Written by Lindsay Dayanik, Social Commerce Director

In recent years, social shopping has surged in popularity, from the digital-native, younger generations who instinctively embrace the blend of entertainment and commerce – to broader demographics who simply appreciate the convenience of a seamless shopping experience. For brands to stay ahead, they must meet consumers where they are: on social platforms. It began with ‘shoppable posts’ on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest in the early 2010s but, as of the early 2020s, TikTok has led the way and played a huge role in pushing social shopping in-app to new heights.

With hashtags like #AsSeenOnTikTok and #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt amassing over 8 billion views, it’s clear that TikTok is revolutionising social shopping and the way that consumers discover and purchase products.

Now a powerful sales driver within itself, the visual and interactive nature of TikTok allows audiences to engage with brands on a deeper level. With consumers now expecting frictionless and immersive shopping experiences wherever they are, TikTok enables brands to deliver the authenticity and innovation that consumers crave through storytelling and real-time engagement, all within a seamless in-app journey.

So, how can your brand navigate this rapidly changing consumer landscape? Let’s delve into it.

What is TikTok shop?

TikTok shop is a shopping feature that is accessible directly on the TikTok app. It allows brands, creators and merchants to display and sell products directly on TikTok via in-feed ‘shoppable’ videos, TikTok Lives, Showcases and the TikTok shop tab.

TikTok is unique in the sense that whether you’re a big-name brand or a small business, everyone has the potential to ‘go viral’. Brands can directly connect with customers through interactive content and engage TikTok’s vast user base to drive incremental sales and gain real-time feedback. According to TikTok, 75% of users are likely to buy from brands they see on TikTok shop and shoppers are twice as likely to buy directly from TikTok than other marketplaces because it’s “entertaining”.

What is a TikTok shop agency?

Dentsu is now a certified TikTok Shop Partner in the UK – but what does this mean?

TikTok Shop Partners (TSPs) are service providers for TikTok shop merchants, helping them with shoppable content, store operation and growth on the platform. TikTok shop can seem overwhelming at first, as the opportunities are endless – which is why we are here to help.

Our latest report from Dentsu Lab, The Innovation Paradox, found that 60% of CMOs feel they don’t have the agency partner they need to help them to innovate. As a certified TikTok Shop Partner in the UK, we are offering our clients the extra support they need to enable innovation and maximise their presence on TikTok shop – helping them to transform audience engagement into tangible sales. We’ve also recently become the agency with the largest number of certified TikTok Shop Ad specialists in the UK, meaning we’ve got a team bursting with expertise to help support brands to succeed and scale on TikTok shop.

How to get on TikTok shop?

As a TikTok Shop Partner, we can provide you with the expertise, tools and support that you need to get on TikTok shop and maximise this emerging channel. Our team can provide a full end-to-end solution, from shop strategy and management to affiliate creator shopping campaigns, livestreaming and community moderation. Plus, our wider teams can assist with integrating paid social to drive commerce performance at scale.

Why should brands want to work with a TikTok Shop Partner?

So, why would brands need a TikTok Shop Partner? There’s no ‘one size fits all’ solution or reason that applies to every brand. Like everything we provide, our services are bespoke to fit each client’s needs. However, some of the reasons may be that you need our help with:

• Understanding and leveraging the tools and functionalities that TikTok shop requires brands to use.
• Making sense of the data that TikTok shop provides, and how to utilise it to your best advantage moving forward.
• Creating performance tracking solutions.
• Finding the right creators to partner with.
• Keeping up with the latest TikTok trends.
• Producing enough regular content to meet your KPIs.

Our services

Whether you are a novice or an advanced seller, we can support you by creating a bespoke solution that fits your immediate needs. Each scope of work will be unique, depending on the level of required support, but can include:

• Account setup, product strategy and optimisation – We ensure your TikTok Shop is fully optimised for conversions, from product listings to storefront design.
• Shoppable content creation – Our team crafts engaging short-form videos and live shopping experiences that drive sales and customer engagement.
• Creator shopping and affiliate marketing – We connect you with the right TikTok creators to amplify your brand and boost product sales with authentic platform-first content that resonates.
• Ad and paid media campaign management – We strategise and manage high-converting TikTok ad campaigns to reach your ideal audience.
• Ongoing strategy and support – Stay ahead with our data-driven insights and continuous optimisation to keep your TikTok Shop thriving.

Why dentsu? Across our offices in the UK, we have all the services and skillsets required to enable growth for your brand. We have profound relationships with other social platforms, including Adobe, Salesforce, Google and Amazon, and are proud to have:

• 800+ social media focused certifications.
• 230+ social specialists across paid, organic, creator and commerce.
• 120+ social media clients across a myriad of categories/sectors.
• 4,500+ commerce experts.

Investing in specialist capabilities will help your brand to stand out from the crowd. Whereas in the past it’s been difficult to quantify the value of ‘engagement’ metrics for social content, TikTok shop has proven the power of organic social and creators in building trust to generate sales. By incorporating first-party data analytics into TikTok Shop, TikTok enables brands to directly link likes, comments, shares and watch time statistics to sales conversions. This now means that brands can see how organic content and creator partnerships are driving purchasing behaviour in real time.

In summary, social commerce is on the rise, and with the increasing pace of sales transactions, now is the time to invest in your strategy. So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch today, and dive into this new way of selling that is transcending traditional approaches to digital marketing

If you’d like to hear more from us, take a look at this blog on ‘An introduction to retail media’