- TikTok just hosted its first summit for its e-commerce partners in the US.
- The company spent much of the event pushing TikTok Store partners to test direct sales.
- Attendees with expertise on TikTok’s Chinese sister app Douyin shared insights.
TikTok is gearing up for the holiday season on its e-commerce platform, TikTok Shop.
A few weeks ago, around the first anniversary of the product’s US launch, TikTok gathered roughly 300 Shop partners across 200 agencies at a hotel near its office in Culver City, California, for its first invite-only partner summit .
The group participated in panels, participated in feedback sessions with TikTok staff and shared ideas on influencer affiliate marketing and paid and earned media tactics. But direct selling was the clear focus of the event, five partners who attended told Business Insider. During the sessions, TikTok staff and agency partners talked about how to find studio space for live streams, as well as what it takes to build a live sales operation.
“Probably 60% to 70% of the discussion was about live streaming,” said Jake Bjorseth, founder of marketing firm Trndsttrs, who attended the summit.
A second partner who attended the event described its content as “live, live, live”. This person, as well as several others, were granted anonymity to protect their business relationship with TikTok. Their identity is known to BI.
Why was TikTok so focused on live streams at its first US Shop partner summit?
Well, for example, TikTok has had a series of live sales events in the US and UK this year, during which companies such as beauty brand P.Louise and Stormi Steele’s Canvas Beauty sold more than $1 million worth of merchandise in a single one. current, depending on the platform.
The invitation list for the summit may also have played a role in focusing the discussion around direct selling. Some of the attendees were partners with sales expertise at TikTok’s Chinese sister app Douyin, which generates hundreds of billions in sales each year, mostly through influencer live streams. These partners offered advice on what had worked well for social shopping in Asia and discussed potential cross-border partnership opportunities, three partners present at the Shop told BI.
A TikTok spokesperson declined to comment for this story.
What works on Douyin won’t necessarily work on the TikTok Store
Strategies that are successful at Douyin often end up at TikTok next, and the two companies, which operate independently under their parent company ByteDance, have shared a lot of ideas recently.
Last month, Douyin and ByteDance invited TikTok Shop partners to visit the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Hangzhou to meet regional social commerce partners and see the studios they use to film shopping content. Digital advertising firm AdQuadrant was among a small number of companies selected for the visit, according to its CEO, Warren Jolly, who spoke at the TikTok US Partner Summit.
Of course, the direct selling tactics on Douyin won’t necessarily translate well to TikTok in the US. Social shopping has been slow to take off in North America compared to Asia, as bringing consumer shopping behaviors across borders can be difficult.
“If you’ve lived in China, you’re of Chinese descent, you’ve built this business over the last seven years focused on direct shopping and social commerce,” Jolly said. But he added that expertise in selling in China may not help U.S. retailers facing a very different e-commerce reality. “Yes, direct buying is important. We understand that it will become widespread in the Western world and the US market. But it will not be in the same mode as what is happening in China,” he said.
Other TikTok Shop partners who spoke to BI agreed that the emphasis on live streams and comparisons to the Asian market at the event were not particularly helpful when many of their TikTok Shop sales currently come from influencer videos rather than streams. direct.
“I can tell you that we walked away from it [summit] and said, ‘Oh, that’s a good opportunity in live,’ but the current finances don’t make sense for most agencies,” Bjorseth said.
TikTok’s ability to replicate the success of Douyin’s direct purchases in the US may be difficult, although the company has been gaining on its e-commerce competitors in sales and repeat purchases in recent months. US e-commerce is dominated by non-social media players like Amazon and Walmart, both of which work with influencers in live streams or affiliate programs, but primarily drive sales through other means.
However, there are some signs that direct purchases are on the rise outside Asia. Whatnot, a direct-buying platform in North America and Europe, said in an October report that it has surpassed $2 billion in gross merchandise volume from direct sales made in 2024.
Ultimately, however, TikTok’s e-commerce momentum may be cut short. A US sell or ban law passed in April could force a sale or ban on the TikTok app in the US. TikTok is challenging the law in court. Some participants said the prospect of a ban was not raised at the TikTok Shop partner summit.