How The Influencer Effect Turned E-Commerce To Social Commerce (2025)

E-commerce starts with a search. Social commerce begins with a scroll.

That distinction reshapes how people shop and how modern marketers plan.

In e-commerce, a consumer already knows what they want. In social commerce, discovery comes first. A creator sparks interest, a product link follows, and a transaction happens.

This shift from intent-driven to inspiration-led purchasing requires a different approach, and a new class of marketers recognizes that traditional marketing and performance tactics aren’t enough. In response, they’re developing integrated systems that bring together creators, conversion strategies and data.

Here’s how they’re doing it.

The Storefront As Your Commerce Strategy

Motom, co-founded by Wendy Wildfeuer, Matt Diamond and Tim Trevathan, redefines how brands can succeed in social commerce.

Their platform, Anchor, enables brands to build individual creator stores. These storefronts look and feel exactly like the brand’s e-commerce site but are curated and supported by individual creators.

Here’s how it works: You’re scrolling through your feed and come across a video from your favorite creator sharing her morning skincare routine. Her skin looks incredible, and her enthusiasm is genuine. She highlights a few products she’s loving, and you’re intrigued.

Curious, you visit her personalized storefront on the brand’s website. It mirrors the brand’s usual site but features her recommendations. While browsing, you discover three other products from the same brand you hadn’t considered before. Suddenly, your casual stroll turns into a shopping spree

“You want to be where your customers are shopping, but you also need to own the relationship,” says Wildfeuer. “Storefronts are how you do both.”

This model gives brands something they often lose on social platforms: control. Instead of handing off the transaction, brands retain customer data, measure full-funnel performance, and deliver a consistent shopping experience.

Motom collaborates with clients – including Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s and American Eagle.

When a major pet ecommerce retailer bought media on the popular podcast The Toast, featuring Claudia and Jackie Oshry, they collaborated with Motom to create custom storefronts for the hosts. This approach allowed the brand to drive traffic directly to their site, maintain control over customer data, and measure the podcast’s performance in real-time

“Social commerce has already become as influential as e-commerce for many brands, but there’s a key difference: the balance of power,” Wildfeuer explains. “That’s why we created Anchor by Motom. Our white-label social commerce solution flips the script, empowering brands to own their creator relationships, data, and customer experience—all under their banner

Commerce Performance, Not Just Social Posts

The Cirqle, founded by Steven Lammertink, was built around a straightforward premise: measure what matters. “We asked ourselves, how much revenue, sales, or app installs can we drive by partnering with influencers, and which influencers are most successful for our clients?” Lammertink explains. “Impressions can’t pay your team. We focus on the data that drives business outcomes.”

The Cirqle offers a unified dashboard that connects organic influencer posts with paid social campaigns. It gives marketers real-time insights into performance metrics like return on ad spend and cost per acquisition. This integration allows brands to identify high-performing creators and scale their content effectively.

In 2023, Subway partnered with The Cirqle to promote its new Signature Wraps across the United States. The Cirqle activated 42 influencers, each selected based on key performance metrics such as ROAS forecasts, category alignment and audience demographics to ensure hyper-relevant targeting. Utilizing first-party data, The Cirqle identified creators with high engagement rates among Subway’s ideal audience. The campaign reached 25 million consumers and achieved a 4.67% engagement rate, exceeding industry benchmarks.

“We don’t guess,” says Lammertink. “We use verified first-party data across TikTok, Meta, and Shopify to understand the value each creator drives. Then we help brands scale the content that performs.”

Lammertink further emphasizes the importance of transparency in influencer marketing: “We equip brand partners with deep insights into creators’ performance, from impressions to revenue and sales.

The Rise Of The Hybrid Creator In Social Commerce

The distinction between inspiration and intent blurs in the evolving social commerce landscape. Later’s recent $250 million acquisition of Mavely exemplifies this shift, aiming to transform creators from mere content producers into full-funnel growth partners.

Scott Sutton, CEO of Later, envisions a hybrid model where creators drive discovery and measurable sales. This approach treats creators not just as talent but as business partners. By unifying affiliate, paid and influencer efforts into a single system, brands can run more efficient campaigns and retain the data needed to scale. Sutton calls it a “full-funnel” approach: treat creators as growth drivers, measure what matters and reinvest in what works.

Take Audrey Ross, a creator within the Later network. Since joining in February 2024, she’s generated over $2.3 million in gross merchandise value for brands. Notably, her consistent collaboration with Wayfair since April 2024 has resulted in $60,895.94 in GMV year-to-date, with a 34.79% increase in 2025 compared to the previous year.

According to Sutton, Ross represents the emergence of the hybrid creator, who “consistently produces content that resonates with an audience while driving tangible business outcomes for brands.”

“The best creator programs deliver multiple outcomes,” Sutton explains. “It’s not just about reach; it’s about intent, trust, and ultimately, sales.”

From Campaigns To Systems: The New Marketing Mandate

A new generation of marketers is emerging — strategic thinkers who view creator marketing not as isolated campaigns but as integrated systems driving growth. They recognize that social commerce isn’t just a passing trend; it’s a fundamental shift in how consumers discover and engage with products.

These marketers are breaking down silos between organic, paid and affiliate channels – leveraging creators who not only create engaging content but also convert.

They're turning inspiration into measurable outcomes by building systems that integrate creator collaborations, performance tracking, and seamless customer experiences.

The future of commerce is social, and the brands that will thrive are those that embrace this new paradigm where inspiration leads to intent, and intent drives action