Best Buy Launches Creator Program With Influencer Storefronts

Best Buy has debuted a platform that lets creators and influencers collaborate with the retailer.

The company announced its Best Buy Creator program Tuesday (April 8) in conjunction with Best Buy Storefronts, a “curated shopping experience” where customers can shop tech from their favorite influencers and creators.

“Storefronts give creators the ability to create a one-stop shop to highlight tech features in their content and earn a commission on sales referred through their storefront, with no commission cap,” Best Buy said in a news release.

According to the release, a number of leading tech influencers are joining the launch with their own storefronts. These include Linus Sebastian of Linus Tech Tips, who has more than 16 million YouTube subscribers and 8 billion views; tech reviewer Judner Aura, also known as UrAvgConsumer; and tech and lifestyle creator Jenna Ezarik.

“We know shoppers love to be inspired and discover innovative tech from their favorite content creators,” said Jennie Weber, Best Buy’s chief marketing officer. “We’re excited to launch the Best Buy Creator program and empower creators to turn their passion and authenticity into a shoppable retail experience that’s fun, inspirational and convenient.”

Best Buy had hinted at the launch of this program last month during its quarterly earnings call.

“Influencers and creators will be able to build their own branded digital storefronts on Best Buy’s website, which we expect to drive increased traffic, engagement and sales,” CEO Corie Barry said at the time.

Meanwhile, recent PYMNTS Intelligence research has found that while influencers do live up to their name in convincing shoppers to make purchases, the picture is more complicated.

The report “Generational Pulse: Just How Influential Are Influencers?” found a considerable percentage of consumers make some purchasing decisions based on the recommendations, comments or links provided by influencers.

However, that share falls significantly in terms of regular purchases, with only 1 in 8 consumers reporting that they follow the lead of influencers when it comes to being incentivized to make frequent purchases.

“And clicking through to the buy button hardly occurs in a vacuum,” PYMNTS wrote. “The data shows that 95% of consumers do some other form of research — leading to product reviews and platforms — in tandem with taking the influencers’ opinions into account.”