Ecommerce is an integral part of any modern business and has enabled even the smallest of enterprises to earn tremendous profits. Many social media platforms have developed their own online shopping solutions, such as Facebook Marketplace and Instagram Shopping. Now TikTok has spotted a crucial gap in the market, creating their own e-commerce platform called TikTok Shopping. As this new era of buying and selling commences, Netinfluencer dives into the latest developments in TikTok Shopping.

What is TikTok Shopping?

After months of eager anticipation and trial periods, TikTok Shopping launched in the UK and US in August 2021. The platform came to be after TikTok announced its partnership with Shopify, a multinational ecommerce platform. Essentially, TikTok Shopping is the platform’s own shopping space, allowing a wide variety of influencers to sell and promote a range of products. Moreover, recent app developments have allowed influencers to include a shopping section within their TikTok profile. This feature is symbolized by a shopping bag icon just above their video content. TikTok Shopping is a monumental step for TikTok as it further exemplifies the impact that influencer marketing can have on a range of businesses and industries.

[Unsplash]

How do you use TikTok Shopping?

Currently, the TikTok Shopping platform is only available to Shopify merchants who have their own TikTok for Business account. This is a specific account that allows influencers on TikTok to create their own advertising campaigns. As such, brands are able to set up intuitive marketing campaigns using TikTok’s simple and adaptable interface. TikTok for Business also allows business owners to create video ads, connect with customers, and boost overall sales. In turn, TikTok Shopping effectively blends the unstoppable influence of TikTok’s marketing features with the ease and convenience of Shopify’s e-commerce platform.

If you are looking to purchase a specific product through TikTok Shopping, you will be instantly directed to the brand’s Shopify page. Here you will see their full portfolio of products and services. Once you have chosen your selected product, you can purchase it using a range of safe and secure payment methods. 

[Unsplash]

How successful is TikTok Shopping?

Although it could be argued that TikTok Shopping merely mirrors the features of other social shopping platforms, it has still seen an incredible amount of success. A collection of data from 2020, shows that TikTok for Business is a profitable solution, even during the pandemic. In fact, ‘67% of TikTok users agree that the platform inspired them to shop even when they weren’t looking to do so.’ Therefore, this suggests that TikTok Shopping can hold the attention of its large audience using just the selection of simple tools within the app’s interface.

Furthermore, the source describes that ‘Of TikTok’s millions of users, 1 in 4 can’t be found on any other platforms.’ This statistic shows us that TikTok holds a considerable share of the ecommerce market as well as dominance over other social media platforms. Thus, it seems that TikTok has risen above all of the competition once again.

[Pexels]

Popular Brands on TikTok Shopping

Nowadays, brands love to use social media marketing strategies to promote their wide range of products to an expansive audience and for fewer costs. TikTok has allowed brands from all around the world to tap into new markets and acquire new customers in a quick and easy fashion. Not to mention, the TikTok Shopping platform allows customers to purchase products instantly, meaning that products are no longer waiting on wish lists or in their carts. Described below are just a few examples of how TikTok Shopping has benefitted brands around the world.

Justhype

Justhype is a UK-based retailer providing modern streetwear and accessories to its young demographic of customers. The brand quickly gained a lot of success after its initial launch back in 2011. Justhype earned its popularity by using a collection of social media marketing strategies such as digital launches and limited runs of certain items. TikTok Shopping has allowed Justhype to take a similar approach, this time with a much larger and more engaged customer base. When they first launched their TikTok Shopping platform back in April, as part of an exciting trial period, Justhype offered their 43,000 followers 50% off for 7 days. This allowed the streetwear brand to gain a monumental 213.7K likes and nearly 1,000 comments on one post. In turn, this shows that TikTok Shopping is able to create the same amount of hysteria and revenue as other ecommerce platforms.

@justhype

♬ Merrily We Roll – Looney Tunes Cartoons

Kylie Cosmetics

With 2.5 million followers, Kylie Cosmetics was one of the first brands to adopt the TikTok Shopping feature during its trial period. Owned by reality star, Kylie Jenner, this brand provides customers with high-quality makeup and cosmetic products for a premium price. Kylie Cosmetics is a very popular brand within the beauty industry, which is one of the main reasons it has seen so much profitable success with TikTok Shopping. Additionally, the video content that TikTok provides allows the brand to show off the product in a lot more detail, something that cannot be achieved with typical advertising campaigns. With Jenner being a trailblazer in many respects, her jump to TikTok Shopping has inspired many other beauty brands, big and small, to follow in her footsteps. 

@kyliecosmetics

Treat yourself for Valentine’s Day! ♥️ This romantic, limited-edition collection drops 2.3 at 3pm pst 🍒💋

♬ original sound – Kylie Cosmetics

Levi’s

Levi’s has always been an indisputable fashion brand, inspiring a variety of stylish looks for generations. Again, Levi’s jumped on the TikTok Shopping trend during its beta phase and was one of the first companies to use its intuitive ‘Shop Now’ feature. This brings customers directly to the business’ ecommerce platform. Levi’s used this feature in a very tactful way by partnering with various TikTok influencers around the world and implementing the ‘Shop Now’ button into their videos. Therefore, this allowed the brand to move away from typical, and sometimes obscuring, CTAs and engage with their audience more successfully through influencer marketing. Levi’s themselves noticed that ‘the watch time for these videos was twice the platform’s average.

@levis What cities should @liv.isha do next? 🌃💙 #liveinlevis #fashiontiktok ♬ original sound – Levi’s

Walmart

TikTok Shopping also uses a unique livestream feature that enables potential customers to simply tap the products they wish to buy and then they are automatically added to their cart. Walmart saw a considerable amount of success with these livestreams during their ‘Holiday Shop-Along Spectacular.’ The American supermarket chain saw tremendous sales with ease, making it a consistent tradition for nearly two years. The simple nature of this type of online shopping opens up to a new type of ecommerce, one where customers can both shop and purchase products in real-time. 

@walmart If you aren't wearing crocs when you shop, what are you doing? #FYP #Walmart #Funny ♬ original sound – Walmart

L’Oreal

L’Oreal used TikTok’s marketing capaitbitles to their full capacity, creating a trending hashtag, a filter, and their own TikTok Shopping profile. Their campaign, #GoBoldColorista, inspired viewers to use an augmented reality filter to see what they would look like with a new hair color. This allowed customers to essentially test out the product in an interactive and virtual way. The hashtag amassed around 3 billion users, making it a worldwide and viral campaign. L’Oreal is a prolific brand that has dominated the haircare industry for many years and their prevalence on TikTok assures that even the biggest corporations in the world can reap the benefits of this platform.

@lorealparisusa #ASMR perfect wash day routine @Lisette #hairroutine #fypシ #everpurebonding #RufflesOwnYourRidges ♬ original sound – loréal paris

TikTok Shopping has allowed ecommerce to grow in an exponential fashion, opening up the world of online shopping to new audiences. As this concept continues to grow in popularity, we can only imagine what TikTok is going to do next. To discover more about what TikTok can do for your brand, visit our website.