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When it comes to affiliate sales, Sephora is going straight to the source.
Last month, the beauty retailer launched My Sephora Storefront, an affiliate program where creators can display their favorite products on the Sephora website, generate shareable, shoppable links for social media, and earn sales commissions.
It’s the latest sign of growth for the creator commerce and affiliate space, which is set to be worth $16 billion by 2028 and is currently dominated by third-party affiliate platforms like LTK, ShopMy, and TikTok Shop, as well as retailers like Amazon with Amazon Storefront. Last month, Condé Nast announced it was developing a creator storefront of its own called Vette, which is set to be released next year.
As creators’ influence continues to grow, Brent Mitchell, VP of social media and influencer marketing at Sephora, told us he sees the retailer’s opportunities to offer monetization options to creators is also expanding. Already, he said, Sephora has 1,000 live creator storefronts, exceeding the company’s initial projections for the remainder of the year.
“We really see ourselves as being additive to this ecosystem,” he said.
Cut to the chase
Mitchell said the timing of the Storefronts release is to align with its annual Sephora Savings event later this month, which he called “UGC-palooza,” and to prepare for the holiday season, which is ripe for gifting and shopping based on creator recommendations.
Sephora began marketing its Storefronts two weeks ago at an event in LA, where Mitchell said more than 200 creators signed up on the spot. Right now, Sephora is restricting applications to creators with more than 3,000 followers on either Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, which Mitchell said are the brand’s platforms of interest; it’s also looking for creators who can “represent Sephora well” while driving sales conversions.
“They’re not brand ambassadors the way our Sephora Squad program is,” he said. “But they do get to have the Sephora.com URL, which is a pretty major thing.”
The plan, Mitchell said, is to eventually scale the program and open it up to an even broader audience that meets the application criteria. The idea is to engage with creators who have never worked with Sephora before, or who applied but perhaps didn’t make the cut for the Sephora Squad paid partnership program, which has produced a lineup of more than 300 creators and alums who regularly work with the retailer.
“We have so many creators that are already tagging us in their hauls, in their store visits,” he said. “Now we’re giving them the opportunity to get paid for that content.”
Buy here, not there
Sephora is offering a 15% commission on Storefront sales, putting it in line with commissions on ShopMy and LTK, which, per the platforms’ websites, tend to range between 10%–30%. Mitchell said he also hopes to roll out “IRL rewards” and additional incentives for creators as the program scales, as well as bring more third-party brands into the Storefront ecosystem.
“We already have a waiting list of brands that are wanting to get involved in this program,” he said. “That is definitely one of our biggest priorities for 2026.”
Despite the competition in the affiliate space, Mitchell said he thinks there’s enough space for everyone.
“We’re able to bring in new creators that would never have thought about this before,” he said. “And then, on the flip side, for those super-active, micro creators out there that are converting superstars, we’re yet another platform for them to convert on. It’s really additive to both ends of the spectrum.”
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