TikTok Shop grows brand participation in the US

The Future. TikTok’s onboarding more brands for their US Shop feature, which allows companies to sell products on TikTok via a full online checkout service. The platform has had mixed success with Shop globally, but if the test phase yields good results, Shop may come to the States for good.

Checking out checkout
Techcrunch covered the feature’s structure and its growing collaboration with brands.

• Shop users in the US can now access apparel and beauty products from brands like REVOLVE, Willow Boutique, PacSun, and KimChi Chic Beauty.

• Shoppers can view product catalogs from these brands’ profiles by tapping on the displayed shopping bag icon. From there, they can complete the entire checkout process from within TikTok.

• Users could always buy things through TikTok before Shop but had to be redirected to an in-app browser. Now, they never have to leave the app (just like how Instagram Shop works).

TikTok Shop is still in a “testing phase” in the US and has no public release date for the feature’s full rollout.

Right place, wrong time?
TikTok’s expanding its e-commerce efforts just as other major players are scaling theirs back. Facebook shut down its live shopping offering last August, and Instagram just announced they’ll be nixing theirs too. That said, Amazon and YouTube are still trying out similar services.

Evidence suggests that social commerce like TikTok Shop is less successful in Western markets than in Asia, but TikTok has bucked trends before. Only time will tell.