TikTok Shop has experienced rapid early growth by offering sellers enticing incentives like low commission fees and heavy product discounts. However, the company has realized these free rides can’t last forever if they want to build a sustainable business.
TikTok was able to attract sellers quickly by only charging a 2% commission on sales, far below rates on competitive platforms. Add to that deep subsidies on product pricing, and merchants eagerly flocked to sell on the app. However, as TikTok Shop scales, continuing these practices long-term could have negatively impacted revenues.
Now TikTok is course correcting by slowly removing some of the financial perks it used to lure sellers. As reported by TheInformation, TikTok will raise seller commissions from 2% to 8% on most products. They are also pulling back some product pricing subsidies, limiting discounts to only top-selling items.
These changes could indicate TikTok Shop is entering a new, more monetizable phase. But it could also slow the platform’s meteoric growth if sellers balk at the higher rates and reduced promotional support. On the consumer side, shoppers may see prices creep up as discounts dry up and sellers adjust to the less favorable terms.
More about TikTok Shop
TikTok Shop is an in-app shopping feature that allows brands and sellers to set up online stores directly within the TikTok app. It provides users with a seamless shopping experience where they can discover, purchase, and track orders without leaving TikTok.
There are two main options for sellers to establish a TikTok Shop. The first is through direct integration where the entire shopping journey from product listing to post-purchase support takes place in the TikTok app. The second option is partner integration which allows sellers to connect their existing ecommerce sites like Shopify or WooCommerce to TikTok. In this model, buyers complete the transaction on the merchant’s independent site.
Some key capabilities offered by TikTok Shop include in-app shopping, product listings with images, descriptions and buy buttons, order fulfillment by TikTok, integration with other ecommerce channels, smart algorithms to recommend products, access to user data for targeting, and advertising options like video and live shopping ads.
The platform differs from traditional ecommerce in several ways. It emphasizes video and live-streaming for social engagement over static product listings. The setup process and selling fees are relatively low. TikTok’s strong influencer culture and dominance among Gen Z users allows brands to leverage creators to drive product discovery and sales through affiliations.
Currently, TikTok Shop is available in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, USA and UK. Sellers can sign up for a TikTok seller account to get started. After submitting business verification documents and linking a bank account, brands can begin creating product listings.
Some best practices for TikTok Shop success include optimizing product detail pages, leveraging influencer partnerships, using popular audios and hashtags, offering limited-time promotions, going live frequently and sharing shop links across other social channels.
In summary, TikTok Shop turns the entertainment platform into a vibrant social commerce channel through features like in-app stores, video ads and live-streaming shopping. For businesses and creators, it presents a major opportunity to monetize products and content by tapping into TikTok’s highly-engaged user base and capitalizing on viral trends. As TikTok Shop expands globally, more brands should embrace this new way of “social shopping” to drive awareness, engagement and sales.