TikTok isn't a platform that encourages people to leave the FYP from clicking a link. But the platform is INCREDIBLE for starting the conversation. TikTok ads live in the middle/upper funnel — focus on education and starting the conversation. Don't try to close a sale right away.
To do well as a brand account on TikTok, you need to be on top of trends before they reach virality. The best way? Hire a creator. Invest $4-6k a month into a creator who can put out 1-2 videos per day. If 2 'pop' in a month, this person will pay for themselves.
TikTok ads start the conversation. TikTok creators drive conversion.
On TikTok, throw 100 different videos of you walking into the store to grab it, check out, try it, and get a reaction. For some reason, they do really well.
TikTok Shop is something Meta, Snap, and YouTube all tried to build, but no one has done it as well as TikTok. Not only game-changing for merchants, but they also built the best affiliate program overnight.
Anyone with a TikTok account can tag a product and earn $2-5 per sale. Some creators are making $700 to $2,000 per week with just a few videos.
If you run TikTok ads for something with a low AOV, you'll 2-3x the conversion rate just by having the Shop integration versus sending people to a website. It's like ShopPay's one-click checkout on steroids.
TikTok Shop prioritizes social proof more than anything. Every product card shows a review score from TikTok Shop purchases only and a units-sold counter. Tough to get your first sales, but it separates you from copycats down the road.
One test I like on TikTok is a funnel that just collects first-party data. If you can gather someone's email or number, you can follow up to purchase or educate them with content first.
TikTok shops are on track to do $17.5 billion in GMV this year — up nearly 10x from last year. Americans spend an estimated $7 million per day shopping on TikTok.
If you're not testing live shopping, you're going to kick yourself every month wishing you started today. Brands are garnering 500+ concurrent viewers in a single TikTok Live, selling hoodies and serums. What we're seeing with TikTok Live shopping is QVC, tailored to you, based on what TikTok knows about you.
Brands posting hundreds or thousands of creator videos per day on TikTok, coupled with live shopping, are scaling with 7 and 8-figure-per-month TikTok Shop sales.
Agencies now exist where they rent a warehouse, hire creators for your brand, build a studio, and go live 8-10 hours per day on TikTok. The upside is so big, there's no reason not to try this.
The brands taking advantage of the 2012-Facebook-Ads-Era of TikTok Shop right now are milking it. I'm tracking brands launching and within weeks having thousands of sales when executing properly on awareness and creator commissions.
You can post a TikTok and a video that does poorly might still reach tens of thousands of people. You don't need to hit 1M views every single time. Enable TikTok Shop and see an incremental 20% lift in revenue.
TikTok Live is QVC for Gen Z — with a buy button and urgency baked in.
TikTok Shop charges a flat 6% fee, and conversion rates on TikTok Shop PDPs are 3x a website conversion rate. You're just missing out on incremental revenue.
I know TikTok affiliates making $5K to $20K per month selling hot products. If you build a good affiliate program, it can be a huge addition of new revenue.
If you're selling on TikTok Shop, treat the image carousel like landing page modules. Design dense graphics. The product description is also a place to insert images — treat it like a landing page.
TikTok Shop felt new and 'just for silly brands.' The merchant fees were low and TikTok was paying for shipping fees, ad credits, etc. By the time everyone else decided it's time to get on TikTok Shop, the fees are 8%, you have to submit ungodly amounts of paperwork, and you get no subsidies.
TikTok Shop gives you a large text box for images/graphics plus the image carousel. Your description should read like a landing page — easy copy, graphics, comparison charts. It's FREE to make it look incredible. Just spend the time and do it.
Athletic Greens' Google Trends chart clearly shows their takeoff this year — directly correlated to people learning on TikTok, then searching outside the platform. TikTok is incredible for starting the conversation, even if people don't click links in the FYP.
TikTok is a BFCM wildcard. It generally underperformed last year for many brands I know, but with TikTok Shop, I'd imagine TikTok really wants advertisers to see results — I wouldn't be surprised if they juice their algorithms to heavily favor brands using TikTok Shop for BFCM and Q4.
When setting up TikTok Shop products, do it manually one by one. Write unique descriptions as if someone just clicked your product card on a random video — educate on the problem, solution, differentiation, social proof, and reasons to buy. Think of that real estate like a landing page.
If you sell a subscription product on TikTok Shop, you can't get the subscription token there. Sell a higher-AOV bundle or the hardware itself, then add a sticker in TikTok Shop order fulfillment reminding people to subscribe on your site.
TikTok Shop's sales counter and review badges create a moat against copycats. A friend has tens of thousands of sales on his product badge, making it much harder for knockoff sellers to compete — social proof compounds over time on the platform.
Some TikTok Shop creators make $700-$2,000/week just tagging products in a few videos, earning $2-5 per sale. Promote your affiliate bounty when talking to creators, influencers, or even customers likely to create content.
Include customer quotes, awards, and use cases directly in TikTok Shop product imagery. The Simple Modern Amazon PDP images are good inspiration — think of the image carousel as a mini landing page.
CreatoRev has worked with 1,000+ creators who have earned more than $7M in commissions by selling $48M worth of GMV for brands via TikTok Shop. That's proof the affiliate model on TTS actually works at scale.
The top 5 selling categories on TikTok Shop are beauty and skin care, supplements & vitamins, lip cosmetics, cologne & perfume, and body lotions & treatments. If you're in one of these categories and not on TTS, you're handing revenue to competitors.
Affiliate links on TikTok Shop have a 5.2% engagement rate — 160% higher than on Instagram. The platform is literally built for commerce in a way Instagram still isn't.
There are only three ways to sell on TikTok Shop: live shopping, shoppable videos, and product showcases. That's it. Pick the one that matches your team's strengths and go deep.
28% of Gen Z searches TikTok to see if a product is actually legit. Simple Modern, Warby Parker, Lemme — all searched on TikTok for unbiased reviews. TikTok is a search engine now, and your content is your SEO.
Comfrt was live on TikTok with ~700 people concurrently watching, commenting, and buying hoodies. TikTok Live shopping is QVC tailored to you based on what TikTok knows about you. You don't need it to be perfect on the first go — once you start, you'll find your footing.
Brands like Comfrt and NeuroGum are always live on their own TikTok channels selling. Others like Liquid IV and iHerb build networks of creators who go live on affiliate commission. TikTok Live drives awareness that fuels your bottom-of-funnel ads.
Selling a mattress on TikTok Shop? Waste of time, no matter how good your TikTok Shop skills are. The channel has to be conducive to your business — product type, audience demographic, and price point all matter more than channel expertise.
TikTok Shop generally takes under a week to go live, but supplements can take up to a month. Get set up pre-launch so you generate sales and social proof on day 1 — the more units sold and reviews you have, the more affiliates want to work with you.
Comfrt's Hudson spends over $500K/day on Meta and has never had a single customer say they found the brand on Facebook. They all say TikTok. TikTok is the awareness engine that lifts every other channel — creators make content for TikTok Shop, upload to Google Drive, and the media buying team runs it across every channel.
TikTok wants 80% Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT) adoption by end of 2026. FBT will eventually work like Amazon Prime — if you're not using it, you're getting buried in discovery. The move: make TikTok come to you. Have them send a team to your 3PL, negotiate a better shipping rate, and let them pick up from your existing warehouse.