Is Walmart Courting Influencers With Creator Collective?

Liz Morton
Liz Morton


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UPDATE 10-18-22

Walmart has officially launched Walmart Creator.

Walmart Launches New Content Creator Platform
BENTONVILLE, Ark., Oct. 18, 2022 — Today, Walmart announced the launch of a new platform designed around creators. The program is called Walmart Creator and it’s a one-stop portal that makes it easy for creators to monetize shoppable products from the retailer. Walmart believes anyone can be a…

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Oct. 18, 2022 — Today, Walmart announced the launch of a new platform designed around creators. The program is called Walmart Creator and it’s a one-stop portal that makes it easy for creators to monetize shoppable products from the retailer. Walmart believes anyone can be a creator, and the product democratizes the tools and resources needed to do so.

Creators who sign up will have access to tens of thousands of products and are given the opportunity to earn revenue all while earning commissions on sales they refer with no cap. Users of the platform can share product links to any social platform or group of their choice, receive product recommendations based on interests and affinities and collect valuable performance data to help grow their community and following.

“We know our customers are inspired by the content and stories they see from their favorite influencers in their social feeds every day,” said William White, chief marketing officer, Walmart U.S. “This next step in our strategy will help fuel inspiration for our customers by connecting their favorite creators directly with our brand and the brands they love at Walmart.”

Walmart is an early pioneer in the social commerce space and is always testing and learning in new channels, including shoppable livestreams, with the goal of better serving customers by meeting them when and how they want to shop. Walmart Creator represents another expansion into this space, further enabling shoppers to shorten the distance between inspiration and purchase.

By launching in beta ahead of the busy holiday season, Walmart is putting creators in a strong position to earn while also continuing to evolve and optimize the platform before launching fully in 2023. In this platform, creators can utilize carefully curated product collections to inspire their next content story and generate affiliate product links for their posts. They can track and view performance in Walmart Creator’s analytics dashboard to understand how customers engaged with the products they featured in their posts. Creators can also apply to be a part of any upcoming brand campaigns.

“I’m so excited to work with Walmart on the new Creator Program – I’m passionate about accessibility and educating and empowering others – and this is both of those things wrapped into one,” said DevanOnDeck, a popular influencer with 3.8 million followers on TikTok and large followings on Instagram and YouTube. “I’m super pumped to be a part of this and I’m looking forward to creating together.”

Creators can get started by applying for beta access at WalmartCreator.com.

Walmart plans to rapidly evolve and iterate the Walmart Creator platform over time to build features and experiences that make it easy for creators to create and publish content, and customers to shop their favorite products through Walmart.


8-19-22

Walmart trademark filings may give a glimpse into the company's plans to make it easier to match social media influencers with its 100,000 third-party sellers to promote their goods and services online, according to Reuters.

Walmart explores matchmaker marketplace for social media influencers
Walmart may launch a platform that will use social media influencers to help the retailer and its 100,000 third-party sellers promote their goods and services online, according to trademark filings.

Walmart filed trademarks for "Walmart Creator" and "Walmart Creator Collective," which would provide social media consulting and "the promotion of goods and services of others through influencers," according to the July 27 documents seen by Reuters.

Walmart currently works with influencers to promote its groceries and apparel, as well as its Walmart+ loyalty program. Influencers often have large followings on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok and recommend products by posting affiliate links. They earn a commission when a customer uses the link to make a purchase.

Trademark filings of course don't always come to fruition and apparently Walmart declined to comment to Reuters about Walmart Creator Collective, so it remains to be seen what if anything will come of the idea.

However, it's a good bet Walmart is eyeing what competitors are doing in this space.

Amazon offers influencers the ability to create their own pages for certain recommended products sold on the  marketplace and earn commissions from purchases.

And just this week, Shopify introduced Collabs to streamline the process for both creators and brands to find a perfect match to partner with on promotions.

Shopify Collabs Pairs Influencers With Merchants
Shopify launches Collabs to help match creators & influencers with brand partners on the platform.

With influencer marketing expected to grow into a $16.4 billion industry in 2022, It's no surprise Walmart may be looking for ways to grab a piece of that pie.

I'll be keeping an eye on Walmart Creator Collective for sure - stay tuned!

Walmart

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Liz Morton is a 17 year ecommerce pro turned indie investigative journalist providing ad-free deep dives on eBay, Amazon, Etsy & more, championing sellers & advocating for corporate accountability.


Recent Comments
Avatar Placeholderbritishsoeedw-05 hours ago
I'm having the same problem, Vat has ben added to my listings and sales have literally stopped.
Avatar Placeholderblazeaglory10 hours ago
I've been selling on ebay since 2003 but i had to get a new account because after having a perfect feedback with ZERO negative feedback, i had one sale go south where the item i had i simply couldn't find in my inventory! So i ended up Ebay roughly 250$. You'd think they'd call me or message me and work out a plan but no, immediately PAY NOW PAY NOW OR YOUR ACCOUNT GETS CLOSED! I sell hand to mouth and usually each sale gets spent on bills QUICK, so i told Ebay i could pay monthly or weekly and pay the balance off in a month or sooner. Anyways, they closed my perfect TRS account. I mean no sympathy or anything after roughly 20 something odd years...SO now my new account after not selling for several months has only a couple sales. I dunno if things have changed but traffic seems waaaaay down but with this last sale, a nice vintage DAVID YURMAN silver bracelet, i had to ship to an authenticator, which I've never had to do. Hey I'm all for it because on ebay the last 20 years, the silver jewelery market has been HIGH RISK fakes labeled .925 yet NOT! LOL So I'm ok with an authenticator program that actually WORKS! So now the bracelet has been in Carlsbad since Monday May 19th 2025. I'm hoping it gets verified by tomorrow. I'll keep you all posted
Avatar Placeholderfoxxresell18 hours ago
An update to this situation - Today I will return to Above Average but this last month cost me a 91.8% reduction in impressions, 53.8% drop in listing page views, and 78% drop in revenue as well as paying an additional 6% final value fee on the sales I made. I was fortunate I had some higher value items sell this last week or my revenue numbers would have been well into the 80%.

eBay has responded to my BBB complaint twice. The first time they told me that I deserved below standard because my shipping scans were below the threshold. However, I had to quote their own website to them saying that shipping numbers cannot lead to downgrade to Below Standard.

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If this concerns you, this happened to you, or worried it may happen, please take action. In fact, take action anytime eBay is doing somethning wrong. They will change nothing if you don't say anything. If enough people speak up, they do make changes.