Amex Invests in Shoppable Video Startup Firework as Retailers Flock to Livestreaming

As retailers of all kinds test new video commerce concepts, American Express is making its own bet on the trend. The credit card company's venture capital arm announced this week it is backing short-form shoppable video startup Firework with an investment of an undisclosed sum. Firework is a platform for merchants to create TikTok-like clips and livestreams with direct sales functionality. It counts grocery giant Albertsons and its subsidiary chains, Safeway and Jewel-Osco, as clients. Harshul Sanghi, global head of American Express Ventures, said the investment is about revamping the type of consumer ecommerce experience retailers offer. "Today's ecommerce experience, for the most part, is fairly static," Sanghi said. "I do think that having short-form shoppable video is a next-level, next-generation experience that is going to only drive consumer engagement and modernization for merchants on their ecommerce platforms. And that's really what's exciting to us for them." Firework was founded in 2018 as a standalone app for short-form videos but later pivoted to offer merchants tools to build their own content. The company also works with publishers to place Firework videos on their sites or apps and earns revenue by either licensing its software or taking a cut of promotional spend on videos. The startup recently signed an exclusive deal with Albertsons Companies that will start with short videos on recipes, produce-picking tips and meal prep advice, with plans to expand the partnership next year. "Albertsons is ahead of the curve in realizing that immersive, online video experiences that build connection and community don’t need to be relegated to the walled gardens of social networks," Firework president Jason Holland told Adweek at the time. Firework is one of many companies vying for a place in the growing livestreaming and video commerce space, which ranges from big platforms like TikTok and Facebook to smaller vendor-side startups like Firework. Retailers like Walmart, Nordstrom and Saks have all been jumping on the shoppable video trend, taking a cue from ecommerce companies in Asia where such formats already enjoy enormous popularity. Sanghi sees shoppable video as the next evolution of the ecommerce industry, akin to how Shopify revolutionized online sales for small businesses with its accessible merchant platform. Companies like Firework will serve a different demand than the market that big platforms like TikTok and Facebook are chasing, serving consumers who may head to a brand or store site first, rather than a social channel, he said. "Of course, you have something like TikTok that is shoppable, but not everybody's going to do their shopping there—that is not necessarily the most intuitive place to go," Sanghi said. Vogue’s Met Gala Livestream Breaks Site Traffic Records for Scale and Time Spent