Is your brand still manually searching for influencers while your competitors are automating profitable partnerships?
According to a 2024 report by Statista, global influencer marketing spend is projected to reach $24 billion by the end of the year, up from just $1.7 billion in 2016. Despite this explosive growth, most eCommerce brands struggle to build meaningful, scalable influencer relationships.
The core issue? Traditional influencer outreach is fragmented, slow, and often fails to deliver measurable returns. Influencers feel lost trying to find brands that align with their voice, and merchants waste time chasing creators with unclear ROI.
Shopify Collabs is changing that. Built to connect influencers and merchants inside the Shopify ecosystem, it simplifies discovery, automates outreach, and tracks performance, all in one streamlined space. It’s a smarter way to grow through collaboration.
If you’re planning to scale your brand and thinking of moving to Shopify, make sure you’re unlocking every built-in advantage, including tools like Collabs that power your growth from day one.
Influencer marketing is no longer just a buzzword, it’s a multi-billion-dollar strategy reshaping modern commerce. According to 2023–2024 data, influencer marketing is driving over $21.1 billion in global revenue, proving its dominance in digital advertising. More than 70% of Gen Z shoppers prefer buying from influencers they trust over brand-owned channels. This trust-based model has transformed influencers into digital storefronts.
But why is this model so powerful?
- Authenticity drives action: Influencers create relatable content that resonates more than traditional ads. Followers view their recommendations as genuine, not scripted.
- Faster conversions: Micro-influencers often outperform large-scale campaigns due to higher engagement and niche targeting.
- Scalability: When done right, influencer marketing provides a repeatable ROI mechanism that grows with your business.
The challenge for many eCommerce merchants lies in scaling these partnerships, finding the right influencers, negotiating deals, handling payouts, and measuring performance. Doing this manually is time-consuming and prone to human error.
For modern DTC brands and online sellers, the takeaway is clear: if you’re not using influencer marketing in 2025, you’re leaving real revenue on the table.
What is Shopify Collabs?
It is a platform built by Shopify to directly connect influencers and merchants within the Shopify ecosystem. Launched in 2022, its core purpose is to help creators and brands work together seamlessly, without relying on third-party outreach or tedious negotiations.
Here’s how it breaks down:
What Shopify Collabs Solves:
- For merchants: Discover creators who are aligned with your niche, automate outreach, send affiliate links, and track performance from one dashboard.
- For influencers: Easily find and apply to brand partnerships, receive product samples, generate affiliate income, and manage earnings transparently.
Who Can Use It:
- Shopify store owners who want to scale brand awareness and drive performance marketing through creator partnerships.
- Social media creators (TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) looking for paid collaborations or affiliate deals with legitimate Shopify brands.
Why It Matters:
Traditionally, merchants had to use manual spreadsheets or disjointed influencer platforms. With Shopify Collabs, everything from discovery to payment is handled natively, allowing both sides to focus on growth, not admin.
This tool aligns with the growing demand for authentic commerce. By removing friction from the influencer-merchant relationship, this helps brands expand reach, generate sales, and build loyalty, at scale.
If you’re planning to scale or move to Shopify, Collabs is one of the most practical tools you can implement from day one.
Key Features of Shopify Collabs for Merchants
Shopify Collabs is designed to simplify influencer marketing for merchants, offering tools that streamline influencer discovery, campaign management, and performance tracking. With a focus on scalability, it enables merchants to efficiently manage collaborations and focus on driving growth. Here are the top features that can transform your influencer marketing strategy:
Curated Influencer Discovery
One of the standout features of Shopify Collabs is its curated influencer discovery tool. Merchants have access to a searchable database of vetted creators, which they can filter by niche, audience size, location, and platform. This feature ensures that you can connect with influencers who align with your brand’s identity, values, and target audience. Rather than sifting through endless profiles, this lets you find creators who are most likely to resonate with your customer base, increasing the chances of successful partnerships.
Affiliate Links + Commission Tracking
With Shopify Collabs, merchants can generate trackable affiliate links directly from the dashboard. These links allow you to monitor every click, sale, and commission in real time. Shopify’s system automatically tracks all affiliate activities, eliminating the need for third-party tools or manual spreadsheets. This seamless integration not only saves time but also provides clear and accurate performance metrics, so you can assess which influencers are delivering the best results.
Gifting and Sample Management
Managing product samples and gifts for influencers can often become disorganized and cumbersome, but Shopify Collabs simplifies this process. Merchants can send product samples to creators directly through the platform, track shipments, and manage approvals, all from within the Shopify environment. This feature ensures a smooth process from gifting to content creation, reducing the risk of missed shipments or miscommunication and fostering strong, efficient collaborations.
Insights Dashboard
The Insights Dashboard provides real-time analytics that allows merchants to monitor the success of their campaigns. You can track affiliate sales, measure campaign performance, and identify top-performing influencers. This data-driven approach enables you to optimize your influencer marketing strategy continuously. Whether you’re measuring click-through rates, conversion rates, or overall ROI, this dashboard serves as your central hub for all performance metrics, making it easy to adjust campaigns on the fly.
Custom Application Forms + Approval Flows
It offers custom application forms that allow influencers to apply directly to your program. This feature helps you maintain a streamlined process by defining the criteria for approval, such as content quality or audience relevance. Once influencers apply, you can review their profiles, approve or decline them based on your criteria, and then move forward with collaboration. This feature helps you stay organized and ensures that your partnerships align with your brand’s goals from the outset.
How Shopify Collabs Works-A Simple Step-by-Step Guide
It removes the chaos of influencer coordination and delivers an organized, data-backed way for merchants to scale partnerships. Instead of manually vetting creators, chasing emails, or tracking sales on spreadsheets, offers a streamlined system tailored for real commerce impact. Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Install Shopify Collabs and Set Up Your Merchant Profile
Start by installing the Shopify Collabs app directly from the Shopify App Store. Once installed, you’ll begin the onboarding process by setting up your brand profile. This includes:
- Adding your store’s logo, bio, and social links
- Selecting your product categories and preferred collaboration model (affiliate, gifting, or both)
- Setting commission rates for influencers (fixed or percentage-based)
- Creating a custom influencer application form that includes your campaign expectations, target audience, and any special requirements
Your brand profile acts as your storefront on the Collabs network, it’s how creators evaluate whether they want to work with you. A polished, well-detailed profile increases your chances of attracting quality influencers.
Step 2: Discover Influencers and Manage Incoming Applications
It includes a built-in discovery dashboard, allowing you to actively search for creators that align with your niche. Filter options include:
- Follower count
- Engagement rate
- Platform focus (e.g., Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.)
- Content category (e.g., fitness, fashion, food)
You can invite influencers directly to your program, or choose to review applications submitted through your public collab page. The process is mutual and opt-in, meaning both parties must agree to the partnership before anything moves forward.
This step saves hours of back-and-forth, replacing cold outreach with warm leads from creators who are genuinely interested in your brand.
Step 3: Enable Promotions Through Affiliate Links and Gifting
Once a creator is accepted, Shopify Collabs automates the process of issuing:
- Trackable affiliate links for the selected products or collections
- Discount codes (if applicable)
- Product gifting logistics, including address collection and fulfillment triggers
As a merchant, you can also share briefs or campaign notes inside the dashboard, including preferred hashtags, posting schedules, or branding assets.
This clarity ensures that creators know how to represent your brand authentically while meeting performance goals.
Step 4: Track Results and Payout Automatically
Collabs automatically tracks all key performance metrics:
- Clicks
- Conversions
- Sales generated per influencer
- Commission earned
All this data is available inside your real-time insights dashboard, eliminating the need for third-party tracking tools. You can quickly spot which creators are driving the most value and scale accordingly.
When sales are completed, commissions are calculated and payouts are managed seamlessly. There’s no manual reconciliation needed, Collabs keeps your campaign clean, efficient, and scalable.
Benefits of Shopify Collabs for Influencers and Merchants
Shopify Collabs is designed to create mutually beneficial, performance-driven relationships between brands and creators. It’s not just a connection tool, it’s a full collaboration engine that saves time and delivers measurable ROI.
Key Benefits Include:
Automated Discovery and Outreach
Brands no longer need to cold-email influencers. Discovery tools match brands with relevant creators instantly, removing manual bottlenecks.Seamless Campaign Tracking
From affiliate links to conversion metrics, every step is tracked inside Shopify. This reduces reliance on third-party analytics tools and spreadsheets.Cost and Time Efficiency
Compared to traditional influencer platforms, Collabs is more affordable and integrates with Shopify natively, cutting down hours of back-and-forth communication.No Complex Contracts
Collabs uses in-app approvals and digital agreement mechanisms. Both parties stay in sync without legal paperwork.Aligned Goals for Stronger Campaigns
Since creators apply to relevant brands, campaigns are driven by authentic interest, not forced deals. This results in higher engagement and trust from followers.
With this, influencer and merchant relationships become streamlined, transparent, and performance-focused, leading to long-term brand advocacy and revenue growth.
Shopify Collabs vs. Traditional Influencer Marketing Platforms
This table helps Shopify merchants and new creators instantly recognize the practical advantage of using it over legacy platforms.
Pro Tips to Succeed with Shopify Collabs
To maximize your success, approach influencer partnerships strategically from day one.
Set Realistic Commission Rates
Offer a fair percentage that reflects your product’s price and profit margin. Competitive commissions motivate creators to promote actively.Prioritize Relevance Over Reach
Instead of chasing high-follower accounts, choose influencers whose audience aligns with your brand. Niche creators often drive better engagement and conversions.Share Clear Branding Guidelines
Provide visual assets, tone of voice, hashtags, and campaign goals. The more direction you give, the more brand-consistent their content will be.Stay Engaged Post-Collab
Building long-term relationships with high-performing creators can lead to repeat promotions, exclusive launches, and deeper brand loyalty.
With a thoughtful strategy, it can become a scalable extension of your marketing team.
Limitations of Shopify Collabs to Consider
It offers an intuitive and streamlined approach to influencer marketing, there are a few limitations merchants should evaluate before diving in.
Exclusivity to Shopify Ecosystem
Shopify Collabs is only available to active Shopify store owners. If you operate on another eCommerce platform, this tool won’t apply unless you migrate to Shopify.Niche Saturation Can Be a Challenge
In popular verticals like beauty or fitness, you may find it hard to stand out among the many merchants trying to collaborate with the same pool of creators.Lack of Tools for Enterprise-Level Campaigns
While ideal for small to mid-size businesses, larger brands running multi-tiered influencer campaigns may find Shopify Collabs lacking in complex automation or segmentation tools.Creator Availability is Region-Dependent
Some merchants, especially those targeting non-US or hyper-local markets, may experience limited access to relevant influencers within Shopify’s current creator base.
Understanding these limitations ensures you enter Shopify Collabs with a grounded strategy tailored to your specific business goals.
Getting Started with Shopify Collabs in 5 Minutes
Setting up Shopify Collabs is a quick win for Shopify merchants looking to scale influencer partnerships without added tech stress. Here’s how to get started swiftly:
Prerequisites for Store Owners:
- You must be on an active Shopify plan.
- Store should have a defined product catalog and basic branding assets.
Quick Start Checklist:
- Install the Shopify Collabs app from the Shopify App Store
- Set up your merchant profile with branding details
- Define commission structure and gifting preferences
- Enable and customize your collaboration application form
Best Practices for First-Time Launch:
- Start with a small batch of micro-influencers to test your product’s appeal.
- Clearly outline expectations in your outreach messages.
- Track performance weekly and optimize based on top-performing partners.
With this simple setup, merchants can have their first collaboration live in under five minutes, positioning them to tap into the growing creator economy.
Ready to scale your business with Shopify Collabs?
At OyeCommerz, we specialize in helping merchants leverage the power of eCommerce solutions like Shopify to maximize growth and drive sales.
Get started today and let us guide you through seamless integration and influencer marketing strategies that deliver results. Optimize your Shopify experience and unlock your brand’s full potential!
Contact to Migrate your Site to Shopify Now
Conclusion
Influencer marketing is no longer just an option; it’s a necessity for merchants looking to expand their reach and drive sales. With Shopify Collabs, both merchants and influencers can seamlessly connect, collaborate, and grow together. From curated influencer discovery to automated affiliate tracking and real-time performance insights, this streamlines the entire process, saving valuable time and resources.
The ease of use and high ROI it offers make it a game-changer for eCommerce brands. You no longer have to manage multiple tools or juggle time-consuming outreach efforts.Shopify services like Shopify Collabs provide a centralized platform that empowers merchants to focus on what truly matters: growth and profitability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Influencers can sign up, create a profile, connect their social media, browse brand opportunities, apply for collaborations, and earn through affiliate links and commissions.
Yes, Shopify Collabs is Shopify’s official influencer program that connects merchants with creators for affiliate marketing and product collaborations.
Merchants can use Shopify Collabs’ curated discovery tool to filter influencers by niche, audience size, and engagement level directly within the platform.
Use influencer platforms like Shopify Collabs, search social media hashtags, or explore niche communities where your target audience spends time.
There’s no strict follower count required; micro-influencers with engaged communities are welcome. However, having a professional presence and quality content improves your chances.
