How Sam's Club is Rethinking Customer Loyalty Through the Creator Economy
Consumers are reshaping the expectations and behaviors that will define grocery shopping for years to come.
While cost remains king for most shoppers, things become more complex once the basics of competitive prices and freshness are covered. Trust, transparency and shared identity are becoming real advantages for food retailers, and Walmart’s family of banners is taking note.
Back in October 2022, Walmart launched Walmart Creator, a one-stop portal designed to make it easy for creators to monetize shoppable products from the retailer. Creators who signed up would have access to tens of thousands of products, earn uncapped commissions on referred sales, share product links to any social platform of their choice, and collect performance data to help grow their following.
"We know our customers are inspired by the content and stories they see from their favorite influencers in their social feeds every day," William White, CMO of Walmart U.S., previously said on the platform's launch. "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."
Sam’s Club, the company’s club warehouse arm, has since pushed the concept further toward the finish line. Rather than recruiting outside influencers, the club is putting its own members at the center of the strategy.
"The creator economy is not a new-to-the-world disruption of marketing," said Diana Marshall, Sam's Club's EVP and chief experience officer. "It's a correction. A reminder that no matter how advanced the platform, people still choose people."
The retail implications, according to Marshall, are straightforward: Brands spent decades optimizing for awareness through reach, frequency and impressions, chasing the goal of being seen. However, she asserted, "Being seen is not the same as being chosen." People will always continue to trust one another over an algorithm or organization.
What separates Sam’s Club's model from a standard influencer play is the membership requirement. Every creator on the platform is a paying member first, meaning the people amplifying the brand already have a skin in the game.
Marshall described the platform as a way for its members to engage more deeply with the club, including shaping what ends up on shelves, rather than a marketing channel.
By angling the platform as a channel for co-creation, Marshall hopes that members will no longer feel like passive shoppers but as participants in Sam's Club's development. As she puts it, a customer who helped name a product or built an audience around a particular store is not switching banners over a one-dollar price difference; they will return to where they feel most seen.
This article was originally published on P2PI sibling brand Progressive Grocer.
