As a TikTok agency, we know what truly differentiates TikTok from other social media platforms, and that is its huge potential in the world of e-commerce.
TikTok has created a new shopping culture that is sending brand’s products flying off the shelves.
Social commerce driven trends like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has garnered billions of views and launched a new movement that inspires users to discover and share the products they love.
Whether you’re a start-up business or established brand, it’s time to delve into the world of TikTok Shop.
In this guide, we’ll explore the power of TikTok Shop for brands and how they can harness it to amplify their sales.
TikTok Shop: An Overview
TikTok Shop integrates e-commerce with short video content within TikTok.
It empowers merchants and creators to showcase and sell their products for the community of TikTok to purchase directly through a streamlined in-app shopping experience.
It provides 3 native ways to shop:
- LIVE stream shopping – shop directly from a LIVE by tapping the products pinned to the LIVE or browse the shopping basket icon.
- Shoppable videos which show directly on For You feeds across the UK and more recently in the US.
- Product showcases featured on brands and creators TikTok accounts.
Why TikTok Shop Has Become a Sensation
Affiliate Collaboration and TikTok Shop Seller Center
Affiliate marketing on TikTok Shop has seen to be a huge success for driving sales.
Affiliates have the power to become the brand’s sales force. Link up with the right creators for your brand through TikTok Shop Seller Center and pay commission on successful sales.
Set commission plans based on your sales needs. These plans are:
- Shop plan – set a basic flat commission rate for all of your products.
- Open plan – a special plan for particular products, open to all creators.
- Targeted plan – invite specific creators to promote selected products. You can be as specific as their age, gender, followers, categories.
TikTok Seller Center serves as a one-stop workstation platform for merchants to operate their TikTok e-commerce business.
To get started on TikTok Shop Seller Center follow these steps:
Step 1: Log into TikTok Shop Seller Center.
Step 2: Click the “Affiliate Marketing” button at the top.
Step 3: Create an affiliate plan based on your needs.
There are different types of affiliates that brands can work with including:
- Star Creators – the highest revenue drivers with shoppable videos and lives.
- Rising Star Creators – these are creators with a lot of growth potential.
- Ambassadors – celebrities/public figures who want to build a long-term relationship with TikTok Shop and key brands.
Viral Reach
TikTok’s algorithm has an affinity for making content go viral.
Therefore brands that craft compelling TikTok Shop content can potentially reach a huge audience, significantly increasing brand awareness and potentially sales.
Interactive Shopping
TikTok Shop offers an immersive shopping experience.
Users can explore products, read reviews, and make purchases without leaving the app, streamlining the entire buying process.
A user can go from watching a video to having a new product on its way to their door in just three clicks! What’s more streamlined than that?
TikTok Shop Incentives
TikTok offers many incentives to encourage brands and affiliates to use TikTok Shop. These include:
- Commision: for the first 90 days, TikTok only takes 1.8% commission for each product sale and increases to just 5% after this period.
- Vouchers: whilst customers get discounts on products, TikTok pays the seller the full amount so they don’t miss out on revenue.
- Promote coupons: these are coupons which are essentially free money to spend on boosting videos from TikTok. They offer sellers these in exchange for posting content with product links, going live, making affiliate plans and uploading new products etc.
Commerce Platform Partners
TikTok have worked directly with Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce to build integrations so that merchants can connect their preferred commerce platforms to TikTok Shop.
Brand Success on TikTok Shop
If you still need convincing that TikTok Shop can make a huge difference to your ecommerce, it is worth noting that it only launched in the UK in 2021 (and in the US last month!) and yet early TikTok Shop adopters in the UK have already seen remarkable success, such as:
Growing from just a few TikTok orders a day, up to 9,000 orders a day and have recently just hit 1 million TikTok Shop orders in just the space of 12 months! (you must have seen their rosemary hair oil on your For You Page!)
From a small family business to a viral sensation, they are the perfect example of how to build trust within the community through their educational content, Spark Ads, use of the Fulfilled by TikTok Shop service and use of around 40 quality affiliates to share their beauty and haircare progress, driving TikTok Shop sales.
UK-based sweet shop, SoSweet’s TikTok Shop success is phenomenal.
As a family-run business who joined TikTok in 2020, they then moved into TikTok Shop last year and since then, SoSweet is the number one sweet shop on TikTok Shop and now makes six figures in TikTok Shop sales a month (incredible).
So, how did they do it?
Here a few reasons why they have changed the TikTok Shop game:
- Their hands-on approach with their followers – you will find many videos answering their customers questions or doing requested unboxing videos.
- There use of star creators and more recently ambassadors – Gemma Collins.
- They do LIVEs 2-3 times a week that are energetic, knowledgeable and full of character showing a fun side to the brand.
- They are constantly sending out free samples/products to their affiliates as well as bigger gifts like iPads and free holidays.
- Everything they do is organic!
MBM’s TikTok Shop success is inspirational and they are still managing to break TikTok Shop records.
His summer campaign saw exceptional (and record-breaking) results which was due to the innovative combination of their flash sales strategy, strategic merchandising, creator collaborations, engaging content, and the capitalisation on cultural Barbie moments. In just one week, this resulted in an incredible $2 million in sales!
Now let’s delve into the strategies for brands to leverage TikTok Shop for sales growth:
Creativity and Affiliates Matters Most
Brands should focus on crafting content that tells a story or entertains users rather than pushing a hard sell.
Collaborate with TikTok affiliates that align with your target audience and can engage on a personal level to create:
- Product tutorials
- Unboxing videos
- Product demonstrations
TikTok Shop LIVE
With TikTok Shop livestreams, interacting with your audience in real-time is an effective way for brands to engage and build a relationship with their followers.
On a livestream, you have the opportunity to share dynamic links to products, offer exclusive discounts, talk about specific products and offer demonstrations on how to apply/operate the product.
Use Fulfilled By TikTok Shop
Fulfilled By TikTok Shop (FBT) is a logistics service available in the UK, where TikTok Shop stores, picks, packs and then ships merchants’ products to the TikTok community.
This is an important consideration for brands, as it is designed to help free you from time-consuming logistics with a quick, easy, and cost-effective solution.
Offer Exclusive Discounts
Entice users to make a purchase by offering them exclusive discounts or promotions through TikTok Shop.
Limited-time offers create a sense of urgency and can drive sales.
Maximise Efforts During The Holiday Season
Holidays are big on TikTok. It is one of the most popular destinations during this time for people to explore new brands and products.
So, this is your opportunity as a brand to capitalise on the biggest shopping period of the year, regardless of how recently you have joined the platform.
A success story is Diamond Whites Aligners, who ran a Black Friday campaign on TikTok with outstanding results.
They offered a 50% off campaign promoting this by running Spark Ads on creators’ profiles.
They kept their audience broad initially to build as much of an audience as possible, then used a lookalike campaign to maximise conversions by 1,004%!
Actively Engage
Interact with your TikTok Shop audience by responding to comments, answering questions, and showing appreciation for user-generated content.
Building a community around your brand fosters loyalty and can lead to repeat TikTok Shop sales!
Analyse Performance
Leverage TikTok’s analytics tools to monitor the performance of your TikTok Shop campaigns.
Keep an eye on metrics like click through rates, conversion rates and engagement to gauge what’s working and where needs improvements and adjust accordingly to optimise results.
You can also keep an eye on which affiliates or influencers are your best ambassadors. With these key partners identified, there are opportunities for more bespoke collaborations that work for you, the creators and their audiences.
Key Takeaways
- TikTok Shop is an incredible tool for brands looking to enhance sales and connect with a highly engaged audience.
- By collaborating with affiliates, creating compelling content and utilising TikTok’s unique features, brands can unlock TikTok Shop’s full potential and drive significant revenue growth.
- Continuously monitoring your performance and adjusting your approach accordingly, will maximise your TikTok shop successes.
- Success on TikTok Shop is influenced by various factors including, use of affiliates, the quality of your content, target audience and uniqueness of your products. It is therefore essential to adapt your strategies based on your specific niche and audience preferences, to help you unlock the full potential of your product content.
If you’re considering TikTok Shop for your business, check out TikTok Shop Academy for loads of free resources on how to get started and more!
For extra TikTok training check out our website!
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