors on the internet, in addition to streaming channels such as Netflix, GloboPlay, Netnow, Amazon Go, and maybe even broadcast television’, signals Gazzinelli.

Your website?

raczum.com