Boots Chief Customer Officer: Creators Are the New Beauty Counter | Charlotte Lock

<p>Creators are the new beauty counter. That is how Charlotte Lock, Chief Customer Officer, Boots, describes where customers now discover products and find advice they trust.</p><p>Recorded at YouTube Festival London 2026, just after Charlotte came off the main stage, this conversation with Alex Rezvan, Host of The Retail Podcast, asks what that shift means for a retailer founded in 1849. Charlotte says Boots is piloting YouTube&#39;s Shopping affiliate programme, so a viewer can buy the Boots products a creator is using without leaving the video for a link in bio.</p><p>She also explains how Boots chooses the creators it works with (fit with the brand, not free product), why a brand with a long history has to pick the few things that make it different, and why Boots pairs long-term brand building with being easy to shop, on a phone or in store.</p><p>Chapters</p><p>0:00 Creators are the new beauty counter</p><p>2:18 Shopping straight from creator videos</p><p>3:06 How Boots chooses its creators</p><p>3:42 Purpose, Macmillan, and what to say</p><p>5:48 Brand building meets easy shopping</p><p>Part of our three-part series from YouTube Festival London 2026, with Sophie Neary, Managing Director, Retail &amp; Consumer Goods, Google, and creator Jade Beason.</p><p>Retail intelligence, every week: theretailpodcast.com/newsletter</p><p>#RetailMarketing #CreatorMarketing #YouTubeShopping</p>