TikTok E-commerce future in Europe?

Livestream shopping on TikTok is big business in China! The e-commerce experience provides an opportunity for companies to showcase their products in real-time through livestream events. By participating in these events, TikTok users can buy products without leaving the app. A few months back, the brand also introduced this feature in Europe but pulled the plug since the market did not respond like planned.

From an organic posting point of view, the #tiktokmademebuyit is performing extremely well on the platform. With over 18 billion views (and counting) the platform is taking over digital word-of-mouth marketing. Not only the amazing number of views makes this hashtag essential, but also its impact on brand awareness and boosting sales.

Even though we don’t see this trend reflected in European live streams, TikTok has decided to take next steps with the introduction of 3 new Shopping Ads. The company introduces Video Shopping Ads, Catalog Listing Ads and LIVE Shopping Ads. Now the question is whether this will work in Europe and maybe even more important: how are they going to convince the European consumers to use this?

TikTok remains optimistic. With the data they have collected so far, they hope that these new ways of online shopping will become a thing after all and say that users are interested in more in-stream buying options. “56% of TikTok users say ads on the platform let them discover a new brand or product”, “48% of TikTok users are interested in purchasing from the platform during the next 3 months” and “70% of TikTok users say it’s easy to buy something through TikTok shopping ads”. We’re very curious and will be keeping an eye on it over the next few months! Stay tuned.