TikTok Shop accounted for about 2 percent of all online shopping in the country last month, putting it ahead of such traditional retailers as Target, Costco and Home Depot and catapulting it into a position as one of the most important vehicles for brands to use for their e-commerce.
The new research, compiled by the customer-intelligence firm Consumer Edge, shows the jump in market share is "massive," said Michael Gunther, senior vice president of research & market intelligence at Consumer Edge.
"Given that TikTok Shop was at zero a few years ago, these moves are really, really big," Gunther said in announcing the results. "I don't know if I've seen something like this."
Recently TikTok Shop introduced its own Amazon Prime-style membership program that includes free shipping as well as other perks. It's also offering assistance to sellers who need help making videos and advertising their products.
While Amazon and Walmart have far larger shares of the online market with the former at as much as 40 percent in some categories and Walmart at about 7 percent, Consumer Edge said it was TikTok’s growth that was most astonishing. The company did over $500 million in US sales during last year’s Cyber Monday week, it said.
Consumer Edge said TikTok has invested heavily in its e-commerce business since it launched in 2023, building out a full shipping and logistics offering, onboarding hundreds of thousands of sellers and training creators on how to promote goods in videos in exchange for a commission.
TikTok Shop buyers who made 20 or more purchases in the second quarter of this year drove about 30 percent of the overall spending on the platform, but only accounted for about 5 percent of the total population of buyers.