The news: Gap Inc. launched a creator platform, the latest move among retailers tapping influencers to extend their cultural reach and attract new customers.

How it works: Gap’s “creative and advocacy” platform is meant to keep the company in the cultural conversation by cultivating a network of creators willing to promote its brands. The goal is to deliver a steady stream of content that blends fashion and entertainment.

• The program is currently open to US-based creators ages 18 or older with at least 1,000 followers on a single platform, with plans to add international influencers.
• Participants receive sales commissions, early access to new products, product seeding, and exclusive promotions. They also have opportunities to collaborate with Gap brands and be featured across paid, social, and brand-owned channels.

The opportunity: While influencer marketing has long been a part of most retailers’ strategies, companies are adjusting their approach as more product discovery and research shifts to social platforms.

• Best Buy’s chief marketing and design officer, Jennie Weber, told Modern Retail that the chain’s decision to launch a creator platform stemmed directly from the fact that more shoppers are turning to influencers for product ideas and instructional content. “We wanted to be positioned alongside those creators to be able to be in front of consumers and provide that helpful content to them,” she said.
• Lowe’s is using its platform—and partnership with MrBeast—to reach younger audiences who are more inclined to trust creators for advice, recommendations, and inspiration.

Implications for brands: Retailers like Gap need creators to stay relevant with consumers—especially younger audiences that get much of their shopping inspiration on social media.

But to attract those influencers, companies need to make sure that their incentives measure up. Free products are a good start, but offering sales commissions—as Gap and Lowe’s do—will bring creators on board and keep them in the fold.

Go further: Read our Creative Economy Explainer 2025.