Creators Meet Commerce: How They Guide Customers From Inspiration to Checkout | Behind the Numbers Special Edition

0:00Hello and welcome to a special edition episode of the E-Marketer podcast. Behind the numbers I'm Marcus Johnson and today I'm introducing a special episode from the E-Marketer Creator Trends 2026 Virtual Summit. In this episode you will learn how shoppable video, retail, media integration, storefronts and affiliate programs are reshaping the journey and the metrics and org models needed to make always on creator commerce truly work. Minda Smiley, senior analyst at E-Marketer hosts a panel with Corey Weaver, head of influencer at Gap Inc and Alexis Call, director of digital merchandising and site experience at Stanley 1913. Hope you enjoy. Today we're joined by two panelists who would walk us through their creator marketing strategies. Please join me in welcoming Corey Weaver, head of influence at Gap Inc. Hey and Alexis Call, director of digital merchandising and site experience at Stanley 1913.

1:03Hi everyone. Well I'm so excited to have both of you here with us today. I think for anyone who's been tuning in throughout the summit today it's becoming very clear that creators are not just seen as a way to reach consumers and engage with them. They are increasingly being used across the full funnel and increasingly being used in a shopping context and a commerce context as well as key partners in the areas. So I'm really excited to have the two of you here today. I would love to just start off super broadly just getting to know more about your day-to-day what exactly your role entails because as we know in creator marketing it moves fast and there's a lot of different aspects of it so I think it will be really helpful to get a better sense of what exactly you do in your role and we'll start with you Corey. Yeah so hi everybody my name is Corey Weaver. I lead influence across Gap Inc and the day-to-day for me looks really really different because we have brands all with their own unique personalities and every single day they're trying to reach and connect with different audiences so the day-to-day

2:07looks very very different but I will say the consistencies are that my everyday is really rooted in crafting strategy like how we can reach each of those individual different audiences per brand per category. It's also creator relations so you know engaging creators talking with them discovering new creators who we might want to partner with and then the last is really measurement and operation so how are we measuring success of all these campaigns and then do we have the right tooling in-house to be able to execute and grow and evolve and continue to really leverage this space. Yeah that makes sense and what about you Alexis? Hi everyone I'm Alexis Call. I'm the director of digital merchandising and site experience at Stanley 1913 and I think really similar to Corey I think no two days really look the same for me but the big portion of my days are looking way into the future so my team and I are responsible for strategizing around product

3:10assortment at Stanley 1913 and we're always trying to anticipate what products are going to be the top sellers and really ensuring that we're delivering an assortment that is new and fresh and relevant and on-trend and also ensuring that we're you know capturing new product innovation that meets our customers needs and then the other part of my day is really our focussed on site how the site experience brings that product vision to life how that you know can exist in the ecosystem alongside creators and the broader marketing strategy. I partner really closely with our tech team to ensure that we have the you know most compelling user experience on the site and that it's really aligned with consumer behavior and overall retail trends. Okay great so something I'm super curious about is where does commerce sit within creator marketing and each of your brands and what I mean by that is how is commerce factored in departures with creators? I think a high level rundown would be really helpful. Corey we'll start with you again.

4:15Oh gosh um you know I think that's evolved over time especially you know as I've worked on different teams but as it is right now it's factored into this entire like fly wheel of creator commerce and so sometimes it's really really direct in terms of like an affiliate model where we're working with creators and they're driving traffic to a product site or or driving sales specifically through their links and other times it's a little more indirect where we're working with creators to generate content that we're then using on paid using on the product pages amplifying in so many different ways or integrating into holistic marketing campaigns where we're doing print and video shoots and in amplifying that way so kind of wherever we can fit creators into this entire press emergency of commerce we are we're imagining ways to do that.

5:15What about you Alexis? Yeah I think very similar in terms of what Corey said I you know I just would say Stan Lee's kind of hydration era really was driven by creator starting in 2020 and with the virality of the quencher and so as we look ahead to kind of the next era for Stanley 1913 we are really thinking about creators for both awareness and authenticity but also for conversion so when we think about you know new product innovation new categories that we're bringing to market that's what we're really leaning into creators to help us create content like Corey said and leverage it across a variety of channels but then we also really lean into more lower funnel conversion driving content that supports more commercial moments in the marketing calendar so you know thinking about gift giving occasions Valentine's Day holiday that's where we're really focused on conversion driving content also you know promotional moments throughout

6:16the year as well as our limited edition product drops. Yeah well I have to say I succumbed to Stan Lee's hydration era I have I have my Stan Lee at home yeah exactly I think we all did and so Alexis I want to talk to you a little bit about the path to purchase which is something we talk a lot about it a lot here at eMarketer about you know we know that while there are certainly people buying products directly from creator posts they're also often inspired to buy on site and store etc so how how are you kind of how is Stan Lee accounting for these different behaviors and preferences when it comes to your creator commerce strategies. Yeah I mean I don't want to get too tactical but I guess when I think about how you know like the path to purchase has been influenced since when I began to retail it feels like many many eons ago I think that I really focus on or think about how a lot of consumers are interacting with brands for the first time likely on a product detail page so while a lot of traffic is driven by affiliates and creators

7:24to product detail pages and yes it's influenced by paid media you know other other channels in in the marketing funnel there's a ton of traffic coming to that part of our sites as brands and so we really are thinking as a site experience team this year at Stan Lee 1913 about like how do we want the consumer experience to be especially for a first time customer and ensuring that we have content on the page that's really engaging that's inspiring but also educational and you know ultimately a drives conversion so for this year that's a key area focus for for my team and I and really thinking about how we can influence our experimentation roadmap our UX milestones and roadmap really with a goal of creating a really brand right experience on on product detail pages which ultimately will drive conversion and then you know should help our creators perform

8:26perform better as well yeah 100% and Corey I would love to get your perspective as well because obviously like the Stan Lee and Gap are very different companies and even your role you're obviously like working across several different brands and so I'm sure you have you're coming at it from a bit of a different perspective but I would love to hear your thoughts as well oh gosh um I think the utility of creator content we are like absolutely weaving it into our PDPs we're seeing wonderful success there and then just ideating around how to amplify the content through the entire customer journey is really a focus for us right now and something that we're looking forward to this coming year so exactly what Alexis said integrating into the site experience working really closely with our tech teams to evolve what our site experiences look like and how people who exist within our e-commerce environment engage with the content those are all big priorities for us this

9:29year okay great and so I know Gap recently unveiled a creator affiliate program and we've seen other retailers like Sephora and Lowe's come out with similar offerings over the past year can you talk more about this program and why it's something that the company wanted to invest in yeah so we engage creators at so many different levels whether or not we're working with them for content series or partnerships or you know the the BAU type of creator relationships where we're working with them to amplify marketing messages every month but one area that we really wanted to lean into was connection and so launching the Gap Inc creator program was a an opportunity to serve as like this hub of connection with Gap Inc but on top of that it provided a resource for people who wanted to work with Gap Inc who necessarily didn't have the the chance to do so before so a lot of people who are in the program are folks who have smaller audiences nano and micro creators

10:33but even more than that and one of the things that I love about it is the diversity of the people who are in the program so these aren't just the like style and fashion creators who are out there that you might think that we would traditionally partner with but these are like doctors and nurses and teachers and moms and interior designers and artists and dancers and athletes and so um just the proliferation of human experience that the creators who are in the program has I think has been such a valuable asset to us since launch because they all provide this really unique lens through which to bring our brands to life to their own audiences yeah for sure and it kind of speaks to the fact that like yeah I feel like sometimes we have these ideas in our head of what an influencer is and what a creator is and I feel like these affiliate programs as you were saying like it really there's there's so many types of people that that often have other jobs and hobbies and they're doing so much and you know being a creator is kind of just like one

11:34part of their life so it's really interesting and I forget exactly when when you launched it I know it was some time last year I think so October okay so I'm not too long ago I'm curious if you can share like any early learnings or any challenges like anything you've kind of learned so far after officially debuting this I think some of the learnings that we've seen are that connection is always valuable you know I a lot of times with creator marketing I think some brands might view it as very transactional where it's like okay you know we are incentivizing you in some way to post on our behalf and being bang boom that's done but really like creators are humans at the end of the day they thrive on human connection and they're having the same universal experiences as all of us as we go about our days and so having an opportunity to connect with them check in with them celebrate when they create really wonderful content hype them up and let them know about stuff that's coming down the pipe it's it's really just so nice to foster connection with them

12:39and I think that is the key learning is that connection is really valuable especially as influence is becoming democratized these days you know so many people who are building audiences and having a voice which I think is fantastic but I think as that grows connection is becoming less and less so providing a vessel for that I think has been the the best key learning and benefit for us okay and Alexis I don't I don't know if Stanley has anything similar to this but I'm curious if you you know when we talk about just affiliate and general and seeing how it's really growing within a creator context if you have anything to add as well we don't have a similar program I'm like so inspired by everything that that Cory just said I think that you know we as a brand though do lean really heavily into some of the principles that he mentioned so I think you know seeing creators as humans that are genuinely connected with the brand and feel passionately

13:41about the brand I think there are definitely some really common through lines in terms of Cory's strategy and the way that he spoke to their affiliate program and how we approach our relationships with creators yeah and so I want to move on and talk a little bit about tiktok shop Alexis I know Stanley recently launched on tiktok shop by partnering with Jenny and I'm really about to age myself here I was embarrassed I didn't I didn't when I was doing some research for this I did not know who Jenny was I had to look into it and I'm not I'm not even like an elder millennial I'm just like a regular millennial I should I shouldn't do this anyway for those of you that might not know she is like a very famous kpop star the collaboration looked amazing from what I saw but anyway I'm curious like you know launching on tiktok shop I know it hasn't been super long but if you can share just any again like any early learnings how did it go where are you going next I think our audience would be like super interested in hearing about that yeah and don't feel bad I also had to do some googling yeah so at Stanley 1913 we have a really like loyal

14:50collector fanbase but with Jenny you know we knew we had an opportunity to reach a new audience especially you know with the kpop fan group or fanbase wanted to make sure that we were kind of meeting them where they were shopping and where they were already consuming content so that's kind of how the tiktok shop launch in conjunction with our Jenny collaboration came to be and so we actually did an early access live shopping event where we launched the collaboration product on tiktok shop a day early then it you know been it launched on Stanley 1913 we held an all day live event we had creators come and host that event they were Stanley fans they were Jenny fans so it felt like this really kind of natural way to create excitement and hype around the collaboration we had over 600,000 views that day of the live event really a lot of the engagement driven by the for you feed we were the number two I believe ran that day on tiktok shop second only

15:56to the boo boo and so I mean that's pretty incredible yeah so I think overall a really exciting kind of moment for Stanley 1913 and just our overall collaboration strategy and so I am really excited to continue testing and iterating I think it's a really valuable tool for brands to lean into as they seek to reach new audiences and so it's something that we're continue to strategize around as we look ahead to the rest of our launches this year and into 2027 yeah interesting and Corey what about you I mean I'm not sure to what extent gap is thinking about tiktok shop launching on tiktok shop but again I'm sure audience would love to know what what you think regardless yeah so we launched gap on tiktok shop in mid last year and then we launched old Navy on tiktok shop in fall last year and it's been really really cool just as I was talking about with the creator program and how you're really able to scale and see your stories come to

16:59life through so many different people's eyes it's kind of the same thing on tiktok shop which I love because everybody is has a different style they're incorporating our pieces in different ways and styling them and talking about the comfort or the fit or the quality in different ways and so yeah I've I've loved tiktok shop I love seeing the content that comes through and tiktok is in so many ways like a billion person focus group and so when people are talking about the product and other people are in the comments saying oh I really love this color oh I wish they did more with this color I you know this fit is great or I you know the polls on the hoodie are wonderful that's also really nice validation for our product team and gives us ideas moving forward so yeah love tiktok shop yeah it's interesting yeah it's like a whole just like a whole other area where you can communicate with your audience and so I imagine a lot of people watching are probably like maybe they recently launched or might be thinking about launching I know tiktok's also kind

17:59of it having a weird time in the US with the ownership changes so but even that aside like I'm curious if either of you have any just like you know maybe like a takeaway or like one thing you think branched and know if as they kind of start their tiktok shop journey if there's like one thing that you'd be like yes like definitely consider this we didn't think about this or something like that Corey I'll start with you I would say um and honestly this was guidance from tiktok when we were starting up on tiktok shop um that we have really taken to heart is that when it comes to tiktok shop um and brands that have gone through reinventions and have like very distinct projections and and whatnot um getting comfortable with people talking about your brands in ways that aren't necessarily like the message points that you had initially crafted getting really uncomfortable with just seeing it come to life in so many different ways um and appreciating that because all of those people who are talking about it have audiences that are following them specifically because

18:59of the way that they approach the world or their lives with the way that they they share recommendations and so um yeah I would say just like be open to how people are engaging with your product because it isn't necessarily bad it's just different and so um yeah I guess that would be my recommendation I love about you um I would say like have a point of view on how you want to like what story you want to tell with your merchandising through the tiktok shop um you definitely don't need to it isn't shouldn't be a replica of your director consumer channel or other sales channels that are important to your brand um so having a point of view testing exclusivity um you know testing new ways to merchandise your products I think is a really great way for brands to think about what tiktok really means to their overall digital ecosystem yeah makes sense I really love that um exactly what you said about bringing your brand to life in a way that isn't a mirror image of

20:04how you've appeared in other spaces I I just want to like co-sign what yeah no that that I I heard that as well that definitely makes sense um I think those are great great little nuggets of insight for sure um and so I want to move on and I'm curious like if there's a certain type of creator that's best it like that's best to kind of like a commerce or shopping context and really like that you can take that in whatever direction you want like I'm maybe like micro nano versus mega like I don't even like a personality type like do you just find maybe like that certain people that may be uh act a certain way tend to drive more conversions like again there's a lot of different ways you could take this but I'm just curious like uh if you've noticed any kind of patterns or if you've done any or have any data around like what what types of creators are really effective in this space Corey oh gosh um you could go like a million different ways yes that's a very broad question like historically I come from a little bit of an academic background and I've been really

21:05really fascinated over the years with research into like how the brain reacts to digital content and how we form relationships and trust online and how you know research has proven that we're able to create connection online the exact same way that we are in real life and so it's the people who are very like raw and I'm filtered and maybe like not too over polish the people who are really vulnerable with their audiences um you know like I said creators are going through the same human experience that everybody else is and so the creators who are talking about their high highs and their low lows and then in the middle of that they're punctuating their content with like by the way like the kids are screaming I screwed up breakfast I have to go to drop off but oh my god this gap sweat set is incredible and I'm obsessed with this you know Stanley mug here then those are the people that I think generate the most trust and then layering on top of that

22:10the people who bring themselves to life according to each platform because TikTok it's sort of like the medium is the message here TikTok content is consumed differently than Instagram is consumed differently than YouTube and substack and all of that so the people who are able to really customize themselves and their content for the vessel through which they are telling their story I think are the most successful when it comes to commerce yeah no that makes sense I mean I'm even thinking about my own habits like just too I more likely to watch or engage with like it yet even like little things like if you see someone has like kind of a messy kitchen countertop you're like okay this is like a real person yeah there's just something especially like yeah in this like AI world we're in but even before the AI stuff I feel like there was so much talk about like influencers being like so curated and I don't know there's definitely something to be said about like people whose like lives feel real and relatable and yeah so that totally tracks

23:11Alexis what about you I mean I think similarly I would say we see a lot of success with storytellers so I think like along the lines of what Corey was saying you know content that integrates product in the way that feels really natural and authentic to this creator's life whether it be a messy life you know I think just the most authentic way to integrate product into their lives seems to be what really resonates with consumers I mean I think you know ultimately moving from more like transactional content to relational content seems to be an area that we're seeing a lot of success yeah yeah for sure um and so I also want to talk about the platform specifically I mean obviously we've talked a lot about TikTok Instagram like the you know the main socials that that creators are on but I'm curious just like from your perspective um are there any platforms where you're finding maybe more success or maybe that has surprised you in terms of um like oh we're really seeing a lot of traction here and I don't even mean just the socials I mean even platforms

24:14like LCK or so you know like I even a platform like Reddit which I know historically has not played big in the creator space but anything that I think like that has surprised you or that you've been paying a little bit more attention to lately uh would be would be great to hear about an Alexis I'll start with you for that one yeah I mean I think that like similar to what Corey mentioned before um you know content that is really specific to the platform I think is where we continue to see success platform by platform um I feel like you know Corey has such a great background here I would say you're more well suited to to answer this question in a way that's you know helpful to our listeners yeah so for gap ink the interesting thing is every single one of our brands is like I said trying to reach a different audience at a different time and audiences you know have more uh affinity to certain platforms so if it's old Navy then perhaps Instagram and you know certainly

25:17growing favorability on tiktok if it's gap tiktok has been really instrumental and wonderful and growing the brand's relevance um and then you know it's so it sort of varies by honestly brand and category for us but some of the things that I'm keeping an eye on I will say are youtube the continued rise of youtube and trends in like long form versus short form it's something that I'm like always really observant of and what the trends are there and then I've also been really impressed with sub-stack particularly in the world of like fashion retail and how sub-stack is becoming a really wonderful way for people to voice reviews and opinions and whatnot about new drops or products and then also linked in actually um I've seen a growth of creator marketing on LinkedIn and so you know let's sort of like got my antennas perched a little intention there because definitely a lot more conversations happening on LinkedIn so yeah

26:23for sure I mean even yeah I see like LinkedIn like it kind of like read it in that way like suddenly feels like it's having a moment even though it's been around for like how long probably like 20 years I feel like maybe longer so yeah also for interesting I know I'm gonna leave a few minutes left I'm gonna try to squeeze in a few more questions um something I wanted to ask you about Alexis is how do creators play into commerce outside of their traditional creator responsibilities I mean like I'm talking about trans spotting product development like can you speak to that it along super curious about like how they're being pulled in in a way that just isn't about the post of the user sees yeah I mean creators are customers and so I think we get really excited when we kind of notice trends that are popping up throughout content you know regardless of platform um and so I'm really able to kind of take those trends and work directly with a product team on you know maybe a merchandising story or something that we should be leaning more into so a good example of this is kind of last spring we noticed that creators were getting really excited about you know kind of like matching their Stanley Cup to their Stanley Lunchbox or Stanley Cooler and so for

27:27spring 2026 we like leaned really heavily into that and are you know delivering an assortment that is whether it be like your water bottle or drinkware or can coolers which is like a great product to have by the pool and it all matches back to lunch boxes and soft sided cooler so you kind of have this like full Stanley moment but it was really driven by content that we were seeing across social media platforms so I think it's like there's so many ways to tap into creators and the content they're making and helping allowing it to inform you know a product strategy but also I think how you inform your digital experience strategy and I think Corey like talked a lot about this in terms of how gap is leveraging the affiliate platform but you know their customers their humans they're really like critical part of brand success so we definitely take a lot of cues from our creator fan base yeah make sense I mean yeah I think there's like they really have become so much more than creator they're like consultants they're yeah they're providing

28:30inspiration they're helping with trends like it's just super super interesting to see just one last fun question I want to ask each of you and I'll start with you Corey when's the last time you bought something inspired by a creator and what was it um oh gosh this is a great question I think for people who are influencer marketers probably a lot of people who are in the audience right now I think we're very vulnerable to this I was just having a conversation that like we should actually get an additional stipend to our salary because we at Hammered with it's research yeah I have purchased a banana republic jacket that I saw styled in a unique way and I was like oh I need that um I've purchased a handheld leaf blower off of tiktok shop but I would say I am most vulnerable to create skate care anytime the common one community

29:30starts hyping up a new product that then I just immediately fall in line and buy it I get that Alexis yeah Corey we're we're on the same page I was feeling like a little nervous to confess that I've actually been influenced to subscribe to a lot of substocks that creators are promoting but I feel like Corey you've been talking so much about it I'm less embarrassed to confess that now but like really great cooking content oh yeah we will happily pay for a great recipe um really great fitness content on substock so that's been one thing that is heavily influenced me lately for sure Korean skincare and then I'd recently bought this like ionic heated thermal brush um that is really changing my hair game so yeah clearly we're all we're all buying it's working um well thank you both so much that's all we have time for but I so appreciate both of your time today this was great