TikTok Shop: 8 Things Growth Marketers Should Know
The fate of TikTok in the U.S. is still in flux. At DMi Partners, from the beginning of regulation discussions, we’ve done more than stay the course for our clients; we’ve doubled down on channel investment, with great return on ad spend to show for it.
One of the primary reasons? TikTok Shop.
In this article, I’ll lay out eight attributes of TikTok Shop that provide unique growth opportunities in today’s marketing landscape — and why I believe that, in aggregate, they more than justify investing time and budget into a channel with an undefined future.
1. Scale is Huge … and Only Growing
If you’re worried that committing to TikTok Shop campaigns isn’t worth the risk of getting the rug pulled by regulation, consider the flip side: choosing to sit it out means you’re neglecting a channel that’s pulled in over $1B in sales since July 2024.
Even if TikTok is eventually regulated out of your channel portfolio (and I’m guessing that won’t happen), you’ll be leaving a whole lot of revenue potential on the table in the meantime.
2. TikTok’s Social Shopping is Growing Faster Than Meta’s — or Anyone Else’s
We’re not just talking growth as a percentage; we’re talking overall scale. The 11.9 million U.S. buyers who purchased something on TikTok Shop in 2024 were more than Meta or Pinterest’s in-app buyers over the same period.
3. TikTok Shop and Creators Form a Powerful Combo
The strength of TikTok Shop lies in its ability to leverage the content and social clout of creators. According to Forbes, affiliate drives 70 percent of all purchases on TikTok, which has a number of unique benefits that I’ll spell out.
4. TikTok Shop Affiliate Minimizes Upfront Cost Commitments
At the heart of TikTok Shop’s affiliate program sits the cost-effective revenue share model, where brands on the platform are only paying commission to creators for purchases they’re driving. Furthermore, Shop has introduced additional features to minimize any risk in partnerships, such as its refundable samples tool where creators purchase their own sample for video creation but have the opportunity to be refunded if they meet the brand’s pre-disclosed promotional criteria (e.g., produce one video, generate one sale, etc.).
In the era of potential tariffs and economic unrest, TikTok’s affiliate program presents a low-risk opportunity for brands to partner with highly engaged creators.
5. Shop is Registering Off-the-Charts Engagement
Compared to other platforms, TikTok Shop’s affiliate links have an average 5.2 percent engagement rate, a 160 percent higher rate than on Instagram (source: Capital One Shopping). This is undoubtedly due to the winning combination of TikTok Shop’s effortless checkout experience for users and creator content that creates (and leverages) FOMO when capitalizing on trending viral moments.
6. Shop Collapses the Traditional Purchase Funnel
Shop combines TikTok’s wholly unique discoverability power with direct response purchasing ease, which makes it all too convenient for users to make impulse buys within minutes of encountering a product for the first time. Even if users don’t ultimately make a transaction in the same session, Shop provides value at discovery, consideration (given the social proof of the creators on the platform), and conversion, which has both short-term benefits and latent value to brands.
7. Impulse Buying is a Shop Feature, Not a Bug
Speaking of impulse buying, TikTok Shop users are the most susceptible to impulse buying of any other platform, with 55 percent of users making impulse buys compared to Instagram's 44 percent.
8. Shop Has Friendly Engagement Costs … for Now
One of the benefits of staying aggressive as other advertisers got cold feet from regulation threats: our clients enjoyed relatively low CPMs on Shop. If and when TikTok is sold in a manner that tables regulation talk for good, advertisers will surge back onto the platform — and costs will go up. If you’re willing to take the plunge, do it now.
There’s never any sure bet in marketing (especially these days), but some bets are smarter than others. TikTok Shop has been one of those smart bets for our clients for months, and the returns only compound as more users engage with the platform.
Elizabeth Hoover is director of partnership innovation and growth at full-service digital marketing agency DMi Partners.
Elizabeth Hoover is Director of Partnership Innovation and Growth at full-service digital marketing agency DMi Partners. Liz has been in the industry since 2015; she joined DMi Partners in 2018, bringing experience from technology and brand-side roles. Liz’s work to develop growth opportunities for DMi’s clients and partners has earned her 2023 “One to Watch” honors from the Global Performance Marketing Awards, following her inclusion in PerformanceIn’s 2021 top 50 list. Liz lives in the Philadelphia area, where she is determined to pet every dog she comes across.
