In this article, learn about:
Examples of how retailers and suppliers are using influencer marketing
The benefits of using influencer marketing
The drawbacks of leveraging influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is a relatively new phenomenon because social media influencers are also a relatively new phenomenon. Originating on platforms like YouTube, influencer marketing has grown increasingly more popular with the rise of image- and video-based social media platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok. The COVID-19 pandemic saw a boost among influencer followings.
In the modern world, people spend much of their time online, and much of that time on social media. Early in the era of social media, retailers and suppliers saw a need to be in these spaces in order to grow their businesses. As influencers became a lucrative career option for the average person, retailers and suppliers saw a new opportunity for partnerships to get their products in front of potential customers through social media platforms.
How Are Retailers Using Influencer Marketing?
Probably the most well-known way that retailers and suppliers leverage influencer marketing is through affiliate programs. Affiliate marketing provides a cost-effective marketing option that helps retailers get into more niche markets.
Affiliate programs are where content creators sign up with a retailer, like Amazon, to promote products on their page(s). For example, if a follower uses the influencer’s affiliate link to purchase an item from Amazon, then the content creator will receive commission. Commission rates vary among retailers and depend heavily on how competitive the influencer is, and how many followers they have. On average, most influencers receive a commission between 13% and 20%.
Affiliate marketing might be the most common, but as influencer marketing continues to grow, retailers are finding newer ways to increase engagement and sales through content creators and social media.
Home Depot
Home Depot’s foray into influencer marketing is relatively new and seems to come as a competitive response to Lowe’s, which began a similar marketing campaign in 2025 that focused on home design content creators.
Home Depot leverages influencer marketing through affiliate partnerships with the launch of a new platform that connects Home Depot with DIY and home-improvement content creators. Not only can these influencers get ideas through this new platform, but also partner with Home Depot, earning commissions through affiliate marketing.
Both Lowe’s and Home Depot are also leveraging high-impact connections joining their content creator platforms, such as MrBeast for Lowe’s and Dude Perfect for Home Depot, to boost their new affiliate marketing program. MrBeast is one of the top ranked YouTube influencers, and Dude Perfect has for a long time been one of the most famous social media influencers in the United States.
Sephora
Sephora’s influencer marketing strategy focuses on micro-influencers, who primarily create content related to beauty and skincare. Micro influencers are content creators with fewer followers — usually between 10,000 to 100,000. Sephora uses its platform, Sephora Squad, to create partnerships with content creators for affiliate marketing. The My Sephora Storefront allows influencers to build their own shoppable ecommerce storefronts.
While leveraging big name content creators with millions of followers is still a beneficial marketing move, there is also benefits to leveraging micro influencers. Post frequency is quickly becoming more influential than follower count and micro influencer followers are more engaged with posted content. Leveraging micro influencers also helps Sephora reach deeper into the market. Social media platforms charge retailers and suppliers per 1,000 followers for sponsored posts, making micro influencers a more cost-effective option.
How Are Brands Using Influencer Marketing?
When content creators partner directly with a brand or supplier, they are usually referred to as brand influencers. Generally, the way that influencers partner with suppliers is very similar to how they partner with retailers, which is through affiliate marketing.
Some examples of suppliers leveraging influencer marketing strategies are:
Warby Parker
Warby Parker is a company that sells glasses directly to consumers. Their promotion strategy involves selling affordable frames so that buyers can avoid the more expensive frames sold at the optometrist.
With millennials being their target audience, and millennials being highly active online, Warby Parker leverages influencer marketing for sponsored posts. A sponsored post is a post that a supplier or retailer pays an influencer to post. Warby Parker specifically focuses on using micro and nano influencers (content creators with 1,000 to 10,000 followers).
Poppi
Poppi, a prebiotic soda company, has successfully leveraged social media by using all sorts of content creators from Paris Hilton to micro influencers and even engaging on social media in an influencer-like way themselves.
Where Warby Parker and Sephora are opting for a smaller, though successful, influencer campaign, Poppi has chosen to tie themselves to big names and even paid millions for a Super Bowl ad.
What Are the Benefits of Influencer Marketing?
For smaller businesses, influencer marketing can help extend brand reach and visibility across multiple audiences and platforms.
With the extensive popularity of influencers, retailers and suppliers can tap into a well-established customer base through partnerships with influencers with large, highly engaged, and dependable followings.
Influencer followers already trust the content creators they are following, which means that they are more likely to buy products from brands, retailers, or suppliers those influencers endorse. This makes for a target audience that requires lower lift, and a high return on investment (ROI).
What Are the Drawbacks of Influencer Marketing?
Suppliers, retailers, and brands need to be vigilant when it comes to using influencer marketing strategies that tie their reputation directly to a content creator. This could be damaging should an influencer become involved in a scandal.
Celebrity influencers can quickly become expensive to partner with, making the return not worth the investment.
In the same vein, micro and nano influencers may not provide the hoped for ROI due to lack of reach.
Some social media users view celebrity influencers as inauthentic, which means that potential customers may not trust products promoted through celebrity influence.
Partnering with an influencer that does not fit with the supplier or retailer brand will result in wasted work and time.
There is no one-size-fits-all for influencer marketing strategies. Social media trends change rapidly and influencers come and go. The types of posts and ads that catch a customer’s eye vary by generation and season. It is difficult to keep up with all the changing tides, but social media is not going away any time soon, meaning influencer marketing, in whatever form it takes, is a highly beneficial marketing tool for suppliers, brands, and retailers.
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