REDWOOD CITY, CA - Many retailers have implemented new strategies to revolutionize the grocery experience as of late, whether it be through new partnerships, technological advancements, or other new innovations. Albertsons Companies is harnessing the power of all three, as it has revealed a partnership with Firework, a short-form video platform, to launch a new shoppable livestream video experience. This alliance makes Albertsons one of the first U.S. grocers to utilize the platform to transform its digital offerings.
“This partnership is an important step in Albertsons Companies’ digital transformation journey to redefine customer engagement in the grocery retail space. This isn’t just about creating new ways to feature our products. This is about bringing delight and inspiration to digital shopping to make online experiences as fun as discovering new products in our stores,” said Chris Rupp, Chief Customer and Digital Officer at Albertsons Companies. “With Firework, we found the first platform capable of digitally recreating the sense of freshness, discovery, and community that you previously could only find within our stores, all using the video and livestream formats that our digital shoppers love most.”
Firework’s innovative platform allows its customers to create, host, and curate immersive short-form and livestream videos on any site on the web, according to a press release. This enables any retailer, direct-to-consumer brand, media publisher, or business to own, engage, and monetize a community around short-form videos.
“The Firework platform gives brands the power to build a human connection with their audiences—within their own domain and on their own terms, using the most in-demand, modern, and effective video formats,” said Vincent Yang, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Firework. “Firework is redefining the future of video-first Web 3.0 with distributed, decentralized hosting, and is here to enable every business to reclaim ownership of its brand, its community, and the opportunities therein.”
Each of the videos created through Firework’s platform are swipeable, shoppable, and interactive, allowing consumers to directly engage with brand and product videos. On-site hosting also provides companies with direct access to consumer data and monetization opportunities. In addition, Firework also offers retailers the chance to sell digital shelf space to brands they carry through video ad placement, thus creating more sources of revenue.
“We’re inspired by Albertsons’ dedication to being at the forefront of grocery retail customer experience, charting the path toward a new gold standard of online shopping and brand engagement,” commented Jason Holland, President of Global Business at Firework. “By hosting its own swipeable, shoppable video content to meet its customers where they are, Albertsons will lead the industry in preference-driven digital experience, turning customers into entertainment fans.”
Firework has built a short video and livestream platform with more than 1 billion monthly active users that aims to revolutionize and connect the web. The company is also working to bring consumers back from social networks with what it refers to as the “Web 3.0” approach, which gives brands autonomy and control over TikTok-like, immersive, video-based experiences.
By connecting retailers, consumer packaged goods companies, D2C brands, publishers, and media buying agencies, Firework is looking to create a new ecosystem of fully linked media buying, which is being led by Jeff Lucas, former Global Head of Ad Sales for Verizon Media, Snapchat, and Viacom.
Albertsons’ end-to-end implementation of this platform will consist of three phases. In the first phase, the retailer will use Firework to send short video content and cooking experiences on various other banner websites. The partnership will help to expand offerings and the shopping experience starting in 2022.
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