The Rise of TikTok Shops

A Game Changer for Amazon Sellers?

Here is the thing…..

Amazon sellers are a smart bunch…. ‘cos DTC is child’s play different (to be honest, comparing DTC to Amazon is like comparing my cooking to my wife’s…. both fill you up, but one causes food poisoning).

How to sell on TikTok Shop

Starting out…. 2 main methods to sell on TikTok Shop:

• Affiliates: TikTok influencers become your affiliates by featuring your product(s) on their profile…..you set the commission for every sale .

  • The strategy is to contact as many affiliates as possible and get them to showcase your brand.

• TikTok Shop Ads: Kinda like Amazon PPC for TikTok. You can boost your own content or any affiliates’ content (Spark Ads).

  • The strategy is to get as much content as possible and then boost it through ads.

I am ignoring organic sales (users finding your TikTok Shop and buying) as organic growth takes ages and I am ignoring TikTok Lives as these are a separate case study.

Requirements to be a TikTok Shop seller:

Very simple… if you want to sell on US TikTok Shop you must be a US registered business and have a US passport/driver’s license.

if you fulfil both, you can signup here.

If not, it is not possible to register 🤬 (I have tried everything and there is no option unless you are a US citizen with a US entity).

Case study of 4 brands:

I have chosen these brands to show the postives and negatives of TikTok Shop.

PRODUCT 1:

Category: Fashion

Price Point: $18 - $50

Affiliate Outreach:

• # Contacted: 526

• # Replied: 33

• # Pieces of content Created: 4

 Ads:

• CTR: 3.05%

• Clicks: 10,529

• Purchases: 398

• ROAS: 7.19

• Spend: $2,595.11

• Sales: $20,903.33

Summary:

This product is ideal for TikTok and the Return-On-Ad-Spend (ROAS) is now averaging 9x -11x. That means, for every $1 spent on Ads, we are getting $9-$11 back.

What’s more impressive is when the brand goes “Live” they have huge sales… averaging 200 sales per Live (maxing out their daily order limit).

But the best part…..

You can boost the reach of your “Live’s” through ads…. meaning more reach and more sales. Once their limit is lifted…. there is nothing holding them back 🚀.

PRODUCT 2:

Category: Home improvement

Price Point: $11 - $15

Affiliate Outreach:

• # Contacted: 413

• # Replied: 31

• # Pieces of content Created: 3

 Ads:

• CTR: 0,26%

• Clicks: 20

• Purchases: 0

• ROAS: 0

• Spend: $100

• Sales: $0

Summary:

We could not scale this brand as their profit margins were very low and hence, they did not feel comfortable with the ads and decided to stop any promotions for TikTok Shop.

Even if we did have the budget, based on the first round of ads I don’t think this product would ever have performed well.

PRODUCT 3:

Category: Kitchen & Dining

Price Point: $18 - $28

Affiliate Outreach:

• # Contacted: 352

• # Replied: 35

• # Pieces of content Created: 7

 Ads:

• CTR: 0.34%

• Clicks: 127

• Purchases: 1

• ROAS: 0.03

• Spend: $714.77

• Sales: $24.95

Summary:

The problem with this brand is that their is an issue with their TikTok Ad account. This is an exciting product and brand, so it should perform.

Some ad accounts are ‘glitchy’ from the start… so we are creating a new ad account and then test. If the ads are still expensive, then we know the niche is the problem… may just be to expensive.

PRODUCT 4:

Category: Kitchen & Dining

Price Point: $18 - $30

Affiliate Outreach:

• # Contacted: 526

• # Replied: 33

• # Pieces of content Created: 4

 Ads:

• CTR: 3.05%

• Clicks: 10,529

• Purchases: 398

• ROAS: 7.19

• Spend: $2,595.11

• Sales: $20,903.33

Summary:

This product is so simple…. you probably have a bunch in your kitchen and you have been buying them most of your life. It’s not a ‘pretty’ product, but a functional one.

The ads are an on-going process, so whilst we are only getting 0.8 ROAS, this will likely increase as we run more ads and build the audiences.

Breakdown:

Conclusion

🔥 RUN ADS ON TIKTOK SHOP 🔥

Think of ads on TikTok as your Amazon PPC

You can get sales organically….. but that’s kinda like listing a product on Amazon and waiting for the sales to start (like the old days of Amazon where PPC wasn’t needed).

If you are not getting any sales with ads….. then you know TikTok Shop is not a good fit for your brand.

Even though we reach out to hundreds of affiliates/influencers and have a 1% success rate….. it’s worth it.

Because all it takes is one video to go viral and change the trajectory of your business….. and the best part is, you can constantly boost their content, reliving that viral sales boost whenever you wish.

TikTok Shop may be ideal for your brand…. but it may not….

At the start of their campaigns I assumed all 4 products would be homeruns….. unfortunately not…… only 50% were 😞.

So if you are thinking about TikTok Shop, I recommend the following:

1. Register on TikTok Shop and upload your products

2. Create some content….. highly recommend JoinBrands

3. Run some TikTok Shop Ads - Recommend min $50 per day for at least 10 days

If you see some sales with a positive ROI…. then TikTok Shop is your new marketplace 🚀 

‘cos making sales outside of Amazon is incredibly liberating

TikTok Shop is still in it’s infancy….. if you want to make an impact, today is the best day to start.

If you want a headstart, message me and let’s have a chat 👊

Thanks for reading

- Paul