Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More
Open announced that its social commerce Open SuperApp is launching a partnership with actor and artist Will Smith.
The Open SuperApp will serve as the exclusive merchandise platform for Smith’s 2025 World Tour starting with an intimate pop-up concert show in San Diego, California, on December 11 and December 12.
Los Angeles-based Open, which raised $28 million last year, has created a SuperApp that combines
social commerce, messaging, creator community, and AI into one ad-free platform, said Jaeson Ma, CEO of Open, in an interview with GamesBeat.
Smith’s first concert event is at The Observatory North Park in San Diego, featuring exclusive hoodies, tees, and hats. Additionally, Smith’s merch website for his world tour will be powered by Open. This kind of tech could be re-used with a variety of creators and celebrities across industries.
The partnership introduces a merchandise model that eliminates the need to pre-order inventory and enables worldwide shipping through the Open SuperApp. Fans at the San Diego pop-up show will experience an innovative merchandising approach, with a unique QR code displayed surrounding the merchandise tables and on digital screens guiding them to the Open SuperApp web store, where they can explore and purchase Will Smith’s exclusive tour merchandise, allowing fans to purchase merch on-site and having them shipped directly to them.
“Our partnership with Will Smith exemplifies OPEN’s mission to empower creators to connect
with fans through innovative, seamless experiences,” said Ma. “By reimagining the merchandise model, we’re not only streamlining production but also creating a platform that enhances the overall shopping experience.”
Kosaku Yada, CEO at Westbrook, Smith’s investment arm and an early investor in Open, said in a statement, “Will is always looking for innovative ways to connect with his global fanbase and providing an online shop to compliment his in-person merchandise stands to offer an opportunity for everyone to shop seamlessly anywhere in the world.”
The Open SuperApp aims to redefine merchandise distribution for artists and creators by introducing a
platform that eliminates traditional inventory and logistical barriers. By providing a global, on-demand merchandise solution, Open enables artists like Will Smith to offer fans premium, limited-edition products with ease and reach. The platform’s innovative approach allows for direct artist-to-fan connections, transforming how merchandise is conceived, produced, and distributed worldwide.
Open empowers creators to build their own businesses, engage directly with fans, and maintain ownership of their data and brand, revolutionizing the creator economy by providing a comprehensive suite of tools in one user-friendly platform. Open’s recent collaborations include launching a lifestyle and clothing line from current University of Florida quarterback DJ Lagway, and merchandise drop with Coolman, a popular artist known for his surreal and humorously simplistic animations.
Ma explained that the company has developed a global supply chain and proprietary tech that enables it to forego the risks of buying inventory ahead of time.
Ma said the idea is focused around social commerce, combining social media and ecommerce. It’s an idea that Ma imported from Asia, where such integrated social networking and commerce are common.
Open was focused non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a company when it was founded in 2020. Along the way, Open pivoted to becoming a social commerce and supply chain company for creators and their superfans. It has raised $38 million to date in two rounds. The commerce side of the business isn’t easy. Ma said the company has connections to 10,000 manufacturers who can supply goods for the Open SuperApp as needed.
The Open SuperApp stands at the forefront of this collaboration, allowing for the rapid creation
of premium products through simple prompts. Their cutting-edge generative AI text-to-product
technology not only streamlines the production process but also opens up new possibilities for
personalized merchandise in the creator economy.
Open’s pioneering generative AI text-to-product technology also enables the creation of physical products from text descriptions. Users can input a text prompt describing a desired item, and the AI system generates a design that can be manufactured into a physical product.
Because of this, Open’s technology allowed for the quick design and production of merch based on any given campaign’s concept, significantly speeding up the process from idea to finished product.
Open empowers creators to build their own businesses, engage directly with fans, and maintain ownership of their data and brand, revolutionizing the creator economy by providing a comprehensive suite of tools in one user-friendly platform.
Open’s recent collaborations include launching a lifestyle and clothing line from current University of Florida quarterback DJ Lagway, and an upcoming product drop with Coolman, a popular artist known for his surreal and humorously simplistic animations.
Ma said his passion has been to bridge East and West, and this business is similar in that respect. Social commerce on various platforms has been growing in Asia, and Ma wants to apply the learnings in the West, starting with celebrities like Smith. Ma has come up with a supply-chain solution that makes the merchandise business less risky and able to create merch on demand as celebrities like Smith make a splash on the social commerce app. And the goal is to create manufacturing runs that meet demand for a given product without going too far above what is needed to ship in a timely manner. This where some more sophisticated AI technology can be brought to bear, Ma said.
“Social commerce has been happening in Asia for the last 10 plus years,” Ma said. “We’re also seeing ecommerce disruption on the backend.”
Part of the thinking is the belief that creators and celebrities need to be rewarded more for their work and that coming up with new models like social commerce can help creation and artistry pay off better and faster. And a platform should also connect celebrities and creators with fans on different levels, from ordinary fans to the super fans.
The company has 50 people.
“We’re solving for design with AI, no inventory, drop-ship manufacturing, supply chain logistics, payments,” he said. “No platforms are doing that. And it’s hard. We’re literally doing something that no one else is doing.”
Source link
