The era of social commerce is fully operational! The social networks will become the best place for the younger generations to research brands, according to the Social Trends 2022 report from Hootsuite.
In fact, 75% of users from Generation Z in the USA are influenced by social advertisements in their purchasing decisions. This only shows the power of social networks to convert followers into customers (when the job is good!).
Or TikTok, which belongs to the ByteDance company, understands this opportunity and is willing to take risks to collect benefits. But the scene has not been entirely favourable.
It takes the resources of social commerce to be a great investment opportunity for companies, many great names of social media have to rethink their strategies because customers still do not like them.
Either Instagram had to shut down its affiliate trading program in August of this year or Facebook also shut down its shopping resource a few months ago.
However, or TikTok is willing to run this risk. After abandoning a non-UK shopping resource for not meeting expectations, The social platform will partner with TalkShopLive, which will offer the infrastructure for the launch of a new shopping functionality on the platform.
Still there are no official announcements, because both companies are still finalizing business and no contract was signed. So, we still don’t know when the shopping resource will be launched, but it will be soon.
How will purchases work on TikTok?
This resource will allow brands and breeders to sell directly on the platform. Basically, it combines purchases with interactive live streaming so that users can make purchases without seeing the application.
Today, the most relevant country in this sector is China, where this modality is responsible for 10% of the total e-commerce sales in the country.
TikTok began to offer e-commerce resources in early 2021, when it announced its partnership with Shopify, allowing merchants to add their catalogs to a list on their profiles. In addition, the social network has been testing a shopping resource in the United Kingdom since last year, becoming the first market outside Asia to test its functionality.
As much as it hasn’t spread to the West, this resource is transforming electronic commerce in Asian markets.
In China, it also showed surprising results. The Chinese application of TikTok, Douyin, tripled its sales year after year.
Now, what is the opportunity for Marketing professionals?
This shopping resource is certainly taking off, but many companies are struggling to encourage brands and influencers to sell through the application. Why will it be?
Some specialists attribute these results to the fact that “the market is simply not ready” or that “the awareness of the general consumer adoption in some countries is still very low”.
Some of us believe that brands are losing resources and shying away the value of the customer experience and its relationship with the customer journey.
How will your strategies work?
When purchases in social networks begin to grow in the West (and prove, it is expected to happen), companies will have to consider more robust strategies together with the most important players in this dynamic: influencers and their communities.
Brands need to focus on creating authentic connections with their audience.
The advantage of this resource is credibility. For this reason, it is not just an opportunity to sell, but also a way to provide relevant information about your products, position them and build customer loyalty through valuable interactions in real time. Is your brand ready to deliver this?
As business opportunities are still unseen (as well as the performance of TikTok in the US market), but it is better to be prepared!
