The news: Home Depot introduced The Home Depot Creator Portal, a centralized hub that offers resources and earning opportunities for creators developing home improvement content.
How it works: The creator portal is intended to inspire creators while giving them access to advertising opportunities with Home Depot and its extensive supplier network.
- Participants earn commissions through shoppable links, and benefit from storefront capabilities, special perks, and product gifting.
- To maximize chances of success, Home Depot is offering creator portal participants access to training resources, information on best practices, and tools like curated collections and branded hashtags to ensure greater visibility.
- Home Depot is kicking off the public launch with a roster of creators tied to the upcoming World Cup and the world of sports, including soccer star Trinity Rodman and entertainers Dude Perfect.
The strategy: More retailers are setting up their own creator platforms as they look to tap into influencer marketing and ensure relevance as more product discovery shifts to social media.
- Lowe’s launched its creator network in June with an assist from MrBeast, who developed a curated storefront where customers could purchase the YouTuber’s favorite tools, materials, and DIY kits.
- Retailers like Gap, Sephora, and Chewy have introduced similar initiatives in a bid to attract younger shoppers, who are more likely to make a purchase based on influencer recommendations.
Our take: Establishing a creator platform allows retailers to bring greater standardization and quality control to their influencer partnerships, while still taking advantage of all the opportunities that influencer marketing can offer.
- Affiliate marketing is expected to drive $215.86 billion in ecommerce spending this year and account for 13% of online sales, per our forecast.
- However, whether these platforms are successful will depend on retailers’ ability to attract—and retain—quality talent.