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DEEP DIVE

I've been having some interesting conversations lately with folks who've been building Amazon-Shopify integration strategies. The thesis is simple:

Amazon gives you reach. Shopify gives you ownership.

Amazon drives demand. Shopify delivers margin.

Amazon captures discovery. Shopify builds loyalty.

And honestly? They're not wrong.

But here's what nobody wants to admit:

The Amazon-to-Shopify move is brutally hard.

On Amazon, you're borrowing trust. Customers buy from brands they've never heard of because Amazon handles the risk. Easy returns. Prime shipping. The whole machine.

Shopify? You're on your own.

Your brand has no built-in reputation. No trust signals. No safety net.

Convincing an Amazon customer to go find your Shopify store, enter their card details on a site they've never heard of, and hope for the best?

That's a big ask.

But here's the thing — when it works, it's gold.

Once you crack the code and figure out what actually gets customers to move, you can calculate your cost of acquisition and scale. That's when Shopify becomes the profit engine everyone promises. Subscriptions. Higher margins. Direct relationships. Email flows that print money.

The problem is getting there.

This is where 2026 gets interesting.

TikTok Shop isn't just another sales channel. It's a brand awareness machine.

Think about it. Your customers are spending 95 minutes per day on TikTok. Not searching for products. Discovering them.

Creators are showing your product in action. Building trust. Making your brand memorable.

And once your brand lives in someone's head, here's what happens:

Path 1: They buy on TikTok Shop. Easiest win. Impulse purchase. Done.

Path 2: They search your brand on Amazon. Now they're not searching "vitamin C serum" — they're searching your brand name. Less competition. Higher conversion. Better margins on ad spend.

Path 3: They find your Shopify site, subscribe, and purchase. This is the gold. The top prize. A direct customer relationship with recurring revenue and no platform fees eating your margins. And with AI shopping agents becoming mainstream in 2026, this path is only going to get easier for customers who already know and trust your brand.

TikTok Shop solves the awareness problem that makes Shopify so hard.

Here's what happened last Black Friday:

TikTok Shop pulled in over $100 million in US sales — tripling the previous year's results.

During peak shopping season, TikTok Shop conversion rates hit 5.2%.

Amazon? 2.1%.

That's not a rounding error. That's a fundamental shift in how people buy.

And if we zoom out to Q4 overall, TikTok Shop sellers saw a 400% increase in sales compared to Q3.

Meanwhile, social commerce globally is projected to hit $1.2 trillion. The US alone is expected to reach $80+ billion in social commerce sales.

Gen Z? They're sitting on $360 billion in spending power. And they're not discovering products on Amazon. They're discovering them in their ‘For You’ feed.

The smart brands this year won't be trying to drag customers from Amazon to Shopify through sheer force of will.

They'll be building brand awareness on TikTok Shop and letting customers choose their own path.

TikTok Shop = Brand awareness engine. Build trust. Get discovered. Create demand.

Amazon = Capture that demand. When they search your brand name, be there. Convert the awareness into sales.

Shopify = The end game. For customers who want the direct relationship, subscriptions, and the brands they trust enough to buy direct.

Three platforms. One brand. Multiple paths to purchase.

If you're an Amazon seller reading this thinking "I'll get to TikTok eventually" — I need to be blunt.

Your competitors aren't waiting.

The brands winning on TikTok Shop right now aren't just getting sales. They're building content libraries. Creator relationships. Brand recognition.

All stuff that compounds.

When those customers search on Amazon, they're searching brand names — not generic keywords. When those customers finally find the Shopify store, they already trust the brand.

The Amazon-only playbook is becoming a liability.

2026 isn't about choosing Amazon OR Shopify OR TikTok Shop.

It's about understanding how they feed each other.

TikTok Shop makes Shopify possible by solving the awareness problem.

TikTok Shop makes Amazon more profitable by driving branded search.

2026 is the year of social commerce and AI shopping agents. The brands that win will be the ones ready for both.

Rankster's focus this year is omni-channel. Helping brands build this flywheel across TikTok Shop, Amazon, and Shopify. Not as separate strategies — as one connected growth engine.

The brands that win 2026 will be the ones that figure out how to make all three platforms work together.

Not as three separate P&Ls.

As one growth engine.

That's it for this week 👊

But I need to ask a favour...

Thanks for reading

- Paul 👊

PS…... 2026 is the year of omni-channel and AI agents….. if you are serious, reply to this or let’s chat (I am so bullish on this I have made some life altering decisions….. I don’t want to be left behind)