Social Shopping Is Eating E-Commerce: How Brands Can Keep Control

The Shift From E-Commerce to Social Commerce

Half of online shopping journeys today begin with social discovery. People are influenced by routines, product reviews, and lifestyle content—not by browsing product grids. This has fueled the rise of creator-led affiliate platforms where storefronts replace static categories.

The Risks of Outsourcing Social Shopping

Platforms like LTK and ShopMy thrive on this behavior, but they come at a cost to brands:

• Lost traffic: Customers leave your site.

• Lost insights: Sales data sits on their dashboards.

• Lost control: You’re subject to their commission models.

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Sephora’s decision to launch its own storefront ecosystem shows the clear path forward: own the affiliate journey, don’t outsource it.

The Benefits of Owning Your Social Shopping Experience

When brands embed storefronts directly into their own stores, they:

• Keep customer journeys in-house.

• Gain visibility into creator performance.

• Build stronger partnerships with influencers.

• Control margins while scaling creator revenue.

How Socialscale Enables Control

Socialscale gives you the same infrastructure that LTK or ShopMy provide—without losing ownership. From commission automation to creator onboarding, product sync, and analytics, the platform handles the heavy lifting.

Conclusion

Social shopping is here to stay. The question is whether brands will let third-party platforms profit from it—or bring it home.

Key takeaway: The future of e-commerce is social—brands that own their affiliate ecosystem will own the customer.