Key Takeaways:
Affiliate marketing and creator commerce have long sat at the tension point between brands, creators, and platforms. For years, platforms like LTK and ShopMy have served as intermediaries, enabling creators to amplify product discovery, drive traffic, and earn commissions, while brands and retailers benefit from increased reach without the need for direct storefront management.
The recent news of Sephora launching My Sephora Storefront and Condé Nast rolling out its creator-led commerce playbook via Vette shows that the paradigm of affiliate marketing is shifting. These announcements signal a reassignment of power in which retailers and publishers are no longer passive hosts to affiliate links; they are attempting to own the checkout.
The move will allow consumers to check out directly from the platform itself, collapsing friction and creating a more continuous commerce loop. “A linear approach is never the Sephora way,” Brent Mitchell, Vice President of Social Media and Influencer Marketing at Sephora, said in a press release. “We knew early on that we needed to create a larger ecosystem of creators and experts to show up for our consumers. While each creator community has its own unique strategy, they work together to address gaps in how beauty lovers discover new products and develop their purchasing habits.”
The playbook is changing, and creators, brands, and platforms alike will need to reorient. The question remains: How will the dynamics of affiliate and storefront marketing evolve? BeautyMatter spoke to industry operators who set the guide for the inflection points to watch.
Shifting the Balance of Power
The most evident outcome of Sephora’s new initiative is its move to reclaim transaction control. As Leslie Ann Hall, founder of Iced Media, told BeautyMatter, even before My Sephora Storefront’s launch, there was “a tumultuous power dynamic where platforms like TikTok fueled the attention economy, benefiting Sephora’s halo effect while also competing with the retailer.”
In the same sense, Sephora’s storefront aims to level the playing field, with Sephora taking back some of its control in the race to own the transaction. “Ultimately, the creator and the consumer will come out on top with better selections, frictionless checkout, more competitive prices, and higher commissions paid out.”
Hall frames the new frontier as a rebalancing of agency. Iced Media is building out its Sephora Storefront capabilities and piloting the program with existing clients, based on three relevant lessons it learned from building its TikTok Shop client strategy:
Hall’s advice echoes a broader trend where, for creators to move away from being traffic drivers toward owning commerce, the backend must be robust and profitable, not just aspirational.
Sephora’s internal stakes are high. The retailer is offering a 15% commission with a 15-day attribution window, a structure that signals how seriously the retailer views creators in its commerce ecosystem. With the checkout fully integrated in the Sephora environment, app, mobile, and desktop, the friction advantage is baked in. In effect, the new mechanics put Sephora in competition with not only Amazon or DTC channels but also with social commerce platforms themselves, such as TikTok.
The Evolving Role of Merchandising Teams
As creators gain the power to curate and personalize storefronts, traditional merchandising teams must adapt quickly. Hall pointed out that with programs like Sephora Storefront and Condé Nast creator commerce, traditional merchandising teams will have more data and real-time testing to rely on when curating traditional app, web, and store shelves. “This will ultimately create a better shopping experience for consumers with frictionless checkout, whether we’re transacting from creator-led storefronts or virtual shelves."
In practice, this means merchandising teams can run experiments more dynamically, test creator-curated bundles, trending shades, and localized assortments. The feedback loop will also become tighter with real-time conversion metrics from creator storefronts being able to inform the next iteration of assortment. Merchandising will become not just “what to sell” but also “how to partner with creators to tell the story around that assortment.”
Over time, retailers can leverage creator storefront trends to refine their in-app or in-store display priorities. In other words, creators become a micro-merchandising arm, not replacing traditional teams but overlapping and amplifying their work.
Not Just Another Platform
For creators currently managing multiple storefronts across platforms like LTK, Amazon, and ShopMy, the key challenge is differentiation. Corinne Travis, Director of Marketing and Creator Growth at Brand Cycle, believes that Sephora’s advantage lies in its DNA. Travis noted that she believes Sephora has always been an industry leader in fostering communities, and hopes this ethos is carried over. “By treating My Sephora Storefront as a natural extension of Sephora’s long-standing role as the beauty industry’s connector, educator, and community builder, Sephora can position the initiative as more than just another storefront or platform.”
Travis added that exclusive access to information and earning opportunities, plus ease of use for both the shopper and creator side, will be “critical” to making the platform indispensable. She explained that creators will need to choose where to invest their time carefully. “If you’re an Instagram creator whose community values affordable finds, prioritize Target, Walmart, or Amazon storefronts. If you’re a YouTube creator who regularly shares Sephora, try the Sephora storefront. Lifestyle creators that value niche brands might prefer BrandCycle or ShopMy.”
A New Benchmark for Commission and Transparency
Jenna Lee Scott, founder of JLS PR, who specializes in affiliate marketing, feels that Sephora’s 15% commission rate and 15-day cookie window will set a new industry standard that will ripple through the creator economy. “The Sephora Storefront shows how much affiliate marketing is still undervalued as a marketing channel for brands. Sephora’s initiative shows how much they value creators and the traffic they drive.”
Scott confirmed that she will quote the Sephora commission structure to clients, aiming to encourage them to raise their rates. She added that transparency will reshape brand-creator relationships. “The transparent data should help creators show actual performance data to brands, which means better partnerships and opportunities beyond just major retailers. It could be a game changer.”
The Creator as the New Shelf
For Megan Vasquez, Beauty Expert at Grin Marketing, this shift isn't just about commission—it's about control. “Creators have become the new shelf space. Where brands once fought for endcaps, visibility now lives within a creator’s curated storefront.” She noted that to stay competitive, brands need to treat creator storefronts as a hybrid of e-commerce and media, and “a performance channel powered by authenticity.”
This evolution will redefine how beauty companies think about retail placement. “Ultimately, success won't be about the number of retail doors a brand is in; it’ll be about how many creator storefronts your brand earns a spot in.”
Platforms Push Back
While Sephora and Condé Nast are stepping into the storefront space, established platforms like LTK are doubling down on their strengths. Virginia Feacey, VP of Brand Partnerships at LTK, reminds brands that creators have long operated as retail channels on her platform. Feacey explained that LTK pioneered creator commerce almost 15 years ago, building a model where creators don't just promote brands, but operate as retail channels in their own right.
Feacey believes the affiliate model, which relies on social platform traffic, is no longer effective. “Algorithms make it hard for creators to reach their communities,” she told BeautyMatter. “That’s why LTK invested in a platform where creators can connect with their audiences directly, because people don't want endless consumerism, they want connection and stories.”
Feacey emphasized that storytelling remains the most effective driver of commerce. According to the latest LTK x Northwestern study, 97% of CMOs plan to increase their creator investment next year, from top-of-funnel storytelling to bottom-of-funnel sales, due to seeing the power of creator-led retail firsthand. Feacey reiterated that creators aren’t just an awareness play or a performance channel—“They are the bridge between the two for the consumer.”
Success Beyond Likes
As storefronts become an integral part of the retail mix, success metrics are evolving too. Renee Ogaki, who advises brands on creator commerce, warns against judging creator performance through aesthetic appeal alone. “The creator who excels at producing aspirational content may not be the same creator who drives sales,” she noted, urging brands to move beyond vanity metrics. “Click-through, conversion rates, and consistency matter far more than likes.”
Ogaki believes storefronts won't entirely replace wholesaler or DTC but will become a core pillar of the distribution mix. “Wholesale brings scale, DTC offers control, and creator storefronts unlock discovery and community-driven conversion. The most successful brands will utilize synergies between all three, leveraging the strengths of each rather than relying on any single channel.”
The Future of Beauty Retail
The emergence of creator storefronts from Sephora and Condé Nast represents a larger decentralization of retail power. Creators are no longer just the marketing channel—they are the marketplace. For retailers, this means evolving from being endpoints of purchase to enablers of creator-driven ecosystems.
As Vasquez explained, for traditional retailers, this is a wake-up call. “Sephora’s move proves even stabilized players are rethinking their role, not just as destinations but as platforms that empower creators to own their customer experience.”
For DTC brands, this marks a shift from performance marketing to partnership marketing. “Instead of competing for paid clicks, brands will compete for placement in high-trust creator ecosystems. The ROI will come from conversion rooted in community, not cost per click.”
Vasquez continues to state that on an industry-wide level, this evolution blurs the line between media, retail, and influencer. “It’s not just about shelf space anymore, it's about cultural cachet. The most successful brands will be those that recognize creators as full-fledged retail partners, not just amplifiers.”
Sephora’s bet and Condé Nast’s parallel experiment suggest that the future of beauty retail won't be owned by retailers or platforms alone. It will belong to the creators who can transform commerce into culture, and community into conversion.
