Walmart, Nordstrom And Others Look To YouTube Stars To Woo Millennials And Gen Z

Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, is counting on a 6-year-old YouTube star to draw in gaggles of other pint-sized shoppers clamoring for bubble pets, T-shirts and capsules full of lime-green slime. On Monday, the store chain will debut Ryan’s World, a toy and T-shirt line created by the first-grader whose YouTube channel, Ryan ToysReview, gets roughly 950 million views a month. Among kids, “clearly what’s emerged in the last few years is they’re watching an influencer like Ryan on YouTube, and he’s their authority,” says Anne Marie Kehoe, Walmart’s vice president and divisional merchandise manager of toys. That’s “why we thought this was something to really move fast on.” At a time when traditional retailers are struggling to woo shoppers, established brands and chains such as Walmart, Nordstrom and Target are increasingly collaborating with social media stars to create collections, build buzz and get real-time feedback on what shoppers think is – and isn’t – cool. Read more at USA Today.