What is TikTok Shop?
TikTok Shop is an in-app shopping feature that allows TikTok users to browse and buy products without ever leaving the app.
The success of TikTok shopping is undeniable given that, according to Emarketer, in the summer of 2023, US consumers were spending around $3 - $4 million per day in the shop tab.
Before we go any further, we want to clearly distinguish between TikTok Shop for creators and sellers, as they are different.
What is TikTok Shop for creators?
TikTok Shop offers creators an affiliate marketing opportunity where they promote products through their content and earn commissions from the sales.
What is TikTok Shop for sellers?
TikTok Shop allows sellers to promote, showcase, and sell their products directly in the app.
Moreover, sellers can partner with TikTok Shop creators to promote their products and boost sales.
Now, let’s take a more in-depth look at the key differences between TikTok Shop sellers and creators.
TikTok Shop for Creators vs Sellers: Key Differences
We’ll explain some of the key differences between TikTok Shop creator-seller partnerships to help you understand the dynamics of these partnerships.
Let’s take them one by one.
Account type
TikTok Shop creators or influencers use their personal accounts, a.k.a. creator accounts, to promote brand products through user-generated content (UGC).
Sellers can be individuals or businesses that use TikTok for business accounts to showcase and sell their products.
Purpose
TikTok Shop creators want to increase revenue and build their personal brand by inspiring their followers.
On the other hand, sellers want to make the most out of social media marketing, engage and convert TikTok users, and drive sales.
Functionality
Creators use in-feed videos or live streams as promotional tools to encourage their TikTok community to purchase brand products.
TikTok Shop gives sellers a social media storefront to sell their products, which they can sync with their Shopify or Amazon stores.
Monetization
Creators join an affiliate program where they earn a commission from each sale they generate.
Sellers sell their products on the TikTok app, which can boost their revenue and profit.
Content focus
TikTok Shop influencers and creators focus on creating authentic and engaging user-generated content that resonates with their followers.
Sellers create TikTok videos and shop ads to promote their products, attract leads, increase conversions, and drive sales.
Next, we’ll give you some insights on how it all works.
TikTok Shop for Content Creators and Influencers
For content creators and influencers, TikTok Shop offers an additional revenue opportunity.
Simply put, creators can showcase their own products or promote brand products.
But that’s not all!
How TikTok Shop benefits creators
Check out some of the main benefits for creators:
- Easy integration. Creators can stay true to their personal brand by generating authentic TikTok videos that engage their audience.
The only difference is they will also showcase products in their UGC or include product links in the bio.
- Product showcase. TikTok influencers often end up launching their own line of products.
Once they do, they can easily present, promote, and even sell their products on TikTok Shop.
- Financial gain. Whether creators are showcasing their own products or those of other brands, they still stand to profit from this.
As sellers, they boost their brand revenue, while as TikTok Shop affiliates they increase their personal revenue through commissions.
- Collaboration opportunities. TikTok Shop is great for beginners and experienced creators because it allows them to reach out to brands they want to collaborate with and form partnerships.
How can creators use the TikTok Shop?
Here’s how creators can make the most out of TikTok Shop:
- Become an affiliate. One of the easiest ways for creators to generate revenue on TikTok is to join an affiliate program.
They simply integrate brand products into the content they post on their TikTok account, and whenever their followers make a purchase using their link, they earn a commission.
- Learn content creator best practices. Beginners can learn the ropes of successful content creation by watching TikTok tutorials or promotional content posted by successful creators.
Tip: Newbies eager to learn how to create content that sells can enroll in our Creator Academy.
- Drive traffic to their brand’s store. Creators can include links to their own products in their TikTok video content.
Thus, their followers will see the videos on the For You page, and with a simple click, they’ll be redirected to the creator’s TikTok storefront.
- Expand reach. Creator-brand partnerships are mutually beneficial because creators expose brands to their follower base and vice versa.
- Build credibility and trust. According to a Matter survey, 69% of consumers trust influencer recommendations more than brand recommendations.
Thus, by generating authentic content that offers good product recommendations, creators can build user trust in their personal brand and the brand they represent.
It’s safe to say that the perks are great, but to maximize them, creators should work with multiple brands, at least in the beginning.
An easy way to do this is by using Insense for creators.
With Insense, creators gain access to over 700 brands they can contact and propose collaborations.
Then, they can use our friendly interface to manage all their collaborations in one place and communicate effectively with the brands.
What’s more, creators can rest assured that they’ll get paid on time, because we freeze the payment once they get hired.
Now, let’s see how TikTok Shop works from the seller’s perspective.
TikTok Shop For Brands and Sellers
TikTok Shop offers brands and individual sellers a one-of-a-kind online marketplace.
After all, TikTok has become the fifth most popular social media platform worldwide, with over 1.56 billion users.
The following benefits will likely close the deal if you need more convincing.
The benefits of selling on TikTok Shop
Check out some of the main benefits for sellers:
- Visibility boost. Given the growing number of TikTok users, you need a good marketing strategy to expose your brand and products to a huge pool of potential customers.
- Sales increase. According to TikTok research, 37% of users immediately bought a product after seeing it on the app.
With TikTok Shop, they no longer have to access other websites because they can simply click and buy.
- Higher engagement. The same TikTok findings show that 33% of users want e-commerce to be entertaining.
And that’s precisely why you should find TikTok influencers or creators who can generate fun, original, and engaging content to promote your products.
How can brands make the most of TikTok Shop?
What we love most about TikTok Shop is that it offers both large and small businesses many options for showcasing their products and driving sales.
We’ll explain how each feature works so you don’t miss out on any of them.
Add products to the TikTok Shop platform
Before adding products to TikTok Shop, you must visit the TikTok Seller Center and create an account.
However, you can log in using the same credentials without creating a new account if you already have a TikTok business account.
Once you’re in, you click on the Get Started button and choose between:
- Importing products from your other e-commerce platforms (e.g., Shopify, Amazon) or
- Uploading products manually.
For the latter, you’ll have to fill in a spreadsheet with product information, including description, price, image, quantity, and so on.
Then upload the spreadsheet, and TikTok will review and approve it within 24 hours.
Once you get their OK, you’re all set.
Yes, it’s that easy!
Live shopping events
TikTok Live Shopping is a very cool feature that allows you to present your products during live-stream events and lets users buy them in real-time.
Simply put, whenever you showcase a product in a Live, a pin will appear on the user’s screen, which they can tap to add the product to their shopping cart immediately.
Moreover, if users are uncertain about a product, they can simply wait until your live stream is over, tap the shopping cart icon, and see all the products you presented.
This interactive feature makes online shopping a lot more fun and engaging.
Create shoppable videos
Shoppable videos allow TikTok users to buy your products directly from their in-feed videos.
For this type of TikTok shoppable ad, you simply need to include a shopping tab or a clickable link in your video that users can tap.
Still, you should partner with creators to create eye-catching and engaging shoppable videos.
Take advantage of user-generated content
According to a Stackla survey, 79% of respondents say UGC highly impacts purchasing decisions.
Therefore, you should use UGC in all your social media marketing campaigns, including TikTok Shop campaigns.
Still, finding the right person for the job is not always easy.
After all, having good social media skills is not enough in this case.
The creator or influencer you choose must also match your audience demographics and content style.
So, how do you find this person in the ocean of content creators?
You can do it manually, but since it’s time-consuming and not precise, we suggest you try the automatic approach.
Here, you’ve got two options:
- TikTok Creator Marketplace is a TikTok-powered platform that connects creators and brands.
While it can be very useful for identifying creators for your TikTok Shop campaign, you won’t be able to find collaborators for your other social media campaigns on Meta.
Furthermore, you can only communicate with the creators through private messages on TikTok because the platform doesn’t offer a chat feature.
Unfortunately, this makes it hard to stay on top of all incoming messages and manage your TikTok Shop campaigns, especially when working with multiple creators.
- Insense is an influencer marketing platform that offers you access to over 20K vetted TikTok and Instagram content creators.
You can use our Creator Marketplace to search for TikTok Shop collaborators using criteria like audience demographics, price, engagement rate, etc.
Or you can use our Creative Brief to specify exactly what type of creator you’re looking for and we’ll find you the right match.
Then, you just have to brief creators for your TikTok Shop campaigns and let them use their creativity to generate UGC that TikTok users won’t resist.
The best part is that we also have a Direct Chat feature that allows you to stay in touch with all your creators without leaving the platform.
Use TikTok Spark Ads
TikTok Spark Ads are in fact a mix of user-generated content and advertising, which is why they work so well.
TikTok reports positive campaign results with these ads, such as increased video views, CVR, CPM, and engagement rates.
You can use your TikTok account content or the organic UGC posted by other creators (as long as you have their permission) to create TikTok Spark Ads.
Moreover, you can even use Insense to find creators to run TikTok Spark Ads with.
There you have it: all the great TikTok features that can make your storefront successful.
Now, over to you.
Over To You
With all these insights, you can start selling on TikTok Shop.
Plus, given all the benefits mentioned here, it would be a pity not to take advantage of this amazing opportunity.
As for finding creators to collaborate with, we can help with that.
Just book a demo with Insense, and we’ll give you all the details.
