Singapore Shopee sellers can tap YouTubers for marketing in new affiliate scheme
YouTube intends to collaborate with more brands, platforms in the future
[SINGAPORE] Shopee merchants can now work with YouTube content creators to market their products under the new YouTube Shopping Affiliate Programme launched on Thursday (Apr 3).
In both existing and new videos, as well as livestreams, content creators can tag products listed on Shopee. These tags link to the product’s Shopee listing, allowing viewers to shop online while watching the video.
“It is a major shift in the way we see how people shop,” Shopee Singapore director Chua Kel Jin said at the launch. “Now, people want interactive content. People want to hear, people want to see – people want real-time interactions.”
For such videos, their text descriptions on YouTube will include a list of endorsed products – up to 30 per video – with product descriptions and links to the Shopee listings. When products go on sale, the discounted prices will also be reflected in the video descriptions.
For every product sold through such links, creators receive a commission. Commission rates are set by Shopee merchants and vary by product.
Creators are eligible for this affiliate scheme if they are in the existing YouTube Partner Program, and have more than 10,000 subscribers. They cannot be music channels, or have a significant number of videos made for children.
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According to Chua, 80 per cent of buyers now prefer visual content over text. The hope is that through the partnership, creators can help merchants build credibility for their products, he added.
To aid the partnership, Shopee is offering creator incentives. For instance, creators will be invited to boot camps and events that offer training on how to market products.
Separately, creators can apply for the Shopee Affiliate Programme. As affiliates, they will receive product vouchers that can be distributed to viewers and friends, and sponsorships to try products before marketing them.
They can also sign up for upsized Shopee commissions of up to 6.75 per cent.
The affiliate programme reflects trends among content creators too. Said YouTube Asia-Pacific regional director Ajay Vidyasagar: “We’ve seen an 18 per cent increase in the number of video influencers focusing on retail categories in Singapore from 2022 to 2024.”
After observing the fusion of creators and merchants, Vidyasagar wanted to enable the phenomenon and create an ecosystem around it, diversifying creators’ monetisation streams.
“Advertising really forms the backbone of what creators create,” he said. “And now this very bunch of creators will start actually earning from shopping activities that they are going to drive.”
Over the last four months, YouTube has launched the same affiliate shopping programme in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, in partnership with Shopee as well.
In the last few years, similar programmes have been launched with platforms elsewhere, such as Shopify in the US, Koupang in South Korea, as well as Flipkart and Myntra in India.
YouTube intends to collaborate with other Singapore brands and platforms in the future, though details have yet to be confirmed.
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