How Walmart’s OpenAI Deal Could Redefine Retail Influence

This week: Walmart’s shopping with ChatGPT, MrBeast is side-eyeing AI, and TikTok’s paying up to keep creators happy.

📲 The Feed Update

This week’s top creator economy news, plus why you should care.

• Later POV: The creator economy doesn’t stop at TikTok. Platform shifts may come and go, but strong brand–creator partnerships are built to last.
• CNN taps creators to reach younger news audiences. Legacy media want Gen Z creators as their new correspondents, thanks to their built-in audiences of trusted followers.
• MrBeast warns AI could threaten creators’ livelihoods. Even the biggest names are nervous about automation. What could AI-generated videos mean for human creators?
• TikTok expands Creator Subscription payouts to the U.S. and Canada. More ways for creators to monetize = stronger ecosystems for brands.

🔥 Trending: Walmart’s OpenAI partnership puts ChatGPT in your cart

Walmart just teamed up with OpenAI to make shopping as easy as chatting. Customers will soon be able to use ChatGPT to search for products, compare prices, and even place orders directly through conversational prompts.

TL;DR: Walmart wants to make “add to cart” as natural as asking a question.

Why It Matters: This move goes beyond convenience, closing the gap between inspiration and transaction. For brands, it signals a new kind of search behavior where product discovery happens through AI, not platforms or ads. Marketers will need to optimize for prompts instead of keywords and think about how creators can fit into this evolving “AI-to-checkout” journey.

📊 By the Numbers

Key stats shaping the creator economy this week: 

4 in 5 shoppers say their spending power will match or fall short of last year, and 1 in 4 are still paying off holiday debt.

• Why It Matters: With consumers feeling stretched, authenticity and value will matter more than urgency and offers. This holiday season, campaigns rooted in trust and relevance will outperform those built around discounts alone.

52% of social teams spend nothing on AI tools each month, and only 8% spend more than $50.

• Why It Matters: Everyone’s talking about AI, but most social teams aren’t investing in it yet. That’s a competitive edge for early adopters who are going beyond free versions of AI tools to add more robust paid versions to their AI infrastructure.

Only 40% of CMOs say marketing’s value is understood by company leadership, down from 54% in 2023.

• Why It Matters: To earn a stronger seat at the table, marketers need to connect creativity to measurable business impact, not just engagement. Read our Top 10 list to see who’s redefining the narrative.

The creator economy is projected to grow to $600 billion by 2030.

• Why It Matters: Creator commerce has gone fully mainstream, reshaping how people shop and discover products. As creator-led marketing continues to outpace traditional ads, brands that invest now will be the ones shaping what that $600B future looks like.

63.2% of brands prefer sustained creator partnerships over one-off deals.

• Why It Matters: Long-term collaborations drive better storytelling and ROI. Here’s how brands can build smarter partnerships.

✨ Inside Later

The latest wins, launches, and stories making waves.

• Top 10 Marketing Leaders Driving the Creator Economy. Celebrating the execs shaping what’s next.
• Just launched: Future Trends, now integrated into Smart Scheduling. Predict engagement, spot patterns, and plan your next viral moment, right from the Later Calendar.
• Case Study: El Pollo Loco. How Later helped the brand drive growth by scaling creator collaborations across Reels, TikTok, and Shorts.
• Swipe Up: The Creator Commerce Summit. On November 3, creators will learn how to scale smarter, pitch and position like a pro, diversify content, and build a loyal community that lasts during this live, invite-only event powered by Mavely.

🎬 And that’s a wrap!

That’s it for this week’s Close Friends. Consider yourself officially in the know.  

The creator economy moves fast. The insights in this newsletter are designed to help you not just keep up, but get ahead. Ready to put them to work? Chat with our team today.

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