By hearing “TikTok,” you might think that it is just a platform where people make lip-syncs or fun dance videos. But you will be surprised to know that TikTok is now a bustling e-commerce platform where brands sell and boost their items. TikTok is investing tons of money to bring in more sellers and customers.
While most consumers start their product search on Amazon, 43% of Gen Z state they start their search on TikTok – a higher number than those who start on Google!
The good news is – for now, TikTok is not charging any fees, and only possible referral fees later – this means, it’s a fantastic opportunity to dive into e-commerce without breaking the bank. They’re even covering some shipping discounts!
In this context, we will walk you through the easy steps to open a TikTok Shop account, with handy tips to make the most of this awesome opportunity. Get ready to take your business to the next level with TikTok’s new exciting platform.
Quick Overview of the Content:
- What is a TikTok Shop?
- How can sellers benefit from selling on TikTok in 2024?
- What are the Requirements to Sell on TikTok?
- Step-by-step process of Selling on TikTok Shop
What is a TikTok Shop?
TikTok Shop serves as an all-in-one E-commerce solution, driving sales and amplifying brand growth on TikTok. With TikTok Shop, sellers can seamlessly showcase and sell products through in-feed videos, LIVES, and the Showcase tab. This exciting platform not only facilitates product discovery but also manages product details, checkout processes, and post-payment activities all within the TikTok app.
How can sellers benefit from selling on TikTok in 2024?
TikTok’s algorithm, renowned for its effectiveness, plays a key role in connecting sellers with their target audience. The platform’s ability to curate content based on user preferences fosters addiction, making it an ideal space to showcase products and creators tailored to individual interests.
With over 1 billion monthly active users globally, including 150 million in the USA alone, TikTok boasts an extensive reach. Users spend an average of 95 minutes daily on the platform; providing an immense opportunity for businesses to capture attention and drive sales through short, engaging videos.
Imagine the potential reach for your products by leveraging TikTok’s vast audience with a simple promotional video. Whether you run an Amazon business or aim to enhance brand popularity, TikTok offers an effective alternative to traditional advertising channels, often at a reduced cost.
The virality potential of TikTok videos is a game-changer, rapidly expanding product visibility and attracting potential customers. The platform’s robust advertising options enable precise targeting based on demographics, interests, and behaviors, ensuring that your products reach the most relevant audience.
Collaborating with TikTok influencers amplifies brand credibility and reach, as these influencers connect with large and engaged follower bases. Moreover, TikTok’s interactive features, such as comments, duets, and challenges, foster direct engagement with users, building a community around your brand.
TikTok’s evolving demographic landscape, expanding beyond the under-20 age group, signals a strategic shift for brands and retailers. Recognizing the lifetime value of connecting with younger audiences, smart brands are capitalizing on TikTok’s algorithmic excellence. This involves driving brand awareness, engaging audiences through organic posts and ads, participating in trends to stay relevant, and tracking performance to refine content strategies.
In essence, the opportunity to generate substantial revenue and acquire a broader customer base makes selling on TikTok undeniably worthwhile. If TikTok isn’t already part of your brand-building and social media strategy, it’s time to consider its immense potential and incorporate it into your business approach.
What are the Requirements to Sell on TikTok?
1. Registration Process: To become a TikTok Shop seller, register using your TikTok account or provide a phone number and email.
2. Eligibility Criteria: No special eligibility criteria; relevant documents like Tax ID, passport, driver’s license, or social security number are required.
3. Individual Sellers:
– Provide documents such as a driver’s license or passport and the last 4 digits of the Tax ID.
– Tax ID can be a US Social Security Number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).
4. Payment and Tax Information for Individual Sellers:
– Provide a Merchant Category Code.
– Complete a W9/W8-BEN form, including the submission of a US TIN.
5. Corporate Sellers:
– More extensive details are required, including business name, Employer Identification Number (EIN), registered business address, last four digits of the tax ID (US Social Security Number or ITIN), legal name, date of birth, and residential address.
6. Payment and Tax Information for Corporate Sellers:
– Provide a Merchant Category Code.
– Complete a W9/W8-BEN form, including details on the entity type, related person’s information, and, if applicable, information on ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) within the company.
7. Role Specification for Corporate Sellers:
– Specify the role(s) of the person associated with the account within the company.
– Provide a comprehensive overview of TikTok Shop to ensure compliance and transparency in the selling process.
Step-by-step process of Selling on TikTok Shop:
Step 1: Create your Individual or Corporate Tiktok Account:
To start selling on TikTok Shop, set up your TikTok Account. Sellers can opt for registration as individual sellers or corporate sellers. The documents outlined in the previous section of regarding TikTok selling requirements must be uploaded during the application process.
Pro tips for creating an account:
After providing the login information, you can create a User name for your shop. Try to keep your social media usernames or handles consistent across different platforms so customers can easily identify your brand. After your account is created, add a profile picture, and a short bio, then connect your Instagram and YouTube accounts if you have them.
Step 2: Switch to a Pro account:
TikTok users have the option to use a Personal account or two different types of Pro accounts. One is a “Creator account” and the other one is a “Business account”. We suggest you change your account type to a Pro account because you will get some benefits like — analytics features, plus it’s free to use.
With a “Creator account”, you can see detailed analytics about your videos, such as viewer demographics. Not only that – but you can also join the Creator Fund once you receive 10,000 followers and at least 10,000 video views in the last 30 days which monetizes your views.
On the other hand, With a “Business account”, you will not be able to join the Creator Fund, but you will still be able to access detailed analytics. You can add your bio or your Amazon storefront – business contact information, and have access to unique engagement solutions, performance tracking, and advertising solutions.
If you want to promote your Brand or Business, a Business account would be the best for you.
Step 3: Upload Your Products:
Uploading products on TikTok Shop is a pretty easy, simple, and straightforward process. Here are the following processes for uploading your items on the “TikTok shop”:
First, you need to click on the “Product Tab” in the left-hand menu and then go to the “Manage Product”
Now click on the “Add new product” button.
After that, you can see the following interface. Here, you need to add all the relevant product information like title, photo, product detail, category, and more.
Once you are done, just hit the “Submit for Review” button. Done! Your product is uploaded to the exciting TikTok marketplace.
Pro tips for uploading products:
Try to add as much as possible information because the more that you add information about your products, the higher the chance that your product will be discovered on TikTok.
Also, people can search for any product they want in the shop tab in the search bar. So it’s very important to include the most relevant keywords that describe your products.
Step 4: Create User-Driven Content:
In the TikTok shop, The good thing is that – you can upload other social media videos of your products. So, if you have a great video on Facebook, Instagram, or Amazon product videos that has a good reach to your targeted audience, you can repost them on TikTok. It’s a great way to get more followers and drive traffic to your page through quality content that already proved to do well.
Also, you can create your own videos or hire micro-influencers to create User Generated Content (UGC) videos. It helps you to give some initial exposure, though hiring an influencer might cost you.
Pro tips for creating content:
When you showcase your products through videos and tag them in the TikTok Shop, the algorithm-driven promotion of the TikTok Shop ensures you gain an extra boost for your products. The more you promote your products, the higher the chances that you will gain a lot more followers.
Step 5: Be Engaged with your Audience and stay consistent:
When you get views, likes, and comments, it’s crucial to actively engage with people. Try to respond to every comment because it seems, you are taking care of them and they will start following you.
Not only that but also you need to be consistent in uploading videos. As much as the video you upload, your product will reach more people within a short time. But it doesn’t mean that you just need to upload videos, they should be high-quality. If you post 1 or 2 videos per day, one of your videos is bound to go viral at some point. But if you upload videos 1 or 2 per week, you probably won’t earn as much reach as you expected. As long as you consistently put out fun, engaging, and entertaining content, your account will grow.
Step 6: Leverage Influencer marketing:
Now in 2024, it’s the era of social media influencers. With renowned influencers, you can grow your business on the TikTok Shop organically.
Most of the established brands are hiring influencers to reach their audience because it helps boost their traffic, conversion, and brand enhancement. An influencer of their niche puts their products in front of a much bigger audience. It’s a great way to promote your brand by partnering with influencers or creators with large followings.
For example – if you want to sell a beauty product, search for “Beauty” and find users who post content that would align with your brand.
But how do you find an influencer according to your niche?
Here are some following tips to find an influencer to cover a wide range of audiences according to your niche:
- Spend time on TikTok to discover content related to your industry or niche. Identify creators who align with your products and have an engaged audience
- Utilize the TikTok search bar to find keywords, hashtags, or topics relevant to your business. Explore the Discover page to find trending content and popular creators.
- Look for relevant hashtags associated with your products or industry. Because TikTok influencers often use specific hashtags to categorize their content
- TikTok has a Creator Marketplace that connects businesses with TikTok influencers. This platform allows you to find and collaborate with influencers based on your specific criteria.
- Explore influencer marketing platforms dedicated to TikTok, where you can connect with influencers based on your niche, budget, and campaign goals.
Always remember that — Before reaching out to influencers, analyze their follower count, engagement rates, and the authenticity of their audience.
Step 7: Encourage User-Generated Content in short UGC
On TikTok, many products end up going viral due to engagement from everyday users like you and me. When you showcase a particular product in your video, either by using it or explaining why they love it, can launch a product onto a viral circuit.
The crazy thing is that – many of these popular videos are not even paid advertisements. So it’s important to create a UGC video for better customer engagement. You can also encourage customers and audiences to post videos by themselves using your products. You can do this by creating a challenge.
Step 8: Advertising:
TikTok has the option to run advertising campaigns and surprisingly – there are different options for the types of ads that you do.
To create advertising campaigns, go to the Marketing menu and click on the Shop Ads options.
Now you need to choose the type of Ads that you want to promote. There are 2 options – 1. Video Shopping Ads which will be in the form of a video. 2. Live Shopping Ads where customers can purchase products live.
Now, select the “Product Source” and most likely the source will be TikTok Shop.
Now, the most important part of the Advertisement is – Audience targeting. From there, you can find a few options like Audience Include or exclude, Demographics Locations, Gender, age, etc. So, now you need to fill up all relevant fields related to “Audience targeting” and create your “Advertising Campaign”.
Please ensure that you choose the right target audience to make sure these ads are shown to the people who are most likely to buy your product.
Final Thoughts
The TikTok Shop holds immense importance as a dynamic e-commerce platform, allowing sellers to tap into a massive and engaged audience. With over 1 billion monthly active users, its algorithm-driven exposure and potential for viral content significantly enhance product visibility. The straightforward account creation process requires essential documents, such as a Tax ID, passport, or driver’s license, depending on individual or corporate status. Ensuring that the right target audience is selected is crucial for effective advertising, maximizing the impact of TikTok Shop for sellers. In 2024, leveraging this platform presents a unique opportunity for businesses to thrive in the ever-evolving landscape of digital commerce.
If you have any queries regarding TikTok Shop, feel free to let us know in the comment box or email us at the following email address: info@ecomclips.com
To know more about e-commerce, please check out our other blog. Also, you can check our YouTube videos as well related to other marketplaces.
How to Sell on TikTok (Step By Step) | Advanced Tips for BEGINNERS
BIG Amazon FBA MISTAKES You MUST Avoid
Amazon Extra SEO Fields – 5x Description, 10x Bullets, 2x Generic Keyword
How to Fix Amazon Error Code in 2024
Amazon Reviews Strategy 2024: The Definitive Guide to Get Amazon Reviews for Sellers!
