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Levanta has published research showing that 74% of surveyed creators sent affiliate traffic to more than one shopping destination in the past 30 days, highlighting limited brand control over where creator-led shopping traffic goes.
The study surveyed 1,000 US-based creators with between 10,000 and 500,000 followers or subscribers on their largest platform. It examined how they choose between Amazon, Walmart, brand-owned websites and other commerce destinations when sharing affiliate links with their audiences.
Only 7.1% of respondents said they send shoppers where a brand asks them to. Instead, trust in the shopping destination and the likelihood that their audience would complete a purchase ranked above payout when creators decided where to direct traffic.
These findings suggest creator commerce is less centrally managed by brands than some marketers may assume. They also indicate that creators make their own judgements about which retail or brand channels are most likely to convert interest into sales.
Preference gap
The report found a gap between creators' stated preferences and their actual affiliate activity. While 45.5% said Amazon would be their preferred destination if they had the choice, only 32.1% said their affiliate links had gone to Amazon in the previous 30 days.
Brand-owned websites accounted for 26.9% of recent affiliate link destinations, followed by other marketplaces or websites at 22.5%. Walmart represented 18.5% of actual link activity, though only 15.9% named it as their preferred destination.
Another 16.3% of creators said they would use Amazon, Walmart and brand-owned websites depending on the situation, while 6.9% said they had no strong preference. The results point to a more fragmented set of shopping paths than a single-platform model suggests.
Decision factors
When the same product was available across Amazon, Walmart and a brand-owned website, 61.8% of creators said they decided based on what paid best or where their audience was most likely to buy. The survey also identified trust, payment reliability, link access, measurement and the buying experience as factors in those decisions.
This ranking is notable because it places audience behaviour and confidence in the destination ahead of a simple focus on commission rates. For brands running separate affiliate and creator efforts, it may also complicate efforts to tell whether traffic has fallen away or simply shifted to another programme or sales channel.
Ian Brodie, Chief Executive Officer of Levanta, said the findings reflected how creators operate across several channels rather than committing to one route. "Creators don't think in channel silos," Brodie said.
He added that brands may need to adjust how they manage creator relationships as traffic spreads more widely across retail and direct-to-consumer destinations. "Our research reinforces what we're seeing every day: creators value flexibility across multiple shopping destinations rather than loyalty to a single channel, which should shift the way brands operate when managing their creator programs," Brodie said.
Brand visibility
The data also underlines a measurement problem for consumer brands that rely on affiliate sales. If creators choose different destinations for the same product, brands may struggle to tell whether a campaign has stalled or whether traffic has been redirected elsewhere.
Levanta argues that this matters because creators are increasingly acting as independent decision-makers in commerce rather than simple distribution partners following brand instructions. The finding that only 7.1% send shoppers where a brand asks them to supports that view.
Brodie said the industry still contains assumptions about where traffic will go that no longer match creator behaviour. "Many brands still operate with the mindset that traffic will flow wherever they direct it, but creators are deciding where shopper traffic goes based on what they believe will perform the best," he said.
He added that factors beyond commission influence those choices. "Commission is not the only lever brands have. Destination trust, link access, measurement, reliable payment, and the buying experience all shape whether a creator feels confident sending their audience to a given path. Understanding how these decisions are made is critical for brands looking to scale creator partnerships and drive growth across channels," Brodie said.