Influencers Are the Retailers of the 2020s

“Influencers are like the new catalogue,” adds Nguyen, who has a devoted Instagram following of 125,000 and counting. “When you have that database of inspiration [on someone’s Instagram or blog], it is so much easier than walking into a store with a whole bunch of stuff on the shelves, and you don’t know how to style it.”

Beyond simply copying her outfit, which isn’t the point, it speaks to a broader shift in consumer behavior: We want to hear from people, not corporations.

All to say, it isn’t editors who should be worried about losing their market share. It’s retailers.

Once you do, though, you may just come to trust their opinion and taste more than a traditional retailer’s—especially when those retailers are increasingly stocking the same brands and the same products, with no discernible point of view.