Talent agencies are training creators to act like retailers

Lexi Rosenstein, a New Jersey-based beauty creator, has around 150,000 followers on TikTok, a fraction of the audience commanded by many of social media’s biggest stars. Yet she has sold more than 500,000 products through TikTok Shop, achieving an average monthly gross merchandise value of $300,000-$600,000, making her one of the platform’s top sellers. She works with dozens of brands, maintains storefronts across multiple platforms and spends much of her time thinking about what products will resonate with shoppers.

That kind of business was once unusual in the creator world. Influencers were primarily judged by audience size, engagement rates and the sponsorship deals they could attract. Today, a growing number of creators are building businesses around affiliate commissions, storefronts and social commerce. As a result, talent agencies are increasingly helping clients set up online storefronts, prepare for major sales events and show brands hard evidence that their audiences spend money.

The change reflects how much money creators are now making from selling things. Affiliate marketing, creator storefronts and social commerce platforms have given creators more ways to earn revenue directly from product sales. Passive income streams from product and merchandise sales combined with affiliate marketing account for 21.2% of total creator income, according to a January survey of 1,000 U.S.-based creators conducted by The Influencer Marketing Factory, an influencer marketing and talent agency.

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