Creator-Led Affiliate Becomes A Core Revenue Line

Creator-led affiliate marketing is moving beyond “experimental” into a core revenue stream. More commerce is happening inside the world of social and creator-led affiliate is the incentive layer that helps scale those conversions.

Two recent signals point to a growing and maturing space: TikTok Shop hit $500M+ in US GMV during Black Friday-Cyber Monday week according to Business Insider, and ShopMy recently raised $77.5M in Series B according to The Wall Street Journal. Both signals showcase the growing momentum and infrastructure around creator-led commerce.

As this space becomes more competitive and performance-driven, creator affiliate programs will need tighter integration with broader marketing strategies, from revenue goals and launch planning to paid social amplifications. Successful brands will treat creator affiliate like performance marketing, using tiered commissions, bonuses, and creator segmentation to reward profitable growth.

Beauty Goes Beyond The Surface

Beauty is increasingly becoming an experience that lives in the body and the mind - not just on the skin. NIQ’s State of Beauty 2025 notes that wellness and ritual-based products are expanding the beauty industry’s value opportunity by 64%.

In 2026, consumers will gravitate toward routines that support emotional regulation, mood, and overall health. Brands like Verli, which offers hormonally conscious skincare, reflect this shift towards aligning beauty routines with the body’s natural rhythms. As Mintel notes, “The heightened need for emotional wellness makes 2026 the perfect moment for beauty’s sensory evolution.”

To lean into this evolution, brands can lean into campaigns, partnerships, activations, and content that spotlight ritual, feeling, and function, demonstrating sensory textures, mood effects, and body-mind benefits. Beauty is no longer separate from well-being - it is well-being.

Social Media Insights > Consumer Focus Groups

With the growth of social commerce and ecommerce (accounting for 41% of US Beauty & personal care sales, according to NIQ), product insights will shift towards content performance and community feedback, not traditional focus groups. When teams use content as research, they can rapidly test which problem → solution hook resonates most, which claims drive conversion, which bundles increase AOV, and what consumers question, misunderstand, or want next (from the comments). This requires closer collaboration between social and product teams so that community insights can directly influence claims, packaging, merchandising, and upcoming launches.

OGAKI Takeaway

2026 is about feeling, performing, and connecting. Consumers will expect beauty brands to go deeper, and the social ecosystem will become even more performance-driven and measurable.