Case Study: Cult Beauty achieves 113% sales growth YoY with Rakuten Marketing

Award-winning Global Programme Management

Cult Beauty, a Sunday Times Fast Track 100 retailer and one of Britain’s fastest‑growing multi‑brand etailers, needed to scale internationally while diversifying its publisher base. As an online‑only business with 40% of turnover from overseas, the company set ambitious targets: 50% year‑on‑year growth in net affiliate sales, traffic and orders and broader global reach.

To achieve this, Cult Beauty consolidated its affiliate programme with Rakuten Advertising and adopted an agile, data‑driven global strategy—using programme and attributed data, weekly heat maps, benchmarking, tiered commissions and region‑specific activations across key markets, plus influencer partnerships (monthly discovery boxes sent to top influencers). The approach more than met goals: 113% sales growth YoY, 240% traffic increase and 157% more orders, earning industry recognition for global excellence.

Cult Beauty

Chikay Lo

Senior Affiliate Marketing Manager