TikTok pilots a new “Shopping” tab with eCommerce platform Shopify

TikTok announced that it has expanded a partnership with eCommerce platform Shopify to pilot “TikTok Shopping” among a “select group of Shopify merchants” in the US, UK, and Canada in the coming weeks. The merchants include Kylie Jenner for her brand Kylie Cosmetics, and she will be using the feature to help users shop for her products directly on TikTok.

“I built my business on social media; it’s where my fans go first to look for what’s new from Kylie Cosmetics… I have so much fun creating TikTok videos, and I love sharing posts of my fans using the products. That’s why I’m excited for Kylie Cosmetics to be one of the first to let customers shop directly on our TikTok!” said Jenner.

TikTok first announced its plans to partner with Shopify last October. In their announcement, it was explained that Shopify had tools to allow merchants to create, run, and optimise their TikTok marketing campaigns directly from the Shopify dashboard. Shopify also has “new integrations” within the TikTok For Business Ads Manager.

Additionally, as revealed by Shopify, merchants with a TikTok for Business account would be able to add a new “Shopping” tag to their TikTok profiles. With the tag, they will be able to sync their product catalogs to create mini-storefronts—just like Instagram‘s Shopping feature.

“By enabling new in-app shopping experiences and product discovery on TikTok for the first time, Shopify is powering the creator economy on one of the fastest-growing social and entertainment platforms in the world. We are excited to help this next generation of entrepreneurs connect with their audiences in more ways—and with TikTok as a visionary partner,” said Harley Finkelstein, president of Shopify.

TikTok has been gaining massive popularity this year, as first-time downloads climbed 2% to 177.5 million in Q1 2021, and surged 16% to 205.4 million in Q2 2021. And personally, I’ve bought quite a few items based on what I’ve seen on TikTok—so it’s so surprise that the platform wants to get its fork in a piece of that pie.

“TikTok is uniquely placed at the center of content and commerce, and these new solutions make it even easier for businesses of all sizes to create engaging content that drives consumers directly to the digital point of purchase,” said Blake Chandlee, President of Global Business Solutions at TikTok.

Besides Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, YouTube is also testing out a shopping feature on their own platform. YouTube shared that viewers would soon be able to see a shopping bag icon on the bottom left corner of the video that they’re watching. This means that it’s just a matter of time before every social media platform becomes their own shopping district, and I’m kind of afraid of that—because I’m pretty good at spending all my money away already.

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