Last Wednesday, as part of New York Fashion Week, TikTok recruited marketers from companies like Madewell, H&M, and Gucci to transform its stylish East Village restaurant Cathédrale into a video wall showcasing fashion trends such as “a little luxury.” It was renovated with tall mannequins wearing styles inspired by TikTok.
TikTok has established itself as an essential advertising venue for brands looking to reach young users. But at the party, marketers were up in arms about TikTok's efforts to sell products from the app itself.
Why: After nearly a year of testing, speculation, and internal turmoil, TikTok is rolling out the TikTok Shop to all users in the United States this week. The company is expanding its rollout of shop buttons on the app's home screen that direct users to the marketplace, and will drive traffic to videos that include shop buttons for specific products. Either way, users can purchase products in just a few clicks without leaving the app.
E-commerce is a big bet for the company, which hopes to turn the app's power as a cultural trendsetter into a major new revenue stream. But this is a venture that other popular social platforms, including Instagram, have not succeeded in the United States.
TikTok said it is aggressively pumping videos with shopping buttons into users' feeds in order to become a hit. The company also plans to offer generous discounts and coupons to shoppers and waive fees from many merchants for the time being. TikTok said 200,000 sellers have already registered on TikTok Shop, and more than 100,000 creators can use the shopping button to create videos and livestream.
Nico Le Bourgeois, one of two executives heading up the U.S. TikTok shop, said: “We want to disrupt the industry and make sure people understand that TikTok is a place to shop. “We have very aggressive plans to get it.” Last week's interview. “By combining traffic, free shipping, and sales, we're going all-out on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.” He also said TikTok Shop will advertise on the web and elsewhere.
Clicking on TikTok's “Shop” button on Monday brought up a page within the app with a huge selection of items. There were some oddities, like a 27-cent palm-sized folding chair and a $5.52 ice crusher with a hand crank. However, there was also a section for verified brands like Revolve, Benefit Cosmetics, and Otterbox, as well as products like Air Jordan sneakers.
On TikTok's main feed, creators are increasingly promoting their products with videos featuring an orange shop icon and a “Commission Eligible” label. You can purchase products using Apple Pay, PayPal, or a credit card.
The “Shop” button, currently visible to 40% of users on the main bar of the app's home screen, will begin rolling out in August and will be available to all TikTok's 150 million U.S. users by early October. It's scheduled to arrive.
Last month's executive shake-up raised questions about the company's direction for U.S. e-commerce. Sandy Hawkins, who was overseeing the effort, left the company for personal reasons, according to an internal memo. She will be replaced by Le Bourgeois, who joined TikTok from Amazon, and Marni Levin, a retail executive who most recently was at Meta. They will report to Bob Kang, global head of e-commerce at ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok.
According to multiple marketers, the company appears to have moved away from its original focus on facilitating shopping through livestreams. Livestreaming is a huge industry in Asia, but it hasn't received the same response in North America.
Craig Bromers, chief marketing officer at retailer American Eagle, said that when the chain tested a live shopping event on TikTok last year, viewership numbers were “far above what brands in Asia Pacific are experiencing.” “It was below that.”
“The initial hypothesis was that live shopping would spread to North America, but we haven't seen that kind of success yet,” Blommers said. He said that under new leadership, the company is keen to learn about other tools in the TikTok Shop, especially if Gen Z shoppers see a TikTok creator wearing American Eagle jeans, for example. He said he would like to make it “seamless” to wear and purchase several pairs. Click.
Le Bourgeois and Levine say that while videos with shopping buttons from brands and creators are now the main sales driver for TikTok shops, live shopping remains a priority and is growing in the U.S. Stated.
Creators who want to sell products on TikTok's marketplace will have to choose from a variety of items that TikTok has to offer. Alyssa Panozzi, an indoor cycling trainer and TikTok personality with more than 200,000 followers, says that when she sees a large number of products, many of them come from “overseas stores that have a hodgepodge of products.” Told.
The company has already faced accusations that it allows the sale of inferior or copyright-infringing products, including Shein and others that flood the market with cheap goods mailed directly from China. It's drawing comparisons to fast-growing Chinese shopping apps like Temu.
TikTok executives push back against such comparisons, calling their company similar to Amazon and China's TMall, which uses technology and manual moderation to enforce policies, and requires “robust verification” for new sellers. He said he was looking for it. The company said more than 90% of TikTok Shop's sellers are based in the U.S., and Le Bourgeois said a number of big brands, including Benefit, Olay, L'Oréal and Elf, are either on TikTok Shop or He emphasized that he plans to participate.
Panozzi, 37, was invited to join the TikTok shop a few months ago but largely ignored it until July. That's when she saw her feed flooded with QVC-style sales pitches, and she wondered if she could make money doing it. She has been trying to feature products from sellers with positive reviews that suit her followers, such as hair ties and water bottles, but a few weeks ago she surpassed more than 2 million views and sold more than 600 Stanley units. The company achieved great success with its connected advertising videos. style tumbler. She expected a commission of several thousand dollars, and she said she joined the TikTok Shop invite-only program for creators.
“Now I wake up every morning and have so many inquiries,” she said. “TikTok right now for me is completely different than it was a few months ago. It's just a different vibe,” she added.
Paul Tran and Linda Truong, the married founders of Korean skin care company Love & Pebble, attended a TikTok event last week with advertisers. They said in interviews that joining TikTok Shop this summer was “life-changing” and that TikTok's offers to shoppers were generous.
Tran said the average price of the brand's core product, the Beauty Pop Ice Mask Kit for the face, is about $39. He said TikTok sometimes sells for $7 or even $11 less due to app discounts, but still makes the same profit as the standard price. Tran said he doesn't know when TikTok will start receiving fees.
Levin said TikTok could not elaborate on its future commission model, but said it is “focused on getting all sellers to be the first to add inventory to the platform.”
“The purpose of the game is to keep people on the platform, whether it's shopping, participating in videos, dancing, etc.,” Levine added. “It’s always about keeping people engaged and being part of the community.”
Contact Sapna Maheshwari at sapna@nytimes.com
