The social commerce agency for brands selling on TikTok Shop.
A social commerce agency runs the selling side of social apps: the in-app shop, creator and affiliate programmes, paid ads and live shopping. MediaLabs is a social commerce agency that works on TikTok Shop only, where creators sell inside the app. We run the shop, a managed roster of 3,000+ vetted creators, GMV Max ads and LIVE.
Updated October 21, 2026 · By the MediaLabs team
What is social commerce?
Social commerce is selling inside a social platform. A shopper finds a product in a short video, a livestream or a creator's post, opens the product page and checks out without leaving the app. On TikTok Shop, much of that selling is done by creators who earn an affiliate commission on each sale.
TikTok Shop is a large part of it. Emarketer forecasts that TikTok Shop will make up nearly a quarter of all US social commerce sales by 2027, and that half of US social shoppers will buy on TikTok in 2026 (Retail Dive, December 18, 2025).
Other social platforms have shopping features too. MediaLabs works on TikTok Shop only, so the rest of this page is about TikTok Shop.
What a social commerce agency does
A social commerce agency covers five jobs. Here is each one, and how we do it on TikTok Shop.
| Work | What it covers | How MediaLabs does it |
|---|---|---|
| Shop operations | Catalog, listings, promotions, fulfilment and compliance in the platform's seller tools. | We operate Seller Center as an official TikTok Shop Partner (TSP): catalog, listing optimization, promotion setup, FBT or 3PL fulfilment and violations. See TikTok Shop management. |
| Creator and affiliate programmes | Recruiting creators, samples, briefs, commission and content tracking. | A managed roster of 3,000+ vetted creators plus the open affiliate programme, as a Creator Agency Partner (CAP) and TikTok Shop Affiliate Partner (TAP). See our TikTok Shop creator agency. |
| Paid social | Ads that put spend behind products and creator videos. | GMV Max campaigns, Spark Ads on authorized creator videos and LIVE promotion, with ad spend passed through at cost. |
| Live shopping | Livestreams where a host sells in real time. | We produce LIVE sessions in-house and partner with creators for affiliate LIVE shows, where LIVE fits the category. |
| Measurement | Revenue, contribution and creator output. | A weekly dashboard (GMV, units, AOV, return rate, ad spend, GMV Max ROAS, creator output) and a monthly executive summary. |
Why we focus on TikTok Shop
TikTok Shop puts the shop, the creators, the ads and live selling in one app, and creators carry most of the sales. MediaLabs Research, in collaboration with Coherence Limited, tracks US best-sellers every week. Six figures from the latest papers:
| Figure | Value | Data window | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue sold through shoppable video | 64.9% | Latest week, data as of 29 Sept 2026; 29 categories | Sales channels |
| Revenue sold through the shop tab | 18.0% | Latest week, data as of 29 Sept 2026; 29 categories | Sales channels |
| Revenue sold through LIVE | 17.1% | Latest week, data as of 29 Sept 2026; 29 categories | Sales channels |
| Revenue credited to affiliate creators | 75.8% | Latest week of 3 Sept – 2 Oct 2026; 2,800 top-selling products | Creator programmes |
| Revenue sold by brands' own accounts | 11.5% | Latest week of 3 Sept – 2 Oct 2026; 2,800 top-selling products | Creator programmes |
| Top-video revenue that came with paid promotion | at least 65.4% | 3 Sept – 2 Oct 2026; 14,200 top-selling videos | Paid vs organic |
The mix changes a lot by category. LIVE and the shop tab matter far more in some categories than others, and in Collectibles affiliates barely feature.
| Category | Video | LIVE | Shop tab | Through affiliates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty & Personal Care | 69.4% | 19.4% | 11.2% | 82.3% |
| Health | 64.3% | 25.1% | 10.6% | 83.6% |
| Household Appliances | 62.8% | 24.6% | 12.6% | 84.3% |
| Womenswear & Underwear | 73.8% | 13.1% | 13.1% | 81.5% |
| Menswear & Underwear | 68.9% | 5.7% | 25.4% | 70.5% |
| Fashion Accessories | 58.2% | 12.2% | 29.6% | 63.7% |
| Collectibles | 5.8% | 48.9% | 45.4% | 7.9% |
Source: MediaLabs Research, in collaboration with Coherence Limited: sales channels paper (window 2 Sept – 1 Oct 2026), creator programmes paper and paid vs organic paper (both 3 Sept – 2 Oct 2026). Figures are estimates from tracked US best-sellers (about 100 products per category) and category data collected from several independent sources. They are observational, cover a single week (channels and affiliates) or 30 days (paid), and are not TikTok's official figures. "Through affiliates" is revenue credited to creators other than the selling shop. Paid shares are lower bounds.
More papers are on the MediaLabs Research hub, and our TikTok Shop statistics page collects the headline numbers in one place.
What the data means for a social commerce programme
- Creators first. Affiliate creators were credited with about 6.6 times the revenue of brands' own accounts. A brand selling only through its own account is competing for the smaller share.
- Build for video. Across 26 categories, a higher affiliate share went with a higher video share of revenue (r = 0.93). Budget for creator video and samples before anything else.
- Decide on LIVE by category. LIVE carried 25.1% of Health revenue but 5.7% of Menswear & Underwear revenue. In Collectibles it was 48.9%.
- Put paid behind proven videos. Organic and paid-led top videos earned similar revenue per 1,000 views ($16.58 vs $15.51), but paid-led videos sold about twice as much per week.
These are associations from a short window, not proof that any channel causes sales. Check your own category's mix before you decide where to invest.
How MediaLabs runs social commerce on TikTok Shop
We run four lanes under one operating team: Seller Center management, GMV Max paid ads, the affiliate programme and a managed roster of 3,000+ vetted creators. We hold all three official TikTok partner designations (TSP, CAP and TAP), have managed $500M+ in TikTok Shop GMV across 150+ brands, and our creators' content has generated 35B+ views. Most brands have first creator content live within 7–14 days of contract signature. The full service is on our TikTok Shop agency page.
| Brand | Category | Published result |
|---|---|---|
| Dr.Dent | Oral care | $3.1M GMV in month 3 |
| Audien Hearing | Hearing devices | 36.1x blended ROAS |
| Terra Health | Wellness supplements | 10.8x blended ROAS |
| Bears With Benefits | Beauty supplements | 6.7x blended ROAS |
| Pure Peak | Health & wellness | 3.39x blended ROAS |
Blended ROAS is total TikTok Shop GMV for the programme divided by the TikTok ad spend managed over the same window. Individual results vary. Details are on our case studies page.
MediaLabs was named 2025 US Service Agency of the Year at the FastMoss Ecosystem Awards, and MediaLabs Europe was a Top 10 TikTok Shop Partner in Germany, Q1 2026.
How to choose a social commerce agency
| Ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Which platforms do you run day to day, and with what partner status? | "Social commerce" covers several platforms. Ask which ones the team operates every week, and check partner status in the platform's own directory, such as TikTok's TikTok Shop Partner marketplace. |
| Do you have creators, or recruit them by outreach? | A managed roster can have content live in 7–14 days; outreach-based programmes typically take 60–90 days to first content. |
| Do you run paid and LIVE yourselves? | At least 65.4% of revenue from US top-selling TikTok Shop videos came with paid promotion. A creator-only agency leaves part of the job to someone else. |
| How do you report results? | GMV is not profit. Ask for contribution after commission, platform fees, refunds and ad spend. |
| Do you mark up creator pay or ad spend? | Reputable agencies pass both through at cost. A "media fee" or "buying fee" is a markup by another name. |
Social commerce agency questions
Related reading
TikTok Shop creator agency
How the managed roster of 3,000+ vetted creators is matched, briefed and tracked.
See the creator agency →TikTok Shop statistics
The headline numbers on TikTok Shop sales, creators and channels.
Read the statistics →Where TikTok Shop sales happen
Video, LIVE and shop-tab shares and affiliate share for every category.
Read the paper →MediaLabs Research
Weekly papers on what sells on TikTok Shop, by category and creative choice.
Browse the research →Case studies
Named TikTok Shop programmes with GMV, ROAS and video counts.
See the results →Selling on TikTok Shop, or about to?
Book a call and we'll review your shop, creator programme and ads, and tell you honestly whether TikTok Shop fits your category.
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