TikTok resurrects its commerce offering

Sahail Ashraf posted on 27 October 2022

TikTok has brought out a special infographic that aims to encourage and support brands that can benefit from TikTok commerce

TikTok has always been up for helping its users, and it’s just put together an infographic that helps brands get the most out of live-streaming.

Live-streaming is a huge part of TikTok’s Chinese iteration (known as Douyin) and businesses are both using it and setting up new income streams through it. 

In the West, things are moving a little slower for live-streaming uptake among businesses. And that’s crazy, because the potential of this tool is huge. Right now in China, billions of dollars are spent every year through this method of purchasing products on Douyin. It’s a dynamic form of e-commerce that has something to offer every business (especially those with products that are visual).

So what does the Infographic tell us?

It offers plenty of data that can help businesses understand just why this method is so popular in China, and will be popular in the West.

It talks about how 62% of TikTok users are interested in live content from a retailer. This hints at the potential for anyone who wishes to take up the opportunity. 

However, the real value in the study comes when the infographic talks about how TikTok Live drives shopping and expands trust.

Drive and trust

All the numbers here are exciting for any marketer who is thinking about pushing to TikTok Live. According to TikTok, Live watchers are 1.6 times more likely to use the service to discover brands than normal TikTok users. The same Live users are 1.7 times more likely to watch branded TikTok Live to buy products. And if you are a TikTok user, you are twice as likely to see TikTok Live as more trustworthy for shopping.

The general feel here is that TikTok Live has a ton of potential. So why is it not big in the West yet?

The problem

While TikTok commerce is going great in China, in Europe and the USA there is less of a warm reception. TikTok Shop was launched in the UK in 2021 and did not make much of an impact.

This is not just a matter of a slow take-up of a new shopping opportunity, the whole situation got very ugly. The Financial Times reported on the outcome of TikTok pushing Shop into Europe earlier this year:

“TikTok had planned to launch the feature in Germany, France, Italy and Spain in the first half of this year, before expanding into the US later in 2022, according to several people briefed on the matter. But the expansion plans have been dropped after the UK project failed to meet targets and influencers dropped out of the scheme, three people said.”

TikTok offered subsidies and cash to Influencers who used Shop, to no avail. It just didn’t take off. On top of that, some ecommerce team members in the UK were not happy with the way the project was managed.

So things were delayed. However, TikTok is partnering up with a major shopping channel in the USA right now. It seems like there is another push coming up.

TikTok wants (you) to win

Right down at the bottom of the Infographic is where TikTok seems to be pushing people in the right direction. There is a list of six areas, or ‘Live concepts’, that brands can choose to pursue:

• How to/tutorials
• Product releases
• In-depth product reviews
• Q&A
• Product sales
• Live events

Most brands can see themselves fitting into at least one of these categories, which shows that there is a place for brands on Live, or Shop (or whatever the new iteration is). 

More importantly, TikTok is validating these categories, and essentially giving brands permission to go for it. As soon as we get a new version of Shop or Live to work on outside of China, brands need to get moving.

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