E-commerce platform TikTok and Shopify said Tuesday they are working together to enable consumers to shop directly from the TikTok app for the first time.
TikTok It is known as a video application that provides fun and memes. Although users purchase products directly from the application, TikTok It has many influencers who frequently mention clothing, makeup, and household products. Instead, users were able to purchase goods on TikTok only through ads in the app.
But under the new partnership, Shopify merchants participating in a pilot program will be able to add a shopping tab to their profile and link to products in their TikTok posts. Shopify said it expects to expand the feature to all of its merchants this fall.
TikTok joined Instagram and Facebook, which offers in-app shopping, is part of a larger shift toward what’s known as social commerce (purchasing products directly from a social media platform) as creators look for new ways to monetize their audiences.
“Social commerce is important because this is the new town square where consumers go to find and buy new products,” said Harley Finkelstein, president of Shopify, in an interview.
Blake Chandlee, TikTok’s head of global business solutions, said the move to in-app shopping reflects how people already use the app to find products. According to a survey TikTok conducted with London market researcher Walnut Unlimited in the fall, the app has inspired two-thirds of users to shop even when they don’t plan to. The hashtag #tiktokmademebuyit has been viewed 4.6 billion times.
One of the vendors that is part of the new pilot program, Kylie CosmeticsKylie Jenner’s makeup and skincare brand with two million followers on TikTok. Ms. Jenner’s personal TikTok account has 34.9 million followers.
Ms. Jenner wrote in an email that social media is “where I grow my audience and my community.” “The ability to buy my products directly on these platforms is very important because that’s where our viewers go first.”
Shopify said sales across social commerce channels, including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest, increased 76 percent from February 2020 to February 2021. Shopify works with 1.7 million merchants in total.