Social media, in its early days, was all about communicating and not much about selling anything. Boy, has that changed.
With the big players like Facebook, Instagram and X (we still can’t get used to Twitter’s new name, thanks Elon) all engaging in various forms of e-commerce it only stood to reason that TikTok would be next. The quick video-format platform, which has gone to great lengths to separate itself from its Chinese founders in the wake of political pushback in the U.S., officially launched its online selling site this past fall after testing it for almost a year and is now ready for its first holiday season. Sellers should look both ways before they decide to test the platform.
But TikTok is one more challenger to traditional retailers both online and with physical stores and given its estimated 80 million users in the U.S. – 60 percent female and two-thirds under the age of 44 – it presents a compelling, though potentially troubling, platform for sellers wanting to reach these demographics. The #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag has attracted more than 60 billion – that’s billions with a “B” – likes.
Jasmine Glasheen, who writes about younger consumers and their use of social media for The Robin Report newsletter, recently reported that while sites owned by Meta, including Facebook and Instagram, have recently cut back on such ecommerce features as livestream shopping, “TikTok is doubling down on social shopping.”
She said even as TikTok faces regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. it is using its position with Gen Z and other younger consumers plus discounts to sellers to gain consideration in their strategies. As such it is attracting attention even as some sellers have expressed concerns about knock-offs and the potential for suppliers getting burned.
Glasheen says the short-form video format opens up new possibilities in e-commerce but cautioned however that this could
just be a moment in time for sellers. “Just don’t build a home there,” she warned. “A hurricane may be brewing.”