Research · 2026 data report
Who promotes Shopify brands: 2026 affiliate recruitment data
We ran a first search on 30 public Shopify brands on 22 October 2026. It showed a median of 92 people per brand. Most had a review, roundup or comparison page as their strongest page. About one in three had an email on record.
An affiliate is someone who promotes your product and earns a cut of each sale they send you. A roundup is a page that ranks or lists several brands, such as "best skincare brands".
By the RecruitAffiliates.ai team · Published 23 October 2026 · Data collected 22 October 2026 · Checked on
Press summary
These facts are safe to quote. Each one states its sample and date.
- A first search on 30 public Shopify brands showed a median of 92 people per brand, from 35 to 188 (22 October 2026). The "median" is the middle value: half the brands got more, half got fewer. Here it is 92.5, shown as 92.
- 64% of the 2,924 people shown had a review, roundup or comparison page as their strongest evidence. Blog-style pages were 20% and podcasts 14%.
- 31% had an email address on record. The addresses were found, not checked.
- Podcasts were 20% of the people shown for supplements brands and 3% for fashion brands.
- In a hand check of 30 random rows, 9 (30%) were not promoters. So about 70% are real prospects (clear and loose fits), with a likely range of 52% to 83%.
Sample: 30 brands picked by hand, 6 in each of five categories. Limits: one search each, one day, a small sample. Cite as: RecruitAffiliates.ai, "Who promotes Shopify brands: 2026 affiliate recruitment data", 23 October 2026, https://recruitaffiliates.ai/research/who-promotes-shopify-brands-2026.
Our rules for data like this are in the editorial policy. Questions or a different cut of the counts: support@recruitaffiliates.ai.
1. A first search showed a median of 92 people per brand
Every brand got a real list. The smallest result was 35 people and the largest was 188. The middle half of brands got between 74 and 112.
Supplements brands got the most (median 126). Fashion brands got the fewest (median 78). Wondering how to use a list this size? See how to find affiliates for a Shopify store.
2. Two in three had a review or roundup page
For 1,877 of the 2,924 people shown (64%), the strongest page was a review, roundup or comparison. Blog-style pages came next at 573 people (20%), then podcasts at 399 (14%).
So the biggest group to approach is people who already review or list brands like yours. A page that ranks several brands is a place a brand can be added.
3. Podcasts depend on the category
Podcasts were 20% of the people shown for supplements brands. For fashion brands they were 3%. Fitness, home and skincare sat between the two.
If you sell supplements, podcast hosts are a large pool. If you sell fashion, they are a small one.
4. About one in three had an email on record
An address was on record for 916 of the 2,924 people shown (31%). By brand it ranged from 11% to 46%. Fashion and skincare brands came out highest.
These addresses were found, not checked. Some are shared addresses such as info@. The scan ran no email checks, so this report says nothing about how many addresses work.
5. TikTok and Instagram were small, and mostly fashion
TikTok gave 49 people across 10 of the 30 brands. Instagram gave 17 across 7 brands. Together that is 66 of 2,924 people (2%).
Fashion brands held 38 of the 49 TikTok people, and 30 of those came from one brand. Read these two counts as a floor, not a full picture.
6. Three in ten rows were not promoters
An AI model read the page title and address of 30 random rows. It judged 19 a clear fit for the brand's category and 2 a loose fit. It judged 9 (30%) not a promoter, with a likely range of 17% to 48% (a 95% Wilson interval, which is wide at 30 rows).
Those 9 included a national broadcaster, a government health site and another brand's own site. So treat the counts as roughly 70% real prospects.
The numbers by category
Each category is six brands. Medians are rounded to whole numbers. Shares are of all people shown in the category.
| Category | People shown, median | Review or roundup page, median | Podcasts, share | Email on record, share | TikTok and Instagram people |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health and supplements | 126 | 62 | 20% | 30% | 1 |
| Beauty and skincare | 100 | 72 | 10% | 35% | 12 |
| Fitness and sports | 94 | 58 | 17% | 27% | 3 |
| Home and garden | 92 | 64 | 14% | 29% | 3 |
| Fashion and apparel | 78 | 47 | 3% | 38% | 47 |
| All 30 brands | 92 | 62 | 14% | 31% | 66 |
The fashion TikTok figure leans on one brand (30 of its 47 TikTok and Instagram people). Per-brand counts are in the CSV. For the full tables and screenshots, see the scan method and counts page.
How we ran the search
- Date: every search ran on 22 October 2026.
- Sample: 30 public Shopify brands picked by hand from our outbound list. Six in each of five categories: fashion and apparel, health and supplements, beauty and skincare, fitness and sports, home and garden. Three UK and three US in each. Estimated sales of $25k to $250k a month, taken from the list and not checked.
- Search: we added each brand to RecruitAffiliates.ai with two rivals and three topics typed by hand. Then we ran the product's normal first search. Its filter scores each person on four parts. It looks at websites, podcasts, TikTok and Instagram.
- Counting: the product found 5,537 candidates and hid 2,613 as a poor fit. We counted the 2,924 it showed.
- Quality check: an AI model read the page title and address of 30 random rows. We opened none of the pages.
Every brand was searched in the same six countries (GB, IE, US, CA, AU, NZ) with our own offer, not the brand's real one. So these are first-search counts, not what a tuned setup would return.
What these numbers can't tell you
- Small, hand-picked sample. Six brands a category is not random. Medians over six brands are rough.
- One search, one day. Counts move with the search sources.
- Country and size move together. The UK brands sit at $25k to $100k a month and the US brands at $100k to $250k. Don't compare the two markets.
- Not all promoters. The counts are the people shown after the product's filter. A brand's full set is larger.
- Emails not checked. Addresses were found, and none were tested for delivery.
- Rough labels. The page type comes from the page and its address. Only 30 rows were read by a model.
- Collabs not tested. The scan finds people on the open web. It doesn't say who is on Shopify Collabs.
Questions people ask
What is this data?
It is the result of one first search on each of 30 public Shopify brands, run on 22 October 2026 in RecruitAffiliates.ai. Each search lists the people and sites that already cover shops like the brand. The CSV holds the counts for each brand, with no brand names.
Can I quote or reuse the numbers?
Yes. Quote them, chart them or reuse the CSV. Please credit RecruitAffiliates.ai, give the date (22 October 2026) and link to this page. The CSV is free to use under CC BY 4.0.
Why only 30 brands?
This is a first study. Six brands in each of five categories is enough to show the shape of the results. It is too small for exact figures, so every category figure is a rough guide. We plan to repeat it with more brands.
Does the count include everyone who could promote a brand?
No. It counts the people the product showed after its own filter. It found 5,537 candidates and hid 2,613 as a poor fit, which left 2,924. A brand's full set of possible affiliates is larger than any one search shows.
Were the email addresses checked?
No. The scan found addresses and stopped. A found address can still bounce, and some are shared addresses such as info@. So this report makes no claim about how many addresses work.
What does review-style page mean?
It means the strongest page the product found for that person is a review, roundup, comparison or alternatives page. It describes the page, not the publisher. About 8 of the review-labelled rows in our hand check were single review posts on someone's blog.
Can I run this on my own store?
Yes. A free trial of RecruitAffiliates.ai runs the same first search on your Shopify store. It lasts 7 days with no card.