The Rise of Social Shopping: TikTok Shop Launches in Europe
Despite being less than 10 years old, TikTok has gone on to become a social media phenomenon. With over 1.58 billion estimated monthly users, it’s now the world’s fifth most popular social media platform.
The US, Indonesia, and Brazil dominate TikTok’s audience share with 135.79 million, 107.7 million, and 91.75 million active users respectively. In Indonesia and Brazil, most users are between the ages of 18 and 24. While the top age demographic in the US is 25 - 34 years old.
As TikTok’s audience is predominantly made up of younger users, many are choosing the app in favour of traditional search engines.
With a diverse mix of creators, users can quickly find answers to burning questions. Whereas TikTok Shop allows businesses to target those younger generations and generate revenue.
It was recently announced that TikTok Shop would be arriving in Europe with expansion into France, Germany, and Italy. We’re taking a closer look at how it exactly works and the benefits TikTok Shop can bring to your ecommerce strategy.
What is TikTok Shop?
TikTok Shop is the social media giant’s integrated ecommerce solution. Users can discover and purchase products shown in video content and the shop tab.
Big-name brands across a range of industries, including fashion and beauty, are turning to TikTok Shop to grow their revenue. These include ASOS, Zara, and L’Oreal Paris UK.
The app also provides a great platform for smaller businesses to showcase and sell their products. In 2023, there were an estimated 1.5 million small and medium businesses in the UK using TikTok to engage with their customers.
But it’s not just businesses that can capatilise on the success of TikTok Shop. Creators can also become an affiliate and earn commission on products and links shared with audiences.
How powerful is TikTok Shop?
After arriving in the UK in 2021 and the US in 2023, TikTok Shop has grown rapidly. In America, sales have already overtaken retail giants Shein and Sephora.
It’s estimated that a huge $32 million is spent by US consumers on TikTok Shop. Whereas in the UK, there are now over 200,000 active businesses selling their products through the social media platform.
According to TikTok’s Creative Center data, the most popular products in the UK include:
- Perfume
- Casual dresses
- Jackets and coats
- Underwear sets
- Serums and essences
When will TikTok Shop launch in Europe?
TikTok Shop launched in Europe on 31st March 2025. This gives 72.1 million users across Germany, France, and Italy the opportunity to shop products within the platform.
Why is it important to incorporate TikTok Shop into your ecommerce strategy?
The ecommerce landscape is constantly evolving, and whether you’re a small or large business, it’s important to adapt to succeed. If you’re still on the fence about TikTok Shop, we’re looking at five key reasons why you should incorporate it into your strategy.
1. Reach new demographics
TikTok’s user base is predominantly made up of Gen Z and Millennials between the ages of 18 - 34.
According to Exploding Topics, 29% of Gen Z are more likely to buy from a company with a social media presence. With 41% preferring to discover new things via video content.
While older generations have long been thought to have more spending power, Gen Z represents 5% of global retail spend.
TikTok Shop is a huge opportunity to engage with new demographics that you might not have previously reached.
2. Grow your customer base
In recent years, TikTok has given brands and creators a platform to produce viral content.
Trends can quickly take the world by storm and rack up millions of likes in just a short space of time. Compared to Instagram, the app also has an easier virality loop thanks to its for you page algorithm. Content is proritised based on user interests, while Instagram leans towards user interactions.
This kind of exposure can introduce your brand to new audiences and potential customers to skyrocket your sales.
3. Utilise different content formats
TikTok Shop products can be showcased in a range of different ways within the app. You can create:
- Shoppable videos - a yellow shopping bag icon will appear within the video, which allows users to click through to product detail pages.
- Live streams - a great way to delve deeper into your products by explaining features and benefits. Users can then directly purchase items featured in the live stream.
- In-feed ads - a short video that appears within for you page feeds with organic content and appears less like an ad.
With multiple ways to introduce users to your products, you can test different formats and find out what works best for your audience.
4. Create a seamless buying experience
A complicated online buying process can be a massive barrier to sales and result in users abandoning their cart and exiting your website.
However, TikTok Shop is a complete end-to-end ecommerce solution. Users can discover and purchase products without having to leave the app. As well as being able to view order details, tracking and delivery information - all in one place.
5. Tailor products to individual users
Personalisation is becoming increasingly common in marketing. It’s now something that consumers expect from companies that they interact with and spend their hard-earned money with.
TikTok’s algorithm matches users with content that best resonates with them, and TikTok Shop leverages this. You can create hyper-personalised experiences with product recommendations, special offers, and tailored messaging.
In doing so, you can increase your chances of your products being seen by the right audience and watch conversions soar. It’s also estimated that revenue can be increased by up to 15% with personalised marketing.
While still relatively new, TikTok Shop’s success is already huge. This is only set to get bigger as the social platform rolls out its ecommerce solution into more countries. It also demonstrates how quickly the industry can adapt to new technology, which is vital to succeed.
There are currently no tech integrations for TikTok Shop. However, in the meantime, you can integrate SaleCycle with Shopify and Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Did you know that you can increase the reach of your anonymous visitors by up to 67%?
Get in touch with us today to find out more.
Sources
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1299807/number-of-monthly-unique-tiktok-users/
https://www.silicon.co.uk/e-marketing/ecommerce/tiktok-shop-us-593031
https://capitaloneshopping.com/research/tiktok-shopping-statistics/
https://channelx.world/2024/11/tiktok-shop-uk-2024-in-numbers/
https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/top-products/pc/en
https://explodingtopics.com/blog/gen-z-spending
https://www.enterprisenation.com/learn-something/tiktok-used-by-1-5m-uk-businesses/
