The Future of Online Shopping
Many things have changed since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020 and 2021, lockdowns and movement control orders forced us to break our day-to-day routines. To adapt to the new normal, businesses and consumers increasingly “went digital”. Deeply ingrained habits were forced to change, from online food and grocery ordering to a more extensive shopping trip to a temporary halt to browsing as a leisure activity.
Thanks to the pandemic, live shopping is one of the biggest emerging trends in the e-commerce sphere. Platforms like Lazada, Shopee, and even Facebook are flooded with live content. But! As consumers began shopping in person again, businesses started to ask: Was the Covid-bump a one-and-done deal, or could e-commerce growth continue?
As markets have opened, it’s clear that people are willing to return to their favourite shopping centres, leisure activities, dining and drinking for the in-store experience. However, this does not prove that e-commerce will not grow further. Studies found that 32% of the APAC respondents who join the survey still plan to continue buying more online. This could be most likely due to the consumers who still shop online for inspiration, discovery or product comparison rather than purchasing products.
All in all, some consumers will mix online and offline after researching and comparing products. Unexpectedly, Meta announced that Facebook would disable users and retailers from hosting live shopping from 1st October 2022 onwards, but broadcasting live still allowed. Does this mean that this is the end of Live Shopping?
The answer is NO.
Even though the demise of Facebook Live Shopping has shocked brands, the brands will always go to the channels where their audiences consume content. So! TikTok Shop would likely see an uptick in terms of exploration around social commerce as brands test new media formats, platforms, and types of content to attract consumers to open their hearts and wallets.
But.. what is TikTok Shop? How can it bring impact?
We believe many of you have heard about or downloaded TikTok before. Over the years, TikTok has revamped its app from increasing its video duration, to live streaming content, to introducing the Story feature. Slowly, they turned TikTok entertainment into shopping entertainment by introducing their e-commerce feature – TikTok Shop. It allows users to shop from in-feed videos and live streaming without leaving the app. Most brands are still unaware of how it will impact the future of e-commerce.
But why start selling on TikTok in addition to the other social channels? The simple answer is massive reach and high engagement rates.
Why TikTok Shop?
Actually, TikTok Shop is the ideal platform for brands to explore and educate the audience, especially when the targeted audience is the younger generations. This is because these people spend at least 52 minutes daily on TikTok, with 68% of them watching other people’s videos.
TikTok Shop enables businesses to take advantage of a variety of marketing opportunities such as user-generated content and influencer marketing (affiliate programme). Users may opt to buy from TikTok for a variety of reasons, including promotions, honest reviews, and how easy the products are to purchase. Some items available on the TikTok Shop have started trending, making them sell out extremely fast.
#TikTokMadeMeBuy achieved 23.9B views which speak volumes about the change in the online landscape. With many new brands and customers eager to get their products on the TikTok market, TikTok Shop is rapidly climbing the social media ladder.
The benefits of TikTok Shop for Business
There are multiple ways the brand can market the products online. Obviously, we believe influencer and affiliate marketing to be vital to marketing success.
To help the brand grow its digital footprint, TikTok Shop has different features to help the brand create awareness, increase sales performance and video views. Upon the brand getting onboarded to be a part of the TikTok Shop Seller, it can begin to showcase their products through in-feed videos, live selling, and a shop window on their TikTok profile page.
Not only could the brand sell its products through its TikTok profile, but it could also get support from influencers to advertise products and build brand awareness through the affiliate programme. When the brand joins the TikTok seller affiliate programme, it can help them to get more traffic, improve product conversion rate and boost sales by just providing the creators with certain commissions and product samples.
Think of it this way, most influencers already have a strong following, and if the brand can find the best influencers, the brand can piggyback off of his or her success and reach a much larger audience.
Frankly, now is the perfect time to tap into the TikTok Shop trend, to drive discovery and action among the target audience. To incentivise sellers to be a part of TikTok Shop Seller, TikTok Shop only charges a 1% payment service fee and zero commission fees for its merchants at the moment.
Check out these 3 brands to see how they master selling on TikTok:
1. Wardah
2. Skintific
3. Aik Cheong
The benefits of TikTok Shop for Creators
How can TikTok creators make money? Before we answer this question, I guess all of you clearly understand the nature of TikTok Shop Affiliate Marketing.
Similarly, many creators use their strong online profiles to market and promote affiliate products to their audiences. They can do both influencer and affiliate marketing, which relies on the power of recognition. The more somebody is known and makes a name for him or herself, the more that person is likely to be a successful creator or affiliate.
TikTok creators don’t need to own a business or have a TikTok Seller account to make money from TikTok. The question that might cross your mind is – how can I get paid and what should I do.
Affiliate marketing for creators is a popular way of earning passive income, and it often starts as a side hustle. However, that’s not to say being an affiliate marketer can’t be a full-time job. There is the possibility of earning up to 4 figures in one live session or via short videos too.
To get paid from TikTok, firstly, you’ll need to decide how you want to promote products and services. Next, find a way to request the product sample from the merchant to promote to your audience. So what you can do here is to either target merchants that joined an affiliate programme or joined an affiliate network (multi-channel network; MCN). If you choose to work with MCN, you could get extra commission from them too!
Once you have received the product sample, you may introduce and showcase the products in your more creative way via Short Video or Live Selling. If any of your audience purchases the product from your short video or live stream, you just need to wait to get the commissions on your sales!
Want to register to become a TikTok Creator now?
You’ll first need patience, but that’s not all! If you’re counting on making money on TikTok, you’ll have to meet a number of conditions.
First, you must live in Malaysia. Secondly, while TikTok has long been associated with younger users, only those at least 18 years old will be eligible for this affiliate programme. Another requirement, and not the least, concerns your community, as you’ll need to have at least 1,000 followers to access the programme. Your videos will play an essential role in the registration process, and you’ll need to post 3 videos in the last 28 days and have obtained at least 50 views. And it may go without saying, but your account must comply with TikTok’s community rules and terms of service.
But hey! If you are keen to become a TikTok Creator but do not have 1,000 followers on TikTok, don’t worry! You can now become a TikTok Creator when you bind your account with Nuffnang (MCN partner for TikTok Shop). You could get more benefits when binding with us!
We hope this article can help you get more traffic and boost sales via TikTok Shop.
If the above read is exciting to you in considering bringing a new shopping experience for your audience, feel free to reach us at [email protected]!
