MANILA, Philippines – Filipino micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) often face the same challenge: they have a good product but struggle to get it in front of the right customers. For smaller businesses, limited marketing resources can make it harder to reach new audiences, while traditional advertising may not always connect them with the right shoppers.
Shopee’s Affiliate Program is built to close this gap. It connects sellers with the right creators who can demonstrate their products and introduce them to relevant audiences, supporting the path from discovery to purchase within the Shopee platform. Many of these creators are regular people who show how products fit into their daily routines, test them on camera, and share what actually works. For MSMEs, the program offers another way to reach potential customers and discover creators whose audiences match their products. For creators, it offers a genuine way to earn.
The results are promising. Affiliate-driven traffic and sales on Shopee grew by more than 1.5x, reflecting the program’s growing role in how Filipino businesses find and convert new customers. Three homegrown brands – Herah, B Coffee Co., and Hyperbrands – show various ways of what this looks like in practice.
Herah: Product demonstration and creator discovery
Take Herah, a homegrown innerwear label that designs essentials built around comfort and fit for Filipina women. The brand’s challenge was familiar to many businesses: its products were well-made but were hard to explain through product listing alone.
worked andThat changed when an affiliate created a video demonstrating how Herah’s nipple covers could be washed using dishwashing liquid. The simple, practical demonstration showed shoppers exactly how the product worked, and drove an unexpected increase in sales.
What made the difference wasn’t the creator’s follower count. It was the demonstration itself—a real person showing a real use case. Recognizing this, Herah used Shopee’s Affiliate Program to discover niche creators and track their performance, using those insights to identify which types of content drove results. The brand eventually built its own dedicated internal team to manage its creator partnerships.
“Hindi ka mapapahiya when you recommend Herah. When someone recommends us to their friends, family, and followers, they’re putting their own reputation behind the product. We want to make sure we deserve that trust,” said Ryan Uy, CEO of Herah.
Dentalight and Moochie: Testing and optimization
Hyperbrands, the company behind pet-care brands Dentalight and Moochie, also works with affiliates who are often pet owners themselves, sharing firsthand whether a treat actually works or a food brand lives up to its promise. That kind of trust only comes from experience.
The Hyperbrands team used Shopee’s performance data to learn from every piece of creator content, tracking what resonated with shoppers, spotting which formats drove results, and refining its approach based on data rather than assumptions.
Some creator videos have performed better than the team expected, reinforcing the value of experimentation.
“Those moments remind us that there is always more to learn. Even when we think we have found a winning approach, creators bring fresh ideas that encourage us to keep experimenting and exploring,” said Luis Gan, CEO of Hyperbrands.
B Coffee Co.: Category education and purchase consideration
B Coffee Co. tells a different story. The Filipino-owned coffee capsule brand launched in 2020 with a mission to democratize premium coffee: barista-quality coffee at the press of a button, at a fraction of the price. For shoppers unfamiliar with home coffee machines, understanding how they fit into everyday routines can be just as important as knowing their features.
That’s where creators came in. Rather than listing product specifications, affiliates showed what it actually looked like to brew coffee at home, making the product feel accessible rather than unfamiliar.
“A product listing can explain what a coffee machine does. A creator can show why you would want one beside your laptop or on your kitchen counter,” said Miguel Guerrero, CEO of B Coffee.
Because shoppers can buy directly after discovering a product through creator content, the path from inspiration to checkout stays short. “For a growing brand, having inspiration and checkout in the same journey is powerful,” Guerrero added.
B Coffee has also tapped Shopee’s KOLLAB, an event connecting businesses with creators, to build new creator relationships beyond its existing network.
Expanding creator partnerships
While Herah, Hyperbrands, and B Coffee have found different ways to benefit from creator partnerships, other MSMEs may not know where to start. Through KOLLAB, Shopee helps businesses connect directly with creators and explore potential collaborations.
In 2026, Shopee held more than 30 KOLLAB events, connecting over 100 brands with more than 500 creators and affiliates.
The program has also moved beyond the capital. For its Cebu and Davao editions, KOLLAB partnered with local creator networks, helping businesses access a pool of creators with stronger local relevance and community ties.
“Through our Affiliate Program and initiatives like KOLLAB, we’re making it easier for MSMEs to connect with the right creators and turn content into real business results. We’ll keep investing to make these opportunities accessible to more businesses and creators across the country,” said Jack Ng, head of commercial, Shopee Philippines.
