USA TODAY International Edition
Instagram stars join old-school retailers
Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, is counting on a 6-year-old YouTube star to draw in gaggles of other pint-sized shoppers clamoring for bubble pets, Tshirts and capsules full of lime-green slime. ❚ On Monday, the store chain will debut Ryan’s World, a toy and T-shirt line created by the first grader whose YouTube channel, Ryan ToysReview, gets roughly 950 million views a month. ❚ Among kids, “clearly what’s emerged in the last few years is they’re watching an influencer like Ryan on YouTube, and he’s their authority,” says Anne Marie Kehoe, Walmart’s vice president and divisional merchandise manager of toys. That’s “why we thought this was something to really move fast on.”
At a time when traditional retailers are struggling to woo shoppers, established brands and chains such as Walmart, Nordstrom and Target increasingly are collaborating with social media stars to create collections, build buzz and get real-time feedback on what shoppers think is – and isn’t – cool.
“They’re not just going with a big celebrity face anymore,” says Priyanka Dayal, senior content marketing manager for Celebrity Intelligence, which connects businesses to social media influencers and celebrities. “We’re seeing that retailers are adopting new tactics to reach out to the younger generation.”
Starting this fall, Nordstrom will carry a new clothing line created by Arielle Charnas, the popular lifestyle influencer behind the Something Navy blog who is checking with her million-plus followers to fine-tune details from fabrics to colors.
Target looked for input from Gen Z trendsetters for its clothing line, Art Class, which launched last year. And Kohl’s works with wellness influencers through the site mindbodygreen.
The growing clout of influencers is on vivid display through the growth of Beautycon, which showcases the latest in beauty products and trends.
This year’s gathering in California, which featured a chat between CEO Moj Mahdara and Kim Kardashian, was Beautycon’s largest. Some 500 influencers took part among the 32,000 attendees, and more than 200 brands were represented, Beautycon spokeswoman Emily Taylor says.
“Now is the first time ever that your next-door neighbor could have a million followers on Instagram,” says Justin Kline, founder of Markerly, an influencer research company. “It’s opened up this whole new world of people who have access to this huge following ... which is really great for brands because it allows them to harness all this clout.”
Old-school retailers are recognizing that when it comes to connecting with Generations Y and Z, whose household spending is in the billions of dollars, a recommendation from someone they relate to can have far more sway than that of an actor or pop star.
Research conducted in 2016 by influencer marketing firm Collective Bias found 30 percent of shoppers were more inclined to buy a product endorsed by a blogger they viewed as a peer than a celebrity. And among those 18 to 34 years old, 70 percent preferred the noncelebrity. Additionally, nearly six out of 10 shoppers had taken a social media or blog review into account while browsing in a store.
“Someone who is a teacher ... is looking for what other teachers have in their classrooms,” says Allison Stone, consumer markets manager with consultancy PwC. “This is their lifestyle, what they do every day. It comes from pure experience, and it feels more authentic.”
The legions of kids who click onto Ryan ToysReview are able to have what amounts to a virtual play date with its namesake. Last year, Ryan was the youngest on Forbes’ list of the highestpaid YouTube personalities, generating an estimated $11 million in 2017.
Now, starting in August, kids will have a chance to buy toys and T-shirts that Ryan picked or helped design.
“One thing for sure is that influencers provide statistics and evidence of click-throughs, sales, likes and engagement rates,” says Louise Roe, a TV host and blogger who has worked with a Macy’s and Jimmy Choo. “So a company can really track their investment. The impact of a star on a billboard is harder to measure with such accuracy.”