TikTok Shop generated $100 million in Black Friday sales this year, marking a threefold increase from 2022, as per company data. 

The platform reported a 165% year-over-year rise in shoppers, with related hashtags #tiktokshopblackfriday and #tiktokshopcybermonday accumulating over 4 billion and 3.5 billion views, respectively.

According to EMARKETER, these figures highlight the substantial difference between social commerce adoption in Asia and the United States. Retail social commerce sales in China are projected to reach $899.57 billion this year, while U.S. sales are expected to total $71.62 billion. Douyin, TikTok’s ByteDance-owned sister app in China, reported $500 billion in social commerce sales in 2023, significantly outpacing TikTok’s performance of less than $4 billion.

EMARKETER cites recent data from Aftership, which indicates that while 76% of consumers use social commerce for product discovery, they prefer to complete purchases on retailer websites, suggesting persistent trust barriers in direct social media purchasing.

Small and midsize businesses accounted for one-third of TikTok’s Black Friday sales, indicating growing adoption among independent merchants. However, the platform faces regulatory uncertainty as it approaches the January 19 deadline regarding potential forced sale to a U.S. entity, raising questions about the future of its social commerce initiatives.

The Black Friday performance suggests increasing consumer comfort with in-app shopping features, despite the gap between U.S. and Chinese social commerce adoption rates.