Macy's Inc, better known for hawking clothing, luggage and jewelry, is selling NFTs for the first time.
The retailer is auctioning off 10 digital images of its Thanksgiving Day parade balloons, including a floating firefighter from the 1940s and a gold Macy's star from the 1970s.
NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, are digital collectibles that are authenticated using blockchain technology and are usually bought with cryptocurrencies. They can be saved, shared or sold.
Macy's said it will also be giving away 9,500 NFTs for people who go onto its website Thanksgiving morning.
The company said it is getting into NFTs to celebrate the parade's 95th anniversary and to bring it to a new generation.
NFTs have soared in popularity in recent months and many brands and celebrities have dived in.
Martha Stewart, for instance, is selling holiday-related digital images. Pop sensation BTS plans to sell tradable digital cards that play music. And the company that owns the Toys 'R' Us brand is selling digital images of its Geoffrey the Giraffe mascot.
As of Monday, the Macy's NFTs each had bids of $2,500 or more. Macy's said its NFT auction will end Nov. 30 and proceeds will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America.
Macy's, which is working with NFT platform Sweet, said it configured the NFTs so that if anyone sells the digital images in the future, a 10% donation will automatically be given to Make-A-Wish.
This year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will be back to normal after having to ditch its traditional 2.5-mile route around Manhattan last year to deter crowds during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The parade will feature 15 giant character balloons, 28 floats and air on NBC, Telemundo and stream on Peacock.
