Online influencers are changing the retail marketing landscape in a big way. Currently, Walmart is counting on a YouTube phenomenon to help generate sales via their release of the Ryan’s World collection, a children’s toy and t-shirt line by 6-year-old Ryan — whose YouTube channel receives roughly 950 million views monthly. Walmart, alongside other established brands like Nordstrom and Target, has discovered the skyrocketing success that can be generated by partnering with social media celebrities who are influencing trends in media, retail and beyond — many of them falling under the Generation Z umbrella.
To follow suit, Nordstrom recently partnered up to create a capsule collection of shoes, clothing and accessories with popular lifestyle brand Something Navy, who has more than 1 million followers on Instagram alone. Together, the two released the Treasure & Bond x SomethingNavy line, which was so successful that there’s a second release to be launched this Fall.
"Now is the first time ever that your next-door neighbor could have a million followers on Instagram,'' says Justin Kline, founder of Markerly, according to USA Today. "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.''
Learn more about Gen Z influencers here.
Photo credit: Something Navy