Social Commerce App Development

The brands winning on social own the purchase moment inside the content

Consumers find products through short video, live streams, and creator posts, but most brands still redirect customers to a separate storefront to complete the purchase. Every redirect is a conversion leak. We build live shopping infrastructure, shoppable content systems, and creator commerce platforms with purpose-built components: real-time product overlays, social platform API integrations, affiliate tracking that survives multi-day conversion windows, and payout systems that scale with your creator network.

  • 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

Recent outcomes

Voice AI · Research

6× deeper insights

Text-based interviews converted to automated phone calls

AI Automation · Ops

20k+ txns day one

Manual invoice OCR across 40+ gas stations

Loyalty · Retail

1,062 users in 4 weeks

SuperValu & Centra loyalty platform with receipt validation

SaaS · Logistics

2,000+ shipments yr 1

Multi-carrier shipping hub for Indonesian eCommerce

4.9
on Clutch
See our work

The problem

Sound familiar?

  • 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?

Short answer

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 to 16 weeks at a fixed cost.

Key takeaways

  • Checkout during a live stream runs asynchronously, so one viewer adding to cart never blocks the stream or checkout for anyone else watching.
  • Affiliate attribution uses first-party click tracking with a configurable window, so a creator still gets credit for a conversion that happens days after the click.
  • Social commerce layers sit on top of an existing Shopify store via Storefront and Admin APIs, keeping Shopify as the source of truth without a stack rebuild.
  • A live shopping feature runs $35,000-$70,000; a full creator affiliate platform with automated payouts runs $40,000-$80,000, and TikTok/Instagram Shopping integration adds $15,000-$35,000.

Trusted by

Vodafone logo
Aldi logo
Nike logo
Microsoft logo
Heineken logo
Cisco logo
Calorgas logo
Energia Rewards logo

Social commerce delivery, by the numbers

digital products shipped
100+
end-to-end implementation
Live commerce
cost delivery
Fixed
week average delivery
12-14

Social platforms drive discovery. Own the purchase moment inside it.

These aren't features you add to an existing e-commerce store with a plugin. Real-time product overlays, affiliate attribution across multi-day conversion windows, and payout systems that scale with a creator network require purpose-built infrastructure.

Capabilities

What we build

  • 01
    Live video shopping

    Viewers tap a featured product for detail and one-click add to cart without leaving the stream, with countdown flash deals and shoppable timestamps preserved in replay.

    Built with
    WebRTC · HLS
  • 02
    Shoppable content feeds

    Product-tagged photos and videos open an overlay for price, variants, and checkout without navigating away, with purchases from creator content attributed to commission automatically.

  • 03
    Creator affiliate and commission platform

    Unique tracking links per creator and product feed a real-time dashboard of clicks, conversions, and commission balance, with automated scheduled or on-demand payouts.

  • 04
    Social proof and UGC commerce

    Customer photo and video reviews link directly to the product purchased, with a "shop the look" feature turning styled customer content into a shoppable gallery.

  • 05
    TikTok and Instagram Shopping integrations

    Catalogue sync keeps product data current across platforms, with near real-time inventory sync preventing overselling and unified order management across all channels.

  • 06
    Audience and conversion analytics

    A unified layer tracks view-to-purchase by content format and creator, with cohort analysis comparing social-acquired customers against organic on LTV and repeat rate.

How we work

From scope to live social commerce platform

  1. Week 1
    01

    Content and creator scoping

    We map your current platform, content volume, and creator network. You leave week 1 with a written scope document and a fixed-price quote.

  2. Weeks 2-4
    02

    Streaming and attribution design

    Live stream architecture and affiliate attribution model designed against your expected concurrent viewer count.

  3. Weeks 5-13
    03

    Build and integrate

    Live shopping, creator platform, and social integrations built in parallel, tested against real traffic scenarios.

  4. Final 2-3 weeks
    04

    Launch and creator onboarding

    Creators onboarded to the affiliate platform before full rollout.

Why us

Why brands choose RaftLabs

  • 01
    Senior engineers build what they scope

    The engineers who assess your traffic and creator model also build the solution. No bait-and-switch, no offshore handoff after the contract is signed.

  • 02
    Fixed price before development starts

    We scope the work, calculate the cost, and lock it in writing before any development starts.

  • 03
    9 years and 100+ products shipped

    Clients include Vodafone, T-Mobile, Aldi, Nike, Cisco, and Lockheed Martin. Track record building real-time, high-concurrency commerce platforms.

  • 04
    Built for peak concurrency, not just demos

    Architecture is sized to your expected concurrent viewer count with headroom for growth.

  • 05
    Sits on top of Shopify, no stack rebuild

    Your existing fulfilment and admin workflows stay exactly as they are.

Have a 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.

Talk about your social commerce project

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Frequently asked questions

Live shopping puts simultaneous load on video, catalogue API, and checkout at once, existing e-commerce infrastructure isn't designed for this. We build on WebRTC or HLS for the stream, WebSocket connections for real-time product switching, and an overlay service between the stream and your commerce backend, with checkout handled asynchronously.

We use first-party click tracking with a configurable attribution window, a cookie and server-side session record, not a third-party pixel. If a customer clicks on day one and converts on day seven, the creator is still credited if the window covers that period. The attribution model (first click, last click, linear) is configured per brand.

Yes. We use the Shopify Storefront API for product data and the Admin API to write orders, so Shopify remains the source of truth. The live shopping stream, feed, and creator platform are separate services connected via API, with your fulfilment process unchanged.

A live video shopping feature typically runs $35,000 to $70,000. A shoppable content feed with creator commission tracking adds $20,000 to $40,000. A full creator affiliate platform with automated payouts typically runs $40,000 to $80,000. TikTok Shop and Instagram Shopping integrations add $15,000 to $35,000.

Work with us

Tell us what you need. We'll tell you what it would take.

We scope Social Commerce App Development in 30 minutes. You walk away with a clear cost, timeline, and approach. No commitment required.

  • Scope and cost agreed before work starts. No surprises. No obligation.
  • Working prototype within 3 weeks of kickoff.
  • Pay by milestone. You see progress before each invoice.
  • 60-day post-launch warranty. Bug fixes, UI tweaks, and deployment support. No retainer.
  • All conversations are NDA-protected.

Go deeper

Browse our case studies

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