Cosmetic Solutions

Case Study

Cosmetic Solutions, a private-label skincare and haircare manufacturer, partnered with Hawke Media to accelerate growth on TikTok Shop through affiliate and influencer marketing. With dozens of hero SKUs across brands like DiFeel and Hair Chemist, the objective was to scale sales via creators, optimize TikTok Shop listings, and drive measurable GMV through affiliate-led strategies.

Summary

Cosmetic Solutions engaged Hawke Media to establish and scale their TikTok Shop presence with an affiliate-first strategy. The goal: increase Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), optimize product listings for discoverability, and build a repeatable system for influencer-driven sales.

By creating a structured affiliate roadmap, coordinating consistent product sampling, and layering Spark Ads to amplify high-performing content, the program successfully transformed TikTok Shop into a key revenue channel for Cosmetic Solutions.

Challenge

Cosmetic Solutions faced multiple challenges breaking into TikTok Shop:

Crowded beauty & haircare category with aggressive competition.
Listing compliance and quality — repeated product claim/imagery violations created delays and forced relisting.
Operational bottlenecks — inconsistent SKU IDs disrupted tracking and commission attribution.
Scaling affiliates — needed to go beyond open-plan invites to attract quality creators who could reliably convert.

The challenge was not just to generate content, but to build a sustainable affiliate ecosystem that could drive consistent sales and support long-term TikTok Shop success.

Approach

Hawke Media designed a multi-phase TikTok Shop Affiliate strategy built to scale sales and strengthen Cosmetic Solutions’ presence on the platform:

Affiliate Recruitment & Sampling: We activated over 500 affiliates through our Influencer CRM tool, TikTok’s open-plan, and specific and manual outreach—consistently distributing 50–100 product samples per wave, and scaling to 500+ as traction grew.
Hero Product Focus: We prioritized best-selling SKUs like the DiFeel Biotin Regimen, Peppermint Hair Oil, and Anti-Aging Upper Eyelid Cream—aligning with TikTok-native trends such as “wash day” routines to maximize relevance.
Always-On Content System: Affiliates were empowered to create authentic, short-form videos optimized for virality. Every post was supported with Spark Codes, enabling amplification of organic wins through paid media.
Paid Media Integration: We launched GMV campaigns,, with Spark Ads scaled strategically based on ROI—driving more visibility to the highest-performing content.
Continuous Optimization: By reviewing creator performance weekly, spotlighting top content formats, and redistributing winning strategies across new affiliates, we built a repeatable engine for sustainable TikTok Shop growth.

Solutions

Our strategy unfolded across five tactical phases:

Listing & Compliance Optimization – We eliminated claim violations, refreshed product descriptions, and improved Shop Performance Score — ensuring consistent ad delivery and higher conversion rates.
Affiliate Program Launch – We stood up Cosmetic Solutions’ TikTok Shop presence from the ground up: registering the storefront, integrating with Hawke’s agency account, building outreach templates, and setting competitive commission rates (15–20%).
Content Activation at Scale – Weekly product sampling fueled a steady stream of creator content. Every affiliate video was secured with a Spark Code, giving us the ability to amplify organic wins with paid media.
Affiliate Network Expansion – By June, we had scaled to 600+ active affiliates producing nearly 400 videos in a single month, creating a powerful content-to-commerce engine.
Creative Optimization – We doubled down on what worked: prioritizing top-performing creators and formats like green-screen explainers and ingredient education, while shifting spend to maximize ROI.