#165: Phil Londrico (Jatango) — Livestream Shopping — Fostering Intimacy & Connection in E-Commerce

Lay of The Land

Phil Londrico, Founder & CEO of JaTango — an interactive broadcasting and e-commerce platform that gives individuals the power to host their own live shopping channel anywhere.

For many years now, we’ve seen e-commerce grow, sparking an entire industry of new brands, channels, and technology stacks. Today, everything from a legacy department store to your local grocery store to a faraway fashion boutique is “online” and at your fingertips. But the actual experience of shopping hasn’t changed very much. We still generally begin browsing with a specific item in mind and it all feels pretty transactional. Traditional e-commerce platforms often fail to deliver that joy of discovery you feel when shopping in person.

This is what makes livestream shopping, which has already gone mainstream in China, fueling over $150 billion in Gross Merchandise Value… so fascinating. With that in mind — JaTango, based here in Cleveland, is bringing that intimacy and connection to the buying experience through their own immersive liveshopping — taking the best of the analog television shopping “buy now!” experiences and putting it into the hands of DIY sellers.

Phil has long been a visionary, growing up in his family business as one of the largest growers of Christmas Trees in the USA, responsible for many millions in annual revenue securing major national chains, including Walmart, Central Hardware, Tractor Supply, Handy Andy, and many more. As head of IT Development, he created, produced, and patented a mechanical product that was extensively sold in national chain stores, including Walmart, K-mart, and AAA Travel Agency.

In 2006, Phil was early to envision streaming entertainment, co-founding Rock Me TV, one of the first internet television networks.

This conversation was a ton of fun — Phil is full of energy and passion for bringing people together through commerce and breaking down the barriers between buyers and sellers — We cover what it’s been like building on the frontier of technology, the importance of timing, lessons learned from his family business, the future of commerce, and lots more!

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LINKS:
https://jatango.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/phillondrico/

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