Mertado raises $2.3M, launches Mertado TV

The social shopping site for kitchen and home goods now syndicates cooking and lifestyle videos

So last season, I really got into that show “Masterchef,” partly because I have a weird crush on Gordon Ramsay—he just seems so tortured…I know that deep down, he’s really emotionally vulnerable and I alone can save him from his self-destructive habits.  Anyway, towards the end, I started to notice that the show was getting really whory with product promotions.   Someone would be chopping some onions and one of the chefs would come over and say “what do you think of that so-and-so knife?”  And then that would be followed by a commercial for said knife.

But it looks like that’s a strategy that works, because social shopping company Mertado has launched Mertado TV to promote the products it sells.  The company also announced Wednesday that it has raised $2.3 million in a Series A round from Rustin Canyon Partners, Blumberg Capital, and Redpoint Ventures, bringing the company’s total raised to $3.3 million.

To be specific, Mertado, which specializes in home and kitchen goods, will be syndicating content from the Food Network, Better TV, and Fine Living while advertising products from the Mertado catalogue, all of which is integrated with Facebook.

 For example, you can watch a clip on how to make an Italian style chicken and potatoes in a slow cooker, and on the same page, you can browse slow cookers from Mertado’s selection.  How successful is this method?  In a beta test, Mertado found that shoppers increased their repeat purchase activity by 250% when they watched video content.

"Our mission is to expose a selection of high quality, unique, lifestyle-oriented products for the home to consumers wherever they spend their time," said Vijay Chittoor, Founder and CEO of Mertado, in a statement. "Combining our product catalogue with leading lifestyle programming on the leading online community was the logical next step in truly creating a rewarding social shopping experience--and the numbers prove that it's a hit."

A Y Combinator graduate, Mertado launched in April 2010 to allow Facebook users to log in through Facebook Connect and get product recommendations at low prices based on their Facebook interests. It's a pretty different take on the idea of f-commerce or social commerce, which has generally involved building storefronts on Facebook, or gathering large collectives of shoppers to buy an item and get a discount.  But it looks like Mertado is moving away from f-commerce towards a broader e-commerce platform.  While the shopping service used to be available on Facebook, the Facebook page now redirects you to the website.