TikTok — it’s time to shop!

Last December, design studies senior Rhyanna Hatch received a thorough wishlist from her 19-year-old sister with products she wanted for Christmas and had found on TikTok Shop. Only slightly familiar with the 3-month-old feature, Hatch was reluctant to purchase anything from it, but her little sister’s (persistent) reassurance that it was safe pushed her to try it. She bought three items, including a good-quality, non-official Noah Kahan sweatshirt that, as she described, won her a “sister of the year” award. What followed after this initial experience was an obsession — one fueled by entrancing TikTok Shop videos that infiltrated her “For You” page.

Like Hatch, TikTok’s new online marketplace has captured the attention of many U.S. consumers since its release in September 2023, with an estimated 8% of Americans having used TikTok Shop, according to Capital One Shopping Research. Now, if you’re anything like me and sometimes struggle to visualize numbers — that’s almost 35 million people.

However,this growing marketplace has predominantly earned its way into the hearts of Gen Z consumers, who make up 44.7% of TikTok users. Before the release of its social commerce platform, TikTok had already become a space that nourished Gen Z’s consumer behavior since 52.5% of these buyers use the app for product discovery and shopping research. And now that buying a new product is as easy as clicking an orange shopping cart icon while watching a video, TikTok Shop has become the preferred social shopping platform for 29.1% of Gen Z consumers. 

So, what makes TikTok Shop so successful at captivating consumers? According to business journalist and author of The New Consumer newsletter, Dan Frommer, the app’s marriage between “mass digestible” content and product promotion makes for an easy and encouraging shopping experience. 

“TikTok videos generally are there for entertainment and education and amusement, and therefore, if you can apply that formula to videos about products, that seems like it can move the needle for a lot of them,” Frommer said.

Additionally, unlike other social commerce platforms like Instagram Shop or YouTube Shopping, TikTok has put e-commerce at the forefront of its content, making it easy for creators to link a product or storefront to a video review that will appear on users’ “For You” page. This, plus the app’s frequent discounts and crazy deals, has attracted younger consumers. Hatch shared that she once bought four Tarte Cosmetics products for a $20 bundle on TikTok Shop when each product was listed at that price on the brand’s official website.

According to Frommer, these features are further enhanced by users’ ability to see how many products a store has sold, increasing consumers’ trust even in small, no-name brands commonly found on the platform. One of the most popular products is the “Unbrush Detangling Hair Brush” from the unknown brand Beauty Choice, which has sold almost 1 million units. 

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♬ original sound – Liz The Clearance Queen

This increased trust has been essential in keeping TikTok Shop alive, as 81.3% of its sales in February 2024 came from existing customers — demonstrating well-preserved consumer loyalty. 

Hatch recalled that the second time she ordered from TikTok Shop, the product — a $5 car freshener — never arrived and was canceled, which led her to think the whole thing was a scam. But she has since learned to check each brand’s sales and reviews and has never been disappointed again. Like Frommer, she pointed to the organic nature of TikTok’s videos as the reason she continues to shop on the app. 

“TikTok Shop gives me a better way of seeing what it will look like because they have micro-influencers and regular people try on these clothes and using these products,” Hatch said. “It’s not like the models they have on Amazon where they’re all like different body sizes, and I can’t find the right one — on TikTok, these are girls that look just like me.” 

These “micro-influencers” include users with at least 1,000 followers who TikTok has approved to set up a “Showcase.” In this Showcase, creators can link TikTok Shop products to their profile and earn a commission every time one is sold directly from their account. Though this incentive might lead to ill-intentioned promotion, the candid nature of video reviews seems to promote sales the most for these creators. 

Grace Lucinski, an Syracuse University senior and content creator with over 200,000 followers, said all the products she has listed on her Showcase are from her previous TikTok Shop purchases. She explained that she doesn’t feel comfortable recommending products she has never seen or used, so she only links the ones she actually owns. Still, because she has yet to post a video review or promotion of one of her 13 products, she hasn’t sold any.

So, what does this mean for the future of e-commerce? According to Frommer, TikTok Shop is not slowing down. Based on data he has collected for his Consumer Trends report, the amount U.S. consumers spend on TikTok Shop monthly is on a steady incline. Still, he believes this is representative of the natural direction that the market is taking, in which media and commerce are merged as one. 

Already, e-commerce giant Amazon has implemented a live shopping feature that allows users to see influencers trying out products they can shop for in real-time. Frommer expects other platforms to hop on the same trend. 

This also means that the future of e-commerce relies more on a consumer’s ability to connect to individuals rather than brands. TikTok Shop has already paved the way by making it as simple as clicking while scrolling. 

As for avid TikTok Shoppers like Hatch, they are getting ready to save again this holiday season since experts predict this year will surpass the 5% of U.S. consumers who shopped the site for gifts in 2023. Hatch has already received her sister’s yearly TikTok Shop wishlist — this time, double the products and half the price.