The Rise of Creator Storefronts: From Shop by Product to Shop by Influencer

LoudCrowd / LOFT 

When you visit a brand’s eCommerce website, you typically shop by product categories. However, this can often overwhelm consumers, making it difficult to find personalized recommendations that resonate with their interests. Thankfully, that’s changing.

Enter Creator Storefronts—curated shopping experiences crafted by creators that address these pain points head-on by providing the opportunity to “shop by influencer.”

What Are Creator Storefronts?

LoudCrowd / boohoo

Creator Storefronts, hosted on a brand’s eCommerce page, feature the creator’s bio, social links, relevant content, and—most importantly—curated product recommendations grouped by themes or collections.

LoudCrowd / boohoo 

Retailers Lead the Way

Retailers have been among the early adopters of this trend. Amazon is well-known for its Creator Storefronts via its Influencer Program, which it launched in 2018. Major retailers like Walmart and Target have followed suit, adding these experiences as part of their creator initiatives.

It’s not just retail giants getting involved—other industries, like travel, have also embraced Creator Storefronts. For example, Expedia’s Travel Shops allow consumers to browse itineraries curated by creators, earning them commissions when bookings are made through their recommendations.

The Shift in Consumer Trust

Consumers are increasingly turning to creators for inspiration and recommendations rather than companies themselves. Faced with endless choices, shoppers crave curated, personalized experiences. Creator Storefronts deliver exactly that—tailored selections from trusted creators that match consumers' individual tastes.

Brands are also focused on driving measurable results from creator partnerships, looking beyond engagement metrics to drive conversions and direct sales. This is where Creator Storefronts shine.

Benefits for Brands

Creator Storefronts allow brands to deepen partnerships with creators beyond traditional sponsored content, especially with long-term collaborators. 

By embedding creators’ recommendations into eCommerce experiences, brands can capitalize on this trust and increase conversion rates. In fact, Creator Storefronts can double conversion rates, increase average order value by up to 60%, and reduce customer acquisition costs by 50%.

Brands integrating Creator Storefronts into their eCommerce platforms can also track the entire consumer journey—from the initial engagement with a creator to the purchase—unlocking true ROI insights.

Benefits for Creators

For creators, having a storefront on a brand’s eCommerce site boosts credibility and offers the potential to grow their followers through brand website traffic. 

Creator Storefronts provide creators with new revenue streams through commissions on purchases driven by their recommendations. 

Unlike traditional affiliate programs, which require juggling multiple links and relying on followers to find and use them, storefronts centralize everything in one place. Creators can direct their followers to a single link, ensuring proper attribution, simplifying the shopping experience, and driving more revenue—increasing affiliate retention too.

Implementing Creator Storefronts

Last year, I pitched the idea of Creator Storefronts to several enterprise consumer brands for the holiday shopping season. 

While many expressed excitement, they hesitated to take action due to concerns about overwhelming their IT teams or lacking the time to implement something from scratch. At that time, I didn’t have a third-party solution to recommend, but now I do: LoudCrowd.

LoudCrowd, which powers Creator Storefronts for brands like Loft, boohoo, Huel, ColourPop, PrettyLittleThing, and Melinda Maria, enables brands to launch Creator Storefronts quickly—anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on their eCommerce setup—just in time for peak shopping seasons.

A fast onboarding process isn’t the only benefit, though. Others include:

• Native Experience: Storefronts are hosted on the brand’s domain rather than an off-domain or subdomain (e.g., TikTok Shop), providing a native experience.

• Simple Setup: Brands can easily invite existing and new creator partners to build their storefronts via a direct link.

• Empowered Creators: Creators can manage their own storefronts and track performance, reducing the workload for brand marketers and adding transparency.

• Easy Integration: The platform works with existing affiliate and influencer marketing solutions through integrations and customized workflows.

• Advanced Analytics: Access in-depth metrics on performance, including Earned Media Value (EMV), referred revenue, and order data.

Learn more about the power of Creator Storefronts and LoudCrowd, here.