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How Much Impact Do Influencers Have With Current Shoppers?

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How Much Impact Do Influencers Have With Current Shoppers?

Nov 26, 2024

A Recent Survey Explores Modern Consumer Habits

When you ask your friend’s opinion about whether the shoes work with your outfit, or you grab a burger from the new restaurant that your cousin recommended, you’re part of the universal human experience that we call social influence. Celebrities, of course, can influence us too; just ask the many women who adopted Jennifer Aniston’s “Rachel” hairstyle when everyone was watching Friends in the 90s.

We all know what happened then: Social media came along and threw the doors of influence open to anyone and everyone. Now, social media influencers can show us an ideal picture of any lifestyle we could want, and they put it to work to influence what we buy. 

So, how much influence do our influencers actually wield? Can you draw a line from the sneakerhead YouTuber talking up new sneaker releases to someone picking up the latest colorway of Nike Dunks? We polled 1,000 American consumers across the nation with active social media accounts — here’s what they told us about their relationship with social media influencers.

Key Insights on Influencers

Many of the people we surveyed said that influencers are indeed influential on how they spend:

  • Over 50% (54% to be exact) of respondents agreed that they are at least somewhat influenced by social media influencers when considering new purchases. 

What’s more, some respondents are especially receptive to social media influence when it comes to their buying habits:

  • 10.8% of respondents admitted that social media influencers increase their spending by $100 or more per month.

For many people, this social influence isn’t always a positive:

  • 30.1% of respondents admitted that they have purchased a product that they saw an influencer promoting, then regretted their decision later.

Influencers don’t just affect what we buy for ourselves, either — they also guide many of us when we’re buying gifts for friends and family:

  • 47.3% of respondents are moderately to very influenced by social media influencers when considering gift purchases.

It’s clear that many of us are — to borrow a phrase — “under the influence” of social media personalities when we’re shopping. And of course, some of us might be influenced more than we think or would report on a survey.

How Influenced Are Current Shoppers?

How Influencers Live Up to Their Title

Platform Power

For a lot of brands, social platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube are the number one way to talk to their audience. According to data from Statista, one-third of all shoppers — and a hefty 60% of Gen Z shoppers — discovered a new product or brand on social media. So it makes sense that, when brands want to get their message out, they come to some of the savviest and most active users of these platforms: social media influencers. 

Authenticity and Trust

When social media is overflowing with brands and advertising, influencers can help shoppers sort out what actually suits their tastes and needs. With WNBA fandom on the rise, for example, women who have played at the top levels of the game are talking to their audience of athletes about their favorite women’s basketball shoes. Influencers model every lifestyle and passion you could imagine, and that often comes with the ability to recommend products to an audience. 


Influencers’ opinions can have real weight with consumers. In our survey, 65.7% of respondents said that social media influencers have at least as much sway over their spending decisions as traditional ad formats like TV and magazines, and 30.6% said social media influenced their spending more than these traditional formats. 


Changing Opinions of Celebrity Influence

There’s some evidence that a backlash against influencer culture might be growing. 40% of our survey respondents said that they believe social media influencers have too much power over consumer behavior. And a whopping 80.6% said that social media influencers create more impulsive shopping habits in consumers. (As we’ll see in a minute, they might be speaking from experience.)

The Costs and Benefits

Purchase Decisions

Our survey suggests that influencers can significantly affect people’s spending choices. As we noted before, half of the survey respondents said that influencers have at least some pull on their purchases, and that influence looks to be at least as strong in most cases as what you’d expect from traditional ad channels like cable and network TV.


Influencers are especially powerful when it comes to promoting certain categories of goods. Fashion is a social game, so it’s not surprising that clothing and shoes top that list, with over 45% of respondents answering that apparel items are among the ones they’re most likely to purchase after seeing an influencer with them. Beauty and skincare, tech and gadgets, and home goods rounded out the list of influencer-friendly categories. 

Impulse and Regret

For many people, influencers just offer a fun way to get outfit inspiration and find clothes they like. Almost 70% said they’ve never purchased something an influencer promoted and regretted it, and 72.3% said an influencer had never convinced them to spend more on a product.


However, influencers can also nudge some customers out of their comfort zones, with 27.7% of respondents reporting that an influencer had helped convince them to spend more than they originally intended on a purchase. 10.8% of respondents also admitted that social media influencers increase their spending by $100 or more per month. 


The people who make these impulse buys aren’t always satisfied with their choices. Again, 30% of respondents admitted to regret over purchasing something they saw in an influencer ad — so it’s also not surprising to see that over 40% feel that influencers wield too much power over consumers’ decisions.

Survey Methodology

We surveyed 1,000 American shoppers that are active on social media and asked questions about how social media influencers affect their shopping habits.

Influencing the Future

When it’s done right, influencer marketing is trustworthy, relevant, and real. It’s an incredible way for brands to speak right to the audiences that matter most, but it’s also a responsibility that has to be taken seriously. Influencer marketing is at its best when influencers truly believe in and love the products that they promote — which is why Hibbett makes sure our influencer partners bring you the best from Nike, adidas, Puma, and all of the most relevant athletic and fashion brands.

Hibbett collaborates with some of the most inspiring fashion and culture influencers. 

Want to follow along? Check out these influencers on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/mia_sweitz/ 

https://www.instagram.com/officiallydaitime 

https://www.instagram.com/thedrewbaker/ 

Think your vibe is right for Hibbett? Reach out to contact us.

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