Tiktok hopes that Western consumers will shop like Chinese

2025-01-29 16:10:00 :

However, this year, many consumers will not shop on stores or e -commerce websites, but instead shop through social media applications. Social Trade-Online purchases from social media-$ 72 billion in the United States in 2024 will reach the research company Emarketer, accounting for 6 % of online sales. This is $ 47 billion in 2022, and is expected to reach $ 100 billion in 2026 (see the chart). These transactions are increasingly available for completion without the need to leave the social media platform without shopping.

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The leading trend is Tiktok, a short video application owned by Chinese technology giant Bondedance. The application is working hard with the US legislators in the United States legislators to prohibit or sell it. It is hoped that it will take it to the Western business model to blur the boundaries between shopping and entertainment. TIKTOK SHOP is an e -commerce function. Last year, it added the application with the United States in 2021 with the United States. Users can browse posts about products. Watching on -site shopping activities and only need to click a few times to buy products. The application has received 9 % sales commission in the UK and 6 % commission in the United States. Tiktok now also has a logistics service that can handle the packaging, delivery and income.

Despite the rapid growth of the TIKTOK store, this makes Western extensive social trade. Meta has tried various attempts to embed e -commerce into Facebook and Instagram without being attractive. In order to continue the Tiktok Shop, it will need to overcome the hesitation of consumers, brands, and the influencers connecting them.

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In China, the difference between shopping and entertainment has become blurred. According to EMARKETER, this year, social trade will account for $ 9 billion in online sales in the country, accounting for nearly 30 % of all e -commerce. Tiktok’s sister -in -law Douyin and its main local competitors Kuaishou are now one of the country’s largest e -commerce platforms, based on the value of product sold through them.

However, in the West, shoppers use social media as a slow place to buy things. In a recent survey of Americans by a marketing software company Simplicity DX, 62 % of people think that social media is a useful place for new products, but 74 % still prefer to buy goods on traditional e -commerce websites.

Products currently sold on social media are often cheap impulses, from snacks to stupid toys, which is not available. When your correspondent opened the Tiktok store, she got 30 packs of diet cola and a plush toy shaped like fries. Joe Gagliese, a marketing institution Viral National, pointed out that many merchants on the platform are unknown companies selling individual products. The Tiktok store aims to encourage impulse shopping; for example, when the product is discounted, it sometimes shows a clock and countdown at the end of the sales. Another recent survey found that more than half of Americans who shopping on social media regret their purchase.

Big brands have also been vigilant. With the help of influential people, people have accepted social media as a place to promote their products. There are also some sportswear brands PUMA and beauty giant L’ORéal. Jack Timpany, the marketing director of L’ORéal, said this is a useful method for getting new products in front of consumers. He said: “In traditional e -commerce channels, you are uncomfortable to be restricted by the content that people invest in the search bar.” Britain.

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However, other companies are also uneasy about this idea. Sportswear brand GyMShark seriously relies on influential marketing to increase its popularity and directly launched sales through Tiktok. Noel Mack provides a brand strategy for the company. He said that this is because many of the importance to the Tiktok store are selling products around deep discounts.

The content of influential people helps to promote the participation of TIKTOK, and more persuasion is needed. They may be happy to represent the brand’s promotion products, but many people are unwilling to promote cheap products that they usually find on Tiktok Shop. Western social media users are increasingly skeptical of influential influencers. “The follower becomes smarter,” Samantha Bergmann, the founder of influential marketing agency SESAMY, said: “You can no longer sell them to something that they are not suitable for your brand.” Eric Sheridan explained that the popularity of the industry is “authentic”. This may be difficult to maintain when selling plush toys.

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学 2025, “Journal of Economics” Co., Ltd.. all rights reserved. From economists, published according to permission. The original content can be found on www.economist.com

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