These Small Creators Are Outselling Big Influencers

Forbes

4 days ago

The creator economy has evolved far beyond t-shirts with catchphrases and quick-hit merch drops. As more than 1 million creator stores have launched, a new kind of entrepreneurship is emerging, powered by loyalty.
"We've had creators come in and create 1.5 million stores," says Aaron Day, CEO of Amaze. 'A lot of them are thinking beyond a one-hit merch drop, they're starting to build a brand.'
And that brand-building looks very different from what most legacy retail executives are used to.
Perhaps the most striking example of this new wave of microbrand success is a creator called Howie the Crab. With just 15,000 subscribers on YouTube, she turned storytelling, engagement and fan inclusion into $280,000 worth of product sales.
"She basically created content about the life and challenges of this crab," Day explains. 'It was really fun to watch. You'd think it would be for kids, but her fan base was very adult. She had about 15,000 followers, and the community was very engaged. She weaved them into the story. As she created products, it was very methodical. Those products became part of the community. She sold to 60% of her audience.'
In a world obsessed with follower counts, the crab's success speaks volumes: connection matters more than clout.
Another breakout microbrand is Katie Shober, whose book club-inspired lifestyle brand Beach & Bubbly has turned seasonal campaigns into a lucrative business.
"She's got a group of mainly women, basically like a book club," says Day. 'She doesn't try to monetize the obvious. She doesn't sell books or t-shirts. She sells champagne glasses and things you can use while enjoying the lifestyle she creates. Every time she drops a new seasonal campaign, it's hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars worth of sales.'
This approach is experiential brand-building that aligns with lifestyle, not just content.
For years, creators chased virality: a big video, a quick merch drop, a fleeting moment of monetization. But that model is shifting.
"Creators used to come to us and just say, 'I want to sell something' and put out a random t-shirt," Day says. 'And then they'd get all sad that nothing happened. But now they're asking, 'Can you give us some data on our users?' They're starting to think about audience data. We're seeing the intelligence and maturity of creators improve quite a bit.'
This evolution has made community feedback not just a feature of product launches, but a core pillar.
The time it takes to launch a store has dropped dramatically, thanks in part to AI.
"It might have taken two to three months to get a store live and beautiful. Today it takes five days," says Day. 'We've built in generative AI tools that suggest products based on video content or social data. We're using AI to look at the fan base, look at the fan data, and create lookalike audiences. Then we suggest products to the creator.'
This changes the game for creators with limited resources, giving them a data-backed co-pilot for brand development.
A surprising takeaway from Amaze's data is that smaller creators often outperform larger ones.
"We've got creators with 500 followers and others with 20 million," says Day. 'But we're seeing huge success with those that have 10 to 20,000 followers and a really engaged community. A lot of the micro-creators are small brands—yoga instructors, health enthusiasts, small restaurants. They emphasize community.'
These microbrands may never run Super Bowl ads, but they don't need to. Their fans show up, buy in, and stick around.
Industry data backs this trend. According to a 2024 report by Influencer Marketing Hub, micro-influencers (those with under 50,000 followers) now drive the highest engagement rates across every major platform—including an average 3.86% engagement on Instagram, far above macro and mega influencers
Selling to your audience used to carry a stigma, a fear of looking inauthentic or overly commercial. But that's changing, fast.
"If you want to be successful, you have to promote," Day states plainly. 'This idea that 'I want to monetize, but I don't want to promote' just doesn't work.'
Platforms like TikTok Shop are normalizing long-form selling, and creators are embracing a more confident approach to commerce.
'Before, promoting a product wasn't really authentic. But now you can find a happy medium. Just that extra little bit of promotion can drive conversion.'
The rise of creator-led microbrands is a wake-up call for traditional retailers and DTC brands.
"If you think about it, a lot of brands don't even know who their customer is," says Day. 'Creators do. They're having two-way conversations every day.'
In that way, creators are teaching legacy brands something profound: sell with, not to, your community.
Looking ahead, Day sees an even larger shift coming: brand x creator partnerships at scale. "I think you're going to see brands at scale connecting with creators at scale in a tech-driven way, not agency-driven," he says. 'You're going to see these really nice partnerships between creators and brands come together and dominate in certain communities.'
The takeaway? The future of retail might look like a million tiny storefronts, each powered by a loyal community, a distinct voice and a creator who understands that loyalty is the new scale.
This article is based on an interview with Aaron Day from my podcast, The Business of Creators.