Heaptalk, Jakarta — TikTok introduced its e-commerce business TikTok Shop in the US as a new platform for finding and shopping for products (09/12). This platform allows brands and creators to connect with customers based on their interests.
Combining the power of community, creativity, and commerce, TikTok Shop aims to bring a seamless shopping experience to more than 150 million users in the US. Shoppable video and live shopping are two of several features that brands, merchants, and creators can leverage to sell directly to customers.
“With TikTok Shop, we’re giving people a place to experience the joy of discovering and purchasing new products without leaving the app. We’ve built simple tools to help businesses make this a reality,” TikTok said on its website (09/12).
Other features to bring the spotlight to the products include a product showcase, shop tab, affiliate program, shop ads, fulfilled by TikTok, and secure checkout. On product showcase, users can browse products, read reviews, and purchase directly from the brand’s profile while sellers can curate custom product collections on their profile page.
Providing logistics service through Fulfilled by TikTok
Affiliate programs facilitate creators to connect with sellers through new commission-based product marketing opportunities. Shop ads provide spaces for sellers to promote their TikTok Shops. Fulfilled by TikTok is a new logistics service that assists storing, picking, packaging, and shipping products while merchants can focus on their products.
Another feature called secure checkout is TikTok’s collaboration with third parties to facilitate payment transactions on the platform. The company added, “TikTok protected US user data is stored in the US and managed by USDS. US users’ payment information is managed by USDS and we work with third party payment platforms to facilitate transactions on TikTok Shop.”
The platform is also collaborating with several partners, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, BigCommerce, and Magento for commerce platforms; Zendesk, Gorgias, and 1440 for customer service; Printful, Printify, and NovaTomato for print-on-demand merchandise; Yotpo for reviews; as well as WeeBee, Flowspace, and Easyship for shipping service.
Additionally, TikTok Shop combines technology and manual moderation to enforce its policies, including removing merchants and products deemed to violate the rules. Further, the platform will gradually improve its policies, processes, and features to protect users.
