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- 🚨 Amazon's Evil Twin: How TikTok Shop is Killing Organic Reach & Forcing Pay-to-Play..... Issue #101
🚨 Amazon's Evil Twin: How TikTok Shop is Killing Organic Reach & Forcing Pay-to-Play..... Issue #101
Reading Time: 4 min | Readability: Grade 2 (sadly, I am an ex-teacher…. look where your taxes went) |
Welcome to Rankster 👊
The weekly newsletter that's more powerful than the Death Star... but we only blow your mind, not planets.
In today’s issue:
DEEP DIVE: Is TikTok Shop becoming a Paid platform…. like Amazon
TikTok Algo Changes
Toy Brand’s $28 million gold rush on TikTok Shop
TikTok Ban Saga Continues
And more…
🔽 Let’s get started
BEST LINKS
What Caught My Eye This Week
🚀 Seller News….. News you need to know
📦 TikTok Shop Domination….. Winning formulas from the TikTok trenches
DEEP DIVE
💰 TikTok Shop: Copying Amazon's Playbook While Killing Organic Reach
Remember when Amazon was just a place to buy books?
Today, Amazon makes more money from ads than it does from Prime. No joke – $46 billion in ad revenue in 2023 alone.
And guess what? TikTok is following Amazon's playbook to the letter..... just faster and more ruthlessly. 🚀
🔍 The Amazon Blueprint TikTok Is Stealing
Amazon spent years building a shopping platform first, then gradually squeezed organic listings to push sponsored products.
TikTok? They're doing the exact same thing – but on steroids.
The average engagement rate for brand accounts has plummeted from 5.5% in 2023 to just 3.3% in 2024.
Three separate studies in 2024 put brand post engagement at a measly 2.63%, which is "less than half of last year."
Why? Because approximately one-third of all FYP content is now ads or affiliate Shop posts – just like how Amazon's first page is now dominated by sponsored listings.
💸 Show Me The Money
The numbers tell the story:
58% of brands surveyed by Digiday in May 2025 said they plan to INCREASE their TikTok ad spend.
WARC forecasts global TikTok ad spend to jump 24.5% to approximately $32 billion in 2025.
Sound familiar? This mirrors Amazon's ad growth trajectory almost perfectly.
TikTok Shop commissions rose from 2% to 8% in 2024, squeezing margins and forcing brands to compensate with – you guessed it – more ad spend.
Just like Amazon increased FBA fees while simultaneously pushing more sellers toward their advertising platform.
Different platform, same strategy: create dependency, then monetize it.
We have a few brands where we ONLY focus on ads….
We pivoted to an ‘only ads’ model a few months ago for 2 brands….. it’s paying off…. rockstar results 🚀
$17,564 in sales
🥊 Real Stories, Real Pain
Seller Scott McIntosh watched his organic and live sales plummet from $1,000 per day to just $50 per day since the U.S. Shop launch.
That's a 95% drop. Brutal.
Remember when Amazon sellers used to complain about needing to spend on PPC just to maintain visibility? TikTok sellers are experiencing the same overnight transformation.
Multiple Reddit threads document creators complaining about massive view drops as soon as they add product links – exactly like how Amazon products without ad spend quickly disappear from search results.
🥷 Ninja Tactics For The New Reality
The playbook for surviving this shift looks eerily similar to the Amazon seller's handbook:
Think PPC, but for content Just like you need a steady Amazon PPC budget, now you need a modest but always-on Spark Ads or Shop Ads budget for TikTok.
Target niches, not broad terms Remember how Amazon sellers target long-tail keywords? The 2025 TikTok algorithm rewards the same approach – high-intent vertical hooks outperform broad "viral" content.
First-party data is gold Amazon sellers who built email lists survived algorithm changes. On TikTok, build Shop customer lists for retargeting – it's cheaper than upper-funnel paid reach.
Multi-channel is no longer optional Smart Amazon sellers expanded to Walmart, eBay, and their own sites. For TikTok, cross-post to Reddit, Pinterest, and Meta Shops to diversify your acquisition.
Watch for the next fee increase Just as Amazon regularly raises seller fees, expect TikTok to expand GMV Max requirements (extra reach for commission bumps) beyond pilot verticals.
🤔 How to Navigate Both Platforms
The most successful Amazon sellers learned to work within the pay-to-play system while finding creative edges.
The same will be true for TikTok Shop:
Budget 15-20% of revenue for visibility (ads + affiliate commissions), just like savvy Amazon sellers do
Test different content formats weekly – TikTok's algorithm, like Amazon's, rewards fresh approaches
Focus on conversion rates over vanity metrics – just as Amazon rewards listings that convert well
Build direct relationships with affiliates, similar to how Amazon sellers work with external traffic sources
🔥 The Bottom Line
TikTok is following Amazon's proven moneymaking strategy: build a marketplace, get sellers dependent on it, then gradually force them to pay for visibility.
The results are already visible: organic reach is shrinking dramatically while ad offerings expand.
The "go viral for free" era is dead, just like the "rank organically on Amazon" dream.
Both platforms have made their choice: pay-to-play is the new normal.
The question isn't whether you should adapt – it's how quickly you can pivot before your competition does?
That's it for this week 👊
But I need to ask a favour...
What did you think of today's newsletter? |
Thanks for reading.
- Paul
PPS…. Want the details 10K TikTok Shop affiliates in your niche…. FOR FREE? Look out next week!
PPPS….. We have some open spots this….. reply to this or book a call with me to discuss
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