Mastering Tiktok Commerce

80k orders into TikTok Shop, here's what I've been surprised to learn.   1. Samples have only driven 7% of our TikTok Shop sales.   40% of orders come from product card. Of the 60% are driven by videos.   Product card: Customers organically finding our product on TikTok. These orders aren't charged commission. 🤌   Video: Most video sales are from affiliates who already have our product or they show our product image. On samples sent to affiliates, we get a 3 ROAS. Factoring halo sales on Amazon & DTC, it's a 6 ROAS (more in point 3). Half of our revenue from samples are from one affiliate. If you remove them, omni-channel ROAS is closer to a 3.   Product drop video posts from our own account can really work. Without commission owed, we can afford to put ad spend behind them.   2. TikTok Shop sales haven’t driven meaningful Simple Modern TikTok followers.   In the 6 months we sold 80k units on TikTok Shop, Simple Modern's TikTok follower count grew less than the previous 6 months.   Surprising to me considering we've driven 186m product impressions.   3. Over 100% halo effect between Amazon and Website.   When a product has a successful video driving TikTok Shop revenue, the bump on other eComm channels is clear. Typically we see more sales driven by TikTok videos on Amazon + DTC than TikTok Shop.   Customer trust is higher on Amazon and brand's websites.   The real magic is when TikTok videos goose Amazon listing placement permanently.   4. Revenue/video is flat once affiliates have more than 50k followers.   Followers: Revenue/video 0-1K: $13 1k-5k: $25 5k-10k: $40 10k-50k: $75 50+: $100   Affiliates with 50k followers have performed the same as 1m follower accounts. We have not engaged multi-million follower accounts with highly engaged audiences (celebrities).   5. Amazon best sellers don't drive our TikTok Shop business.   Products that have worked have had at least one of these qualities:  - Interesting  - New  - Relevant to culture or season  - Niche cult following (ex: Winnie the Pooh)   Our best sellers in retail typically don't have these qualities. These factors make inventory planning for TikTok Shop challenging.   6. Affiliates asking for 4+ samples are taking advantage of you.   We've sent 51 affiliates 4+ samples. Only one generated a sale.   13% of our total samples have been sent to grifters. 🙃   ************* TikTok Shop is a uniquely valuable channel since it's also a marketing engine.   It has required a different strategy from us and has been fun to learn.   I'd love to read what others have learned in the comments.

TikTok Shop is not messing around. At Spree, we're building a shoppable video platform, but also a studio where we help brands and creators onboard, market, and sell through social platforms. Think of it like influencer marketing in a post-cookie world: full funnel from awareness to purchase, but all in one short-form video. Recently, our TikTok Shop partnership has been getting a lot of love. A few interesting learnings from this holiday season: 1. 'Viral' products are a shortcut. We uploaded one 'viral product' into the system and started getting sales before we posted our first video. Naturally, we ordered a few hundred more ASAP. 2. TikTok Shop success aligns closely with the rules of great influencer marketing. Get a creator with an engaged, lean-in audience. Find a product they actually like that their audience will actually like. Sell by telling a story, not by telling viewers to buy. 3. Most brands want to be on TikTok Shop but don't know how. It's complex. But once you've done it dozens of times (per day, in our case) it moves fast. I don't care if you're a mom and pop stationary shop, a creator merch brand, or a Fortune 500: you want to experiment here with a team who knows this market. 4. Live is great, but don't sleep on shoppable VOD. A perfect 30 second video of a product can do the work of a one hour live stream. Both are valuable, but too many people are talking about live shoppable and not enough are talking about shoppable shortform. 5. Trends + Product = Sales. Wednesday Addams' dance is popping? Sell the costume. King Bach flashlight dance is trending? Sell the flashlight. Spotify Wrapped is everywhere? Sell headphones. 6. Creators beware: not all audiences want this. If you make gold digger prank content, don't start selling The Feminine Mystique hardcover. If you are a creator and want to try it, make great content first and let a brand ride along. 7. Create like a creator. This is the rule for every brand on every social platform, but certainly pertains here. Don't do one tentpole shoppable live stream on TikTok and judge TT Shop on that. You need to habituate your audience, build a format, and keep it entertaining. In case you can't tell, this is addicting for a social media wonk like me. Smart influencer marketers are already testing this market understanding it will be a huge part of their ecommerce future. And those who haven't need to start today. #ecommerce #creatoreconomy #tiktok https://lnkd.in/e926z8zm

If live commerce isn’t in your 2025 strategy, you’re already losing market share. ✨ RM 3.8mil in GMV. 34.7mil product views. 60,406 items sold, in 30 days. The previous year, I did RM1.2mil in 30 days; this Yang Riang Raya campaign was a game-changer for us. We experimented, pushed boundaries, and most importantly, delivered results. 🚀 Here’s what made it work: 🎥 Trying Something New We uploaded pre-hype videos before the event and went full cinematic drama. Filming with cameras, crafting engaging storytelling, and negotiating prices live kept audiences hooked. We also filmed the videos with Dato Sri Siti Nurhaliza and Dato Sri Meer Habib, with views > 1mil each. 🌤️ Taking the Livestream Outdoors 99.9% of live-selling is done indoors on TikTok. The whole viewing experience are different for the viewers, the average viewing duration improved by 200%. Big thank you for Perbandanan Putrajaya, and Canon's team set up. 💸 Boosting with Ads Investing in ad boosting was another key factor in our success. By strategically running ads during the live sessions, we managed to attract more targeted audiences for the products we were selling. The result? A return on spend (ROS) of 5-10 times our ad investment. ⏰ Timing Matters We discovered that the sahur period (3am - 7am) and night hours (8pm-12am) were peak times for product demand, leading to higher engagement and sales. Knowing when your audience is most active can make a huge difference. 🤝 Brand Collaboration We also found that the brands that performed the best were those that actively supported us throughout the campaign. Brands that showed up, engaged with the process, and collaborated closely saw significantly better results. ⚡ Turning Viewers into Buyers—The FOMO Formula We didn’t just sell—we made people feel the rush of securing a deal before it was gone. Here’s how: 🔥 Build Anticipation Before the Drop – Instead of instantly adding products to the stream, we hyped them up. For example, before launching the viral Beg Kuning, we got viewers to comment “1” if they were ready. Only when we hit 100 comments then we release the link — but not before a suspenseful countdown! ⏳ Limited Quantity Sells – “Only 100 units available!” When people saw the stock count drop in real-time, it triggered instant action. No one wanted to be the one who missed out. 🎯 Educate, Then Convert – We made sure people fully understood the product before dropping the link. This meant that the moment it became available, they were ready to buy—no second-guessing, just instant conversion. 📊 Understanding Market Trends We sold what people wanted. By monitoring TikTok Shop rankings, product reviews, and audience sentiment, we identified the best Raya-related products and crafted strong narratives to make them irresistible. Is live-selling your next 8 months strategy? Let me know!

We are the alpha partner for TikTok Shop and we’ve compiled the best practices and blueprint to drive business outcomes. Over the last decade, and across all platforms, we have generated over $2.5 Billion in creator commerce, online and offline. Here are Influential’s five tips for leveraging TikTok Shop: 1. Craft engaging content: "Prioritize engaging content that is specific to your vertical and is differentiated from your competitive set, integrate and highlight products to benefit from occasional virality." 2. Ride the trend wave: "Leverage popular TikTok trends like songs, sounds and filters. Trends can catapult your shoppable posts to the FYP.” 3. Product launch opportunities: "Use TikTok Shop for product launches, create anticipation and excitement around new releases." 4. Educational content works: "Show your products in action! Explain all the problems your product solves." 5. Optimize your shoppable posts: "Keep videos between 30 and 45 seconds, showcase product usage, work with top influencers with high ERs, add clear CTAs and use emojis to point to the buy button. #influential

This one shift has improved our business the most in Q3 👇 Zeroto1 is now a TikTok Shop AOR (agency of record) that is only taking on brands that are committed to the channel for a minimum of 12 months Here's why this is was the best decision we could make for our clients: 1. It takes a significant amount of time and resources to get a shop live and scale it The agency often has to make a considerable investment up front to get things going: And if they are only on 3 month contracts and aren't setting proper expectations -- aka not promising a moon shot -- they will have high churn Which means they will stop making the time and resource investment needed to drive results on TTS Not good 2. If the team is charging a cheaper retainer plus % of GMV plus a 3 month minimum -> they have a broken model They'll have to combat that with low cost talent Or be forced to take on too many clients to make up for their low margin Meaning your account is most likely missing senior level strategy, senior level account management, or the team your working with is over stretched Leaving you without the time and attention required to achieve success on TikTok Shop 3. There are 6 components needed to scale a successful TikTok Shop: -- shop operation and management -- affiliate recruitment -- short form video management (UGC) -- paid media -- Live shopping -- organic social Without a healthy retainer and long enough runway you are going to sacrifice one or multiple components needed to achieve success on TikTok Shop And TikTok Shop is more of an all or nothing platform at this stage For example -- you could be scaling affiliates, content, and spark ads but if you don't have shop operations support and your shop score drops below a 3 it can tank your shop erasing all of the work and time you put into the channel 4. Successful marketing channels aren't built over night. Our top clients went 2-4 months with no results before their shops exploded If we would of been on a 2-4 month test instead of a longer contract they wouldn't be sitting on a new channel that is driving efficient revenue while having a halo effect across their entire business 5. Longer retainers = more resources and senior strategy to invest into each client Shorter retainers often means lower LTV for an agency. Lower LTV means less resources to invest in your biggest asset: YOUR PEOPLE Increasing our LTV has allowed us to recruit multiple top TikTok Shop strategists from brands and agencies that have scaled the biggest TikTok Shops Transitioning to an AOR has meant that we've had to turn down a lot of business that wasn't willing commit to 12 months And that's okay We're not trying to be the agency partner for everyone Our mission is to guide category leading brands to their dream outcome of an IPO or acquisition through our services And this move has gotten us one step closer to be able to achieve that for every client we work with

The biggest flex on TikTok right now - Chinese manufacturers revealing how luxury brands buy from them for under $50, slap a logo on them and sell those same products for thousands. They’re showing: • The factories • The materials • The wholesale pricing • The brands you know… and probably wear When brand perception is your only differentiator, transparency can erode your value fast. This is a PR nightmare and is exposing major blind spots: - If your entire pricing strategy relies on exclusivity and mystique, - If your customers believe they’re buying “luxury,” not just mark-up, - If your brand can’t defend its margin beyond storytelling, then all it takes is one viral trend to disrupt that illusion. I’m curious to see the impact this is going to have on the big brands that have been named. Will people still purchase a bag or pair of shoes for thousands of dollars? What does this mean for your business? You need brand resilience. That starts with stronger positioning, clearer value, and a reason for your price that goes deeper than the label. Brands built on perception must evolve when the curtain is pulled back. Want to future-proof yours? Let’s talk. #marketingstrategist #cmoinsights #marketingblindspots

I spent hours on TikTok yesterday (for research purposes, of course) watching a massive trend unfold: Chinese manufacturers are exposing the fashion industry. What changed? Post-Trump tariffs, they realised they could bypass the middlemen — and go viral in the process. And thanks to TikTok, they did. Suddenly, the supply chain isn’t just part of the backend. It’s the story. And customers are listening. What does this mean for consumer psychology? Take the Birkin bag: - It can cost anywhere from $12K to $50K - You can’t just walk into Hermès and buy one. You need a relationship, a spending history, and often an invitation to purchase - But now? The same Chinese manufacturers are selling direct-to-consumer for around $800 to $1,000 USD If everyone can have it now, what’s the real value of “premium”? When the illusion of exclusivity breaks, so does the willingness to pay a premium. It’s not just a pricing issue. It’s a trust issue. And trust is the backbone of every luxury brand. We’re seeing this shift ripple across Australian eCommerce too: - Platforms like Temu, Shein, and Alibaba-style marketplaces are everywhere - Over 9 million Australians made a purchase from an international online retailer last year - Gen Z is leading the charge, driven by price, convenience, and transparency So I’ll ask: What’s the future of luxury when transparency goes viral — and “direct from factory” becomes the new cool?

TikTok Shop has an extremely unique promotional strategy for repeat orders. I think Amazon brands can learn from it. Recently, I decided to test out buying a product on TikTok Shop. Not only was it cheaper on TikTok than elsewhere, but I was immediately incentivized to make another purchase. Here’s how they hooked me: After my first purchase, I received a 10% coupon. If I bought another product within 7 days, I’d get a 15% discount. And if I made a third purchase within the same timeframe, I’d unlock a 20% discount. This kind of gamification isn’t just about discounts—it’s about creating a sense of urgency and making the process feel like a game. It’s a strategy we’re seeing more often, especially from platforms like Temu. While I might find these tactics a bit aggressive as a marketer, there’s no denying their effectiveness. For Amazon brands, especially those with consumable products, there’s a lesson here: Whether it’s through Subscribe & Save, tailored promotions, or targeted DSP ads, finding creative ways to encourage repeat purchases can significantly boost customer loyalty. Let’s take a page from TikTok Shop’s playbook and think outside the box. How can we make our promotions not just appealing but engaging? It’s not just about the first sale—it’s about creating a relationship that keeps customers coming back.

You'd make more money if you treated people like humans. Most brands lose their best TikTok creators because they're terrible at relationships. You think your job is done after sending the product and paying a commission? Nope. That's just day one. Here's how I manage creators for every brand we scale. ➡️ WhatsApp Community We set up structured groups, in which having the right channels is everything: - Getting Started: Simple onboarding steps to activate creators FAST. - Brand Story: Context and narrative they can easily repeat. - Top Sellers: Regular updates on products actually driving revenue. - Content Inspiration: Creators share content, give feedback, and improve together. - Trends: Real-time insights into what's working on the platform. - Opportunities: Share proven content for creators to recreate and fuel virality. Managing the community is key. Creators are people, not sales tools. Actively engaging, guiding, and providing constant value builds loyalty. Your job is to make your creators succeed. Do this, and they'll make your brand succeed. It's simple: Great relationships → Consistent content → Massive GMV. Get relationships right, everything else follows. If you're struggling to retain creators, revisit your community strategy immediately. Your creators aren’t quitting TikTok Shop, they’re quitting YOU.