TikTok Shopping: Is TikTok the New Shopping Platform?

Launched in late 2017, TikTok is a video-sharing application that has dramatically increased in popularity over the years, to the point where TikTok now trumps Google as a search engine for Generation Z. The social app allows users to create and share any type of video online via the TikTok mobile application and website, wherein users are able to add music, sound effects, filters and voice overs to their videos to make myriad types of content. Many of these videos are created and posted under categories such as comedy, beauty, cooking, fashion, entertainment and many more.

In recent years, TikTok has grown to be one of the most popular social media platforms and has been used by many people and companies to promote and sell their products through videos. TikTok shopping is a feature within the app itself that allows users to purchase products directly from TikTok itself. Currently, the TikTok eCommerce platform integration is available with partners in Australia and New Zealand, meaing that merchants can now link their account to “TikTok For Business” and grow their business through TikTok. 

#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt is a popular hashtag that people use when they make videos of products they have bought through TikTok recommendations and posting it on their TikTok accounts, including videos such as parcel unboxing, product reviews and shopping hauls. TikTok was originally created for entertainment purposes but soon became a product recommendation engine which drove sales for many eCommerce stores. Many TikTok’er users subconsciously recommend products to their viewers just by posting simple videos such as “A Day in my Life” video. Viewers would then make comments such as “Omg that’s such a cute bottle, where did you get it from?” and proceed to purchase these products, subconsciously taking part in TikTok Shopping. Viewers would never have discovered products like this if they were not scrolling through TikTok. This is a simple and natural way to help many brands get noticed without hardcore advertising and pushing out campaigns.

Since 2020, TikTok has been the world’s most downloaded and most used application with more than 1 billion users and 3 billion downloads. This makes TikTok the first non-Meta owned app to accomplish this. This growth was mainly contributed by the surge in new users who were bored during the COVID-19 Pandemic, when lockdowns and restrictions were in place in many parts of the world. Research has shown that a user opens TikTok about an average of 19 times per day.

With TikTok being so popular globally, many businesses are taking advantage of this by creating TikTok accounts for their businesses to increase reach and potentially make sales, allowing consumers to contribute to TikTok Shopping. Home, Beauty and Fashion are the top few content categories on TikTok besides entertainment. Since these are top categories that people are interested in, there is great potential for these businesses to promote their products to their audiences via TikTok.

TikTok users can gain inspiration or product purchase ideas from eCommerce accounts when casually scrolling through TikTok for entertainment when they are bored. Advertisements with personalised recommended products also occasionally appear on one’s “For You Page” on TikTok, prompting people to click on it and potentially buy the product that they don’t actually need, but want. Creators often include pictures of the product they want to sell in their video and a link somewhere in the captions or in their profiles to make it easier for users to purchase whatever they like.

Due to the age and nature of TikTok users, it’s expected that many brands may have to make some changes to their advertising strategy in order to better fit this younger demographic. One of the most important aspects here is to understand the Gen Z audience, portraying brands as authentic and expressive.

Brands will also have to learn to tailor their content to fit the aesthetic of the platform — bright, poppy, and high-energy in a space already saturated by users and fellow brands. This type of content may not suit every brand, and therein lies the challenge for brands looking to expand into the younger audiences.

Lastly, short-form advertising is forever moving to the forefront, as video ads that show up in the feeds of users are the best way to push eCommerce sales within TikTok. As it’s a well-known fact that our attention spans are waning on social media, short-term advertising should aim to grab a user’s attention within the first few seconds of an ad — something that isn’t easy for every brand to pull off.

There is no doubt that TikTok will continue to grow, and businesses should be prepared to grow with it.

As a driven Brisbane-based digital marketing agency, Studio Culture can help to introduce your brand to TikTok and kick-start your content journey within this vidid app. Get in touch with us today, and find out how we can help your brand succeed.