Alexa von Tobel argues a single creator can now be more powerful than a department store, a shift she says is remaking e-commerce as the creator economy reaches $500bn globally.
Thomas Berolzheimer says the 2018 Gal Meets Glam Collection launch sold a lot but returned little money because it was a licensing deal, and the influencer-brand era has since fizzled.
The Berolzheimers run a blog, Instagram, Substack and ShopMy, where they have the most total links of any creator and can link directly to smaller labels such as Dôen.
Gal Meets Glam Bets on Curation Over Its Own Brand
Gal Meets Glam started as a college style blog in 2011 and became a test of how far a creator business can go. The Berolzheimers built revenue on affiliate links and sponsored posts, then learned from an own-brand licensing deal that selling product is harder than recommending it. Their answer is to stay a curation service, spread across a blog where readers are already convinced and a Substack that builds intimacy. Tools like ShopMy let them link directly to the small labels they actually wear.
Takeaways
One creator can outgrow a department store. Alexa von Tobel frames the episode with the argument that a single person can now be more powerful than a department store, and she puts the creator economy at $500bn globally.
The blog is where shopping happens. Thomas Berolzheimer says readers arrive at the blog already convinced, making it their highest-engagement shopping platform. Instagram delivered their fastest growth, and Substack, started about a year ago, is a private community they chose over TikTok for longer form.
ShopMy lets them link the small brands. They first dismissed ShopMy as another affiliate network, then its brand-first approach brought labels like Dôen onto affiliate programmes so creators can link directly. They now hold the most total links of any creator on the platform.
Curation means turning down almost everything. Julia Berolzheimer declines 99% of the free product she is offered because she wants to buy and test things herself. She checks new arrivals each morning on ShopMy, Net-a-Porter, Nordstrom and Tuckernuck, and approves everything published under the brand.
AI assists the work, not the voice. Julia writes her own posts and uses AI as an editor, saying a bot in her voice fails because it only pulls from the past. Thomas asks AI to be a devil's advocate and mines affiliate sales and Q&A comments to spot trends.
Followers will trade breadth for depth. Thomas Berolzheimer predicts people will follow around ten people instead of a hundred, with deeper relationships to each. Julia argues real connection is what AI cannot replicate, which is why they keep investing in personal Substack posts.
How Gal Meets Glam grew
Julia Berolzheimer starts Gal Meets Glam in 2011 as a college student, after finding Lookbook.nu, a site where people uploaded outfit photos, at a time before Instagram existed.
Revenue begins with affiliate links and sponsored posts.
In 2018 they launch Gal Meets Glam Collection as a licensing deal. It sells a lot but returns little money to them, and the influencer-brand era fades in favour of putting creators behind other brands.
Instagram makes them the fastest-growing influencer in fashion in one year.
Substack launches about a year ago, with Thomas writing half the posts in his own voice.
They introduce Coreli, which turns an Instagram account into a web page in five minutes.
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