TikTok's transformation from a cringy platform for amateur lip-syncing to a bustling business paradise is a testament to its potential. Behind the polished dance routines lies a goldmine for businesses, that has turned TikTok into an unrivaled social eCommerce hotspot.
Effective eCommerce TikTok strategies let businesses transform fans into converting customers and create a new opportunity for your brand to prosper and reach new generations. So, why should your business be on TikTok? Let’s find out.
Table of Contents
What Is eCommerce TikTok?
ECommerce on TikTok simply means selling your products via the social platform. Businesses can leverage TikTok’s short-form videos, hashtags, and influencer partnerships to promote their products, or they can market and sell directly to users. The simplest way to do this is by creating or switching to a business account on the platform to set up a dedicated TikTok shop with Square or Shopify integrations.
TikTok also makes shopping effortless. You just put your product links directly in your bio or video, and when the user clicks on it, they can instantly make a purchase from the in-app browser. On the other hand, you may also use it as a legitimate marketing channel to drive more traffic to your store and increase sales.
The platform offers several ways to promote your eCommerce platform or brand, with the following formats being the most popular:
- Product promotion: Short-form videos are ideal for showcasing products in engaging and creative ways. You can include mini-guides, testimonials, and behind-the-scenes footage.
- Partnering with influencers: Influencer engagement rates on TikTok reached 17.96% for influencers with less than 15k followers, which is massive compared to the average rate of 3.86% on Instagram for the same category.
- Live shopping events: like product promotion, live event videos enable you to showcase your product. The real-time nature of the videos allows you to engage better, such as replying to comments and hosting Q&A sessions.
- Hashtag challenges: these games encourage users to create original content related to their brand and products.
- Shoppable features: TikTok also features shoppable stickers and bio links to direct users to their online stores directly from their business accounts.
- Brand takeover: Brand Takeovers represent one of the most effective TikTok Ad formats for generating widespread awareness and prompting immediate sales, allowing you to place your message directly in front of your desired audience.
Why Your Business Should Be on TikTok?
TikTok brings a lot of interesting features and opportunities for eCommerce stores. Think about it more like a free spot in a crowded shopping mall where people are always ready to make a purchase. Data says that 44% of TikTokers have discovered products through brand posts and ads, and 35% actually made a purchase on TikTok.
If that is not enough proof, the following benefits may also help.
TikTok is Gen Z’s Favorite Platform
If your eCommerce strategy centers around attracting Gen Z, a presence on TikTok is crucial because they are the majority on the platform. On the other hand, it’s currently also the most popular social media platform, with 1.7 billion active users, where, naturally, other demographics are also represented.
Better Network Performance
People on TikTok are 1.5 times more likely to purchase a product they’ve discovered on the platform when compared to other networks. Users are also 2.4 times more likely to post about their purchase and tag the brand further improving its discoverability. Lastly, they are also twice more likely to engage with the brand after making a purchase either via DMs or comments.
TikTok Leads Social eCommerce
The retail social eCommerce market is a growing industry that’s expected to reach the $80 billion milestone in the States alone in 2025. TikTok has made a massive and unique contribution to this market due to its better engagement rates and seamless shopping experience.
Go Viral
While the chances of going viral are slim, businesses can exploit trending hashtags like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, which has generated a staggering 705.4 million views, and it’s a splendid way to discover and sell new products.
Unlimited Creativity
While there are many eCommerce success stories from TikTok, one stands out for its creativity. Grace Mary Willis decided in 2021 to start selling her slime toy products on the platform, leaving a link to her online store in her bio. Beforehand, she had 2.3 million followers reviewing toys, candy, and other goods.
Ever since, she has collaborated with brand partners and influencers. She also launched her business page in 2022. She set up product catalogs using the TikTok Business Center and set up a storefront with the TikTok Store Manager through her TikTok for Business account.
Rather than opting for stock photos as she might on Amazon, her approach involved captivating prospective shoppers with TikTok video content on her online store.
As she put it, the opportunity of mixing eCommerce and entertainment and using original video content rather than stock photos is a marvelous marketing idea and fits well into the philosophy of the already entertaining platform.
How To Create a Winning TikTok eCommerce Strategy
TikTok is an exceptionally great platform for retail social eCommerce, but it won’t sell instead of you. To leverage its potential, you need to employ a few key strategies.
Produce Engaging Content
Research suggests that 39% of users are influenced by “uplifting” content before making a purchase and 44% prefer entertaining and fun branded content. Focusing on entertaining and authentic target audience-centered content is key for success.
Ensure to use trending music and sounds and keep things real, i.e., authentic and unfiltered content with as few professional tools as possible. People want relatable, real-life scenarios.
Focus on educational videos, behind-the-scenes footage, product tutorials, and comparison videos to cover as much ground as possible while keeping it entertaining and funny.
Embrace Trends
The platform has rapidly changing trends that can be a hassle to keep up with. Still, it’s worth it as it improves the chances of your content going viral.
Always keep an eye on the latest trends and aim to include some of them in your content. These can be viral dances, memes, challenges, and audio clips. Creativity and humor can go a long way in helping you reach more people.
Drive Engagement and Co-Creation With TikTok Features
Embrace the community-building features of TikTok to engage with your viewers directly. This helps you build more trust and a more meaningful connection with your audiences.
Consider using the following features to drive more engagement:
- Q&A: Let viewers ask questions directly during live streaming sessions
- Stitch feature: Stitch another user’s video to yours
- Green screen effect: By superimposing a video or image into your background
- Duet feature: Like stitching, duets also enable your other’s videos, only in a split-screen format
Make Good Use of User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) can greatly influence buying decisions on the platform. Around 42% of users said that watching videos posted by others about a brand does play a role in their purchasing decisions.
User-generated content builds trust and credibility and builds awareness. To help your efforts, consider:
- Create a brand-specific hashtag and make it visible on your packaging and account, so that users can post it on their own accounts.
- Go above and beyond for package design to inspire your buyers to create unboxing videos.
- Run contests, as well as offer discounts and rewards for UCG.
Run Ad Campaigns
TikTok has the potential to reach over a billion adults monthly. With the help of a seasoned eCommerce agency, you can allocate a sufficient ad budget that can align with your business goals. On that note, you may also want to check which ads perform best. According to TikTok, Spark Ads do the most justice both for brands and products.
Work With Influencers
Research influencers that match your brand and cater to your target market. Creating sponsored content for them can be a great source of promotion. To help your research, you can always refer to the TikTok Creator marketplace where you can look for influencers based on country, engagement rate, topics, and follower size.
Conclusion
TikTok has ushered in a new era of online social retail that’s a lot more than just dance moves and lip-syncing. The platform has created a uniquely seamless shopping experience both for users and businesses who opt to market their products or services there.
Again, while TikTok is ideal for selling, it won’t sell your products without any investment. If you feel that you’re not up to the task, you can always opt for the help of a consulting agency to get started.
ECommerce TikTok FAQs
How big is TikTok eCommerce?
Recent data suggests that TikTok Shop will reach $17.5 billion in US gross merchandising value by the end of 2024, which is ten times the amount it reached last year. The growth was particularly respectable since the platform’s goal was to reach an international gross merchandising value of $20 billion.
Is TikTok safe to sell on?
While TikTok Shop has measures to enhance its credibility, it's wise for both merchants and shoppers to be cautious. TikTok lacks end-to-end encryption, meaning that conversations between sellers and buyers may be accessible to the company and potentially to third parties. While this raises privacy concerns, it doesn't compromise the safety of selling your products.
In comparison to other online marketplaces, TikTok Shop is equally, if not more, secure thanks to its stringent guidelines and seller verification procedures.
What are the chances of going viral on TikTok?
Going viral has no exact statistics as the chances are so slim. There’s no bulletproof method that will guarantee online virality, and according to a Stanford University study, chances are almost literally one in a million.
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