Entrepreneur and medical professional Felicia Jackson didn’t set out to make Gwyneth Paltrow cry. But when the contestant on Prime Video’s new retail competition show, Buy It Now, explained that she created her CPR Wrap, a device that helps people perform CPR, after she had a close call with her child, Paltrow and the two other judges couldn’t contain their misty-eyed empathy.
“You are the embodiment of what an American entrepreneur is and can do,” Paltrow, the Oscar-winning actor behind lifestyle brand, Goop, told Jackson. “You are solving not only a problem, you are saving lives.”
Amazon is providing opportunity, tools, and services to help selling partners and small businesses reach hundreds of millions of customers around the world.
Jackson’s story is just one of dozens shared on the show, in which entrepreneurs with innovative products try to win a place in Amazon’s bespoke Buy It Now store that will be featured on both Amazon.com and within the Prime app. The show, which is hosted by JB Smoove, premieres Oct. 30 on Prime Video.
What is ‘Buy It Now’?
Buy It Now is a new Prime Video show that gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their products for a chance to be featured in the Buy It Now store. Contestants will have 90 seconds to convince a live studio audience of 100 everyday customers, as well as a panel of esteemed judges, to fall in love with their products. One contestant from each episode will also win $20,000.
Amazon executives Carmen Nestares, Jenny Freshwater, Tanner Elton, and Michelle Rothman tag-team as judges on the panel, which also includes Ring creator Jamie Siminoff as the resident entrepreneurial judge. Amazon acquired Siminoff’s smart-doorbell company in 2018. In addition to the panel of Amazon executives, each episode will feature a rotating celebrity judge.
How does ‘Buy It Now’ work?
Aside from Paltrow, others celebrity judges will include designer Christian Siriano, Black-ish star Anthony Anderson, legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk, and actor and social media personality Tabitha Brown.
Updates will help customers seamlessly navigate across Prime Video and quickly find something to watch.
In order to appeal to both the studio audience and the judges, entrepreneurs must have goods that showcase Buy It Now’s five Ps: pitch, product, popularity, problem-solving ability, and potential.
But Nestares, Amazon’s vice president of North America Marketing & Prime Tech, said there is one attribute that matters above all else.
“Because we are a customer-obsessed company, the popularity of the product on the show plays a critical role in the decision to get into the Buy It Now store,” Nestares explained. “As a marketer at Amazon, I also thought about the price point and the ability of the product to break through in merchandising.”
Backstories can also strengthen pitches for the judges. Jackson’s CPR Wrap, for example, tapped into the emotions of the audience and the judges. Others, such as the creator behind an unexpected trick golf ball or the former athlete who designed odor-destroying socks, made the judges chuckle.
“The stories of the entrepreneurs and their ability to pitch helped bring the products to life for the judges,” Nestares added. “It was touching to see the passion and work that went into product development.