Scott Silverman, former executive director of National Retail Federation digital division Shop.org, launched IFeelGoods, a virtual product and social gaming firm, on September 20.
Silverman, along with Google and PayPal alumni, created the company to take advantage of the burgeoning social gaming space. The Menlo Park, CA-based company will partner with publishers of social games and distribute their virtual goods and currencies to retailers for customer incentives.
Silverman said a main goal is to “help retailers harness social gaming and virtual goods.”
Silverman is serving as VP of marketing at IFeelGoods. Other co-founding executives include e-commerce entrepreneur Michael Amar, who is serving as CEO. Dmitri Ducourtieux is serving as COO and VP of Europe, and former PayPal executive Suchit Dash is working as VP of product. Vida Ha, who worked as a senior software engineer at Google, is the company’s lead engineer.
Silverman said company research shows 200 million people play social games each month, and the average player is a 43-year-old woman with children.
“The worlds of social gaming and virtual goods have attracted hundreds of millions of people, but they are still very new and not very well understood,” said Silverman.
He added that educating retailers on the benefits of getting into the space will be a major goal for the company. Companies can offer low-cost virtual goods that can later turn into a sale, he said, or give incentives to customers who buy items.
IFeelGoods will give brands the technology so customers can see, accept and collect the offer, said Silverman.
