Two major brands are demonstrating how to integrate creators across the full commerce funnel, not just for awareness but for driving actual transactions.

"Connection is always valuable," said Cory Weaver, head of influence at Gap Inc., in an episode of "Behind the Numbers." "Creators are humans at the end of the day. They thrive on human connection."

Weaver and Alexis Call, director of digital merchandising and site experience at Stanley 1913, shared how their companies are weaving creator partnerships throughout their commerce strategies, from affiliate programs to TikTok Shop launches to product development insights.

Reshaping the product detail page

Both brands are prioritizing creator content at the moment of purchase, recognizing that many consumers first interact with brands on product detail pages rather than through traditional marketing channels.

"A lot of consumers are interacting with brands for the first time, likely on a product detail page," Call said. "There's a ton of traffic coming to that part of our sites as brands."

Stanley is focusing on ensuring product pages feature engaging, inspiring, and educational creator content that drives conversion. The strategy aims to improve both the customer experience and creator performance, since better-optimized pages should lead to higher conversion rates for affiliate traffic.

Gap is taking a similar approach across its portfolio of brands, integrating creator content into product pages and exploring ways to amplify that content throughout the entire customer journey. "We're seeing wonderful success there," Weaver said.

Brands that treat these product pages as destinations can maximize the value of creator partnerships while improving the shopping experience for consumers who arrive via social platforms.

Democratizing creator partnerships

Weaver said Gap launched its curator affiliate program in October 2024, opening doors for creators who previously couldn't access brand partnerships. The program emphasizes diversity beyond traditional fashion influencers.

"These aren't just the style and fashion creators that you might think that we would traditionally partner with," Weaver said. "These are like doctors and nurses and teachers and moms and interior designers and artists and dancers and athletes."

He said the program serves multiple purposes: A connection hub for Gap Inc., and bringing diverse perspectives to how the brand's products are presented to different audiences.

The key learning from the program's early months? Connection matters more than transaction volume.

"As influence is becoming democratized these days, so many people are building audiences and having a voice," Weaver said. "But I think as that grows, connection is becoming less and less. So providing a vessel for that, I think, has been the best key learning."

New audience channels

Stanley leveraged TikTok Shop for its collaboration with K-pop star Jennie, hosting an all-day live shopping event that generated over 600,000 views, Call said. The brand became the number two brand on TikTok Shop that day, second only to Labubu.

"We knew we had an opportunity to reach a new audience, especially with a K-pop fan group or fan base," Call said. "We wanted to make sure that we were meeting them where they were shopping and where they were already consuming content."

Gap launched on TikTok Shop in mid-2024, followed by Old Navy in fall 2024. Weaver emphasized the platform's value as a "billion person focus group," where product feedback in comments provides valuable insights for product teams.

What brands should know: Both executives stressed that TikTok Shop shouldn't mirror other sales channels. "Have a point of view on what story you want to tell with your merchandising through the TikTok shop," Call said. "It shouldn't be a replica of your direct to consumer channel."

Authentic storytellers

When it comes to which creators perform best in commerce contexts, both brands emphasized authenticity over polish.

"The people who are very raw and unfiltered and maybe not too over polished" generate the most trust, Weaver said, citing research into how people form relationships online. "The creators who are talking about their high highs and their low lows, and then in the middle of that, they're punctuating their content with, 'By the way, the kids are screaming, I screwed up breakfast, I have to go to drop off. But oh my God, this Gap sweat set is incredible.'"

Call echoed this perspective: "Content that integrates product in a way that feels really natural and authentic to this creator's life" performs best. "Moving from more transactional content to relational content seems to be an area where we're seeing a lot of success."

Listen to the full episode.

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