Is TikTok Shop the Future of Online Business? – You are relaxing today. You plan to lay down while scrolling through the TikTok app. Without realizing it, you find a video of people selling, for example, fried meatballs or basreng. You are interested in trying it, because when viewed in the yellow basket, the price is exorbitantly cheap!!
Did you buy those fried meatballs on TikTok Shop? What items have you bought on TikTok Shop?
TikTok app, getting ahead! Yes, how not, apart from being a place to express creative ideas for creators, TikTok presents its application as a place for businesspeople and entrepreneurs to promote goods, services and services.
Result? The TikTok Shop feature is warmly and well received by everyone, especially on small businesspeople as well as those who already have big names!
Tech Team Indonesia sees the rise of TikTok as an e-commerce destination, and how TikTok will affect commerce on social media. Plus, TikTok’s popularity has skyrocketed, and not just with Gen Z.
As the TikTok platform continues to roll out new shopping features, including a new partnership with Shopify, various e-commerce companies are starting to see the potential of TikTok.
But is TikTok Shop the future of online commerce?
Below, we lay out TikTok’s purpose as a platform that can conduct commercial transactions, and share our predictions on how TikTok will affect social trading in the coming year!
Is TikTok the Future of Online Business?
E-commerce brands have realized the importance of social media for years, but it has only recently been that new social media platforms have incorporated users’ shopping activities into their features, such as TikTok Shop, Instagram Shop, etc.
Facebook was the first social media platform to do so, and the results were truly successful. But now, almost every social media platform, has a fully integrated e-commerce system, starting from TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest to Snapchat.
However, let’s move on to the TikTok platform, a newcomer application in the world of social media, but it has become the most loved application by the Indonesian people.
But, if we think for a moment, what exactly makes TikTok special? Why is it getting so much recognition as a good online business platform?
Well, then there are several reasons for it to appear!
Social media is increasingly driven by visual experiences, and nothing is more real than on TikTok, which specializes in creating rich and diverse short-form video content.
So many brands take advantage of this opportunity to build a large following and engage in their selling content, and ultimately create a community around their products.
Uniquely, TikTok users are usually younger, than other social platforms, which creates opportunities for brands that hope to access (and drive revenue from) younger audiences — such as millennials and Gen Z.
Who is trying millennials and Gen Z kids who are already tired of buying cute things and cheap snacks on TikTok??
Try comparing it to Facebook’s audience, which is more diverse by age, but their audience tends to be older, and you can see why so many brands treat TikTok as one of the best opportunities to reach young consumers.
TikTok is also poised to become the next “big” online business platform, thanks to the launch of several new shopping features.
To date, TikTok has experimented with allowing users to add their business website link to their bio, launching a “Shop Now” button on ad videos, and introducing an e-commerce feature with the “Hashtag Challenge Plus” that allows users to shop for products. related to sponsored hashtags.
TikTok Officially Moves to Social Commerce Room with Shopify Deal
In late October 2021, TikTok announced the first partnership with the Shopify platform. According to Satish Kanwar, Vice President of Product at Shopify, the partnership aims to make it easier for more than 1 million Shopify merchants to reach a younger TikTok audience and drive their sales.
“TikTok is one of the fastest growing entertainment platforms in the world with over 100 million highly engaged users in the US alone,” Kanwar said in his interview with TechCruch.
“TikTok and Shopify, even those who don’t yet have a strong TikTok following, can connect with new audiences, by using authentic and original content,” he continued.
Merchants who access the program will be able to connect their TikTok for Business account, with their Shopify account. Then they can sell their products on TikTok through video ads that can be purchased in the feed.
What’s the best part?
Everything is managed through the Shopify dashboard, including ad creation, targeting (gender, age, user behavior, and video category), optimization, and tracking.
3 TikTok Online Shop Predictions
Although it is still new, social commerce on TikTok has proven to be very attractive for brands to promote. Below, we highlight some of our predictions about how TikTok will affect social trading. Let’s look at some of them:
- Brand Opportunity to Reach a Younger Audience
How popular TikTok is with a younger demographic, especially Gen Z. In fact, more than 60% of TikTok users belong to this growing generation of consumers.
So from the report, this can be a great opportunity for a brand that wants to engage with a younger audience.
But it also means that businesses need to understand the characteristics that drive Gen Z and their purchasing decisions — such as authenticity, brand purpose, and self-expression.
2. Brands Must Adjust Their Content to Look Beautiful!
Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and other platforms have very different visual aesthetics than TikTok, so it’s not enough to just reuse ads on a TikTok account’s feed, but rather create content specifically for ads!
To create ads on TikTok, a brand must embrace the story-telling style on TikTok, which becomes a dynamic, high-energy platform. Impress the audience for the first 5 seconds. This is to avoid missing or people skipping your video!
Don’t use words like “Don’t skip this video!” or “You skip this video?”, make interesting words or create an atmosphere that attracts the target audience, so you can feel at home with your video!
If you are just starting out with TikTok and haven’t mastered what kind of content in TikTok you are, it might be a good idea to collaborate with TikTok creators to provide original and organic advertising content.
3. Short-form video ads will become more important
The business partnership with TikTok is likely to generate a number of new online business features in the future, but for now, video ads in the feed are the best effort to drive online business sales on TikTok.
Therefore, it is important to familiarize yourself with short-format video ads that attract the attention and interest of users in the first few seconds. Want your social media to get good ads and traffic? Let’s entrust it with Tech Team Indonesia, with social media management services and TikTok ad creation!