Running live shopping streams on third-party platforms where you have no control over the checkout experience or access to your customers' data?
Tracking creator affiliate commissions in spreadsheets while customers who click shoppable content drop off before reaching your store?
Social Commerce App Development
Custom social commerce apps -- live video shopping, shoppable content feeds, creator affiliate programs, and TikTok and Instagram Shopping integrations built to turn content engagement into purchase revenue.
We've shipped 100+ digital products and understand what separates a live shopping stream with real purchase volume from one that gets views but no conversions. The checkout experience, the product overlay, the creator tools -- every layer matters.
Live video shopping with shoppable product overlays, one-click add to cart, and flash deal countdowns
Shoppable content feeds with product tagging, in-feed purchase flow, and creator commission tracking
Creator affiliate platform with unique tracking links, real-time sales dashboards, and automated payouts
TikTok Shop and Instagram Shopping integrations with unified inventory and order management
RaftLabs builds custom social commerce apps -- live video shopping with shoppable product overlays, shoppable content feeds with creator commission tracking, TikTok Shop and Instagram Shopping integrations, and UGC-driven commerce features. We've shipped 100+ digital products and understand the technical requirements of real-time commerce: WebSocket-based live streams, social platform API integration, affiliate tracking, and automated payout systems. Most social commerce projects deliver in 12--16 weeks at a fixed cost.
100+Digital products shipped
·Live commerceEnd-to-end implementation
·FixedCost delivery
·12-14Week average delivery
Social platforms drive product discovery. The brands winning now own the purchase moment inside that discovery.
Consumers find products through content -- short video, live streams, creator posts -- but most brands still redirect those customers to a separate storefront to complete the purchase. Every redirect is a conversion leak. The brands capturing the most value from social traffic are the ones who close that gap: checkout happens inside the content experience, creator commissions are tracked automatically, and every sale is attributed back to the content and creator that drove it.
We've built live shopping infrastructure, shoppable content systems, and creator commerce platforms. The technical requirements are specific: real-time product overlays on live streams, social platform API integrations that stay current as platforms update their commerce APIs, affiliate tracking that attributes sales to the right creator even when customers take days to convert, and payout systems that scale as your creator network grows. These are not features you add to an existing e-commerce store with a plugin -- they require purpose-built infrastructure.
What we build
Live video shopping
A live shopping stream where the host -- a brand employee or a creator -- broadcasts live while viewers see a shoppable product overlay on the same screen. Viewers tap any featured product to open a product detail panel without leaving the stream. One-click add to cart keeps them watching while the item lands in their basket. Countdown timers on flash deals create urgency without interrupting the viewing experience. Stream replays retain shoppable timestamps so products featured at the 12-minute mark are still tappable in replay. The infrastructure handles concurrent viewers, real-time product switching by the host, and checkout flow without dropping the stream.
Shoppable content feeds
An Instagram-style content feed where photos and videos have product tags embedded by the brand or creator. A viewer taps a tagged product and sees price, variants, and stock status in an overlay panel -- they can add to cart and complete checkout without navigating away from the feed. Creator content is tracked to commission automatically: every purchase that originates from a creator's tagged post is attributed to that creator in real time. The feed renders creator content and brand content in the same experience, with moderation controls so only approved content shows product tags. This keeps the discovery-to-purchase path in a single surface.
Creator affiliate and commission platform
Creators connect their profile and browse the brand's product catalogue to select what they want to promote. Each creator gets unique affiliate tracking links per product, with UTM and first-party click tracking so attribution survives ad blockers and platform privacy changes. A real-time sales dashboard shows each creator their clicks, conversions, revenue generated, and pending commission balance by day and by product. Commissions accrue automatically and are paid out on a schedule the brand controls -- weekly, biweekly, or on-demand above a threshold. Brands set which products are available for creator promotion and at what commission rate, with the ability to run time-limited bonus commission periods.
Social proof and UGC commerce
Customer photo and video reviews attached directly to product pages, with each piece of content linked to the product the customer bought. Social proof counters show real purchase volumes and review counts beside product listings. A "shop the look" feature surfaces shoppable links within customer photos -- a customer posts a styled outfit, and each tagged item links directly to its product page. UGC moderation tools let the brand approve, reject, or flag content before it goes live, with bulk moderation for high-volume categories. Approved customer content feeds into the shoppable content feed alongside creator content, giving the brand a steady supply of authentic product imagery without a production budget.
TikTok and Instagram Shopping integrations
Product catalogue sync to TikTok Shop and Instagram Shopping via their respective Commerce APIs, so product names, images, prices, and descriptions stay current without manual exports. In-app checkout uses the platform's native checkout flow where available, keeping the purchase inside TikTok or Instagram rather than redirecting to an external site. Inventory sync runs in near real time to prevent overselling: a product that sells out on your main store is removed from TikTok Shop and Instagram within minutes. Unified order management pulls TikTok and Instagram orders into the same dashboard as your direct orders, so fulfilment, returns, and customer service work from a single system regardless of which channel the sale came from.
Audience and conversion analytics
A unified analytics layer that tracks the full path from content view to purchase: who watched, who clicked a product, who added to cart, and who converted -- broken down by content format (live stream vs. short video vs. static image), by creator, and by product. Creator performance reports show revenue generated per creator, commission cost as a percentage of revenue, and best-performing products for each creator. Product performance reports show which items convert in live formats versus static formats, so merchandising decisions are grounded in actual purchase data. Cohort analysis compares social-acquired customers against organic search customers on LTV, repeat purchase rate, and average order value, giving the brand a clear read on which acquisition channel produces more valuable customers.
Frequently asked questions
Live video shopping puts simultaneous load on your video infrastructure, your product catalogue API, and your checkout system at the same time. Existing e-commerce infrastructure is not designed for this. We build on purpose-built components: WebRTC or HLS for the stream itself, WebSocket connections for real-time product switching and viewer interactions, and a product overlay service that sits between the stream and your commerce backend. Checkout during a live stream must be asynchronous -- a viewer adding to cart while watching a stream cannot block the stream or the cart for other viewers. We design the architecture for the peak concurrent viewer count you expect at launch, with headroom for growth. Most brands underestimate the engineering requirements of live commerce and end up with third-party platforms. We build the infrastructure you own.
We use a combination of first-party click tracking and a configurable attribution window. When a customer clicks a creator's affiliate link, a first-party cookie and a server-side session record are created -- not a third-party pixel. The attribution window is configurable: if a customer clicks on day one and converts on day seven, the creator still gets credited if the window is set to seven days or more. For customers who click on multiple creators' links before converting, the attribution model -- first click, last click, or linear -- is a business decision we configure for your brand. Commission amounts are locked at the time of order and held pending the return window before releasing to payout, so a return does not result in a commission already paid out to a creator.
Yes. Social commerce features can sit on top of your existing Shopify store rather than replacing it. We use the Shopify Storefront API to pull product data and the Shopify Admin API to write orders, so Shopify remains the source of truth for inventory, orders, and fulfilment. The live shopping stream, shoppable content feed, and creator platform are separate services that connect to Shopify via API. Creator affiliate links route through your own tracking layer before landing on your Shopify product pages. TikTok Shop and Instagram Shopping integrations sync from Shopify as the source catalogue. Your Shopify admin and fulfilment process stay exactly as they are -- the social commerce layer adds channels without disrupting what already works.
A live video shopping feature with shoppable product overlays and stream replay typically runs $35,000--$70,000. A shoppable content feed with creator commission tracking adds $20,000--$40,000. A full creator affiliate platform with automated payouts, a real-time creator dashboard, and brand controls typically runs $40,000--$80,000. TikTok Shop and Instagram Shopping integrations with inventory sync and unified order management add $15,000--$35,000 depending on the complexity of your catalogue. Most brands do not need everything at once -- we scope a phased build that delivers the highest-ROI features first and adds layers as your creator network and content volume grow. Contact us with your platform, your creator count, and which features you need first.
Talk to us about your social commerce project.
Tell us your current platform, your content volume, and what you want the commerce layer to do. We'll scope the right build and give you a fixed cost.
