What are TikTok and TikTok Shop?
TikTok has rapidly integrated into a generation’s daily routine, emerging as one of the top apps for sharing videos, utilized across 150 countries and available in over 50 languages. The app has been downloaded over 4.5 billion times, making it super popular.
TikTok Shop is TikTok’s owned and run in-app shopping solution, where there are about 143 million active users in the US alone. Nembol currently works with TikTok US and TikTok UK.
TikTok Shop merges entertainment with shopping, providing a video-centric platform where sellers can collaborate with content creators.
Why should you sell products on TikTok Shop?
Before discovering how to sell on TikTok Shop, it is important to know why TikTok is great for online sales. Here’s a quick overview of why TikTok is an excellent choice for businesses:
- Simple to Use: Easily showcase your products in videos and see how they perform. TikTok Shop offers simplicity without requiring additional tools nor knowledge.
- Creative Ads: Use cool filters, effects, and challenges to enhance the visibility of your products.
- Connection between Sellers and Creators: TikTok Shop lets creators easily partner with brands, and vice versa, expanding brands’ reach beyond their website, and offering a monetization opportunity to creators.
- Find the Right Buyers: TikTok helps you reach people genuinely interested in your products, thanks to its smart algorithm.
- Influencer Partnerships: Collaborating with TikTok influencers can significantly amplify product exposure and drive sales growth.
Ways to sell products on TikTok Shop
There are many ways to market your products effectively on TikTok Shop. Regardless of your business size or video-making skills, the platform offers accessible avenues for selling to anyone.
Below there are several methods to sell your products on TikTok Shop:
TikTok Live
Brand owners can conduct live streams on TikTok, and directly sell products to viewers in real-time. Users can easily click on the product link during live streams and complete their purchase with just a few clicks. This feature is particularly advantageous for sellers with an established following. However, even without a large audience, live-streaming can attract new followers and potential customers to your brand.
Shoppable videos
A shoppable video is a marketing tool that presents products with embedded links, allowing viewers to click and purchase items directly without leaving the video page. If you are a merchant and do not have the time or inclination to make videos for your products, you can use TikTok Shop’s built-in marketing tools, such as the Creator Marketplace, to easily get in touch with creators.
Collaborations with Influencers
Collaborate with TikTok influencers who have a relevant audience to promote your products. Influencers can create content featuring your products and share it with their followers, effectively driving traffic and sales to your store.
Interactive Ads
Utilize TikTok’s advertising platform to develop interactive ads that showcase your products to targeted audiences. These ads incorporate features like shoppable buttons or links to facilitate conversions effectively.
Setting up your TikTok Shop
Currently, TikTok Seller Center is available in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam. If your business is based in one of these countries, you can take advantage of TikTok Shop by accessing to the dedicated page and create a shop on the TikTok Seller Center.
At first, it may seem complicated, but if you follow each step carefully, in just a few minutes you can create your TikTok shop, and amplify your sales to a new and wider audience.
Add your business and shop information
As a start, what you need is to have all your business information clear and set up. After entering personal data about your account, you will go on to set up the info about the country you are in, zip code, and referral person’s name.
TikTok Shop also asks you to specify the location of logistics services for pickup and return of products.
Once you have filled in all fields and accepted the relevant terms and conditions, you can click Start Your Business.
Wait for documents verification
TikTok Shop requires some certifications which are necessary to post on the platform. In this section, you’ll be asked to provide documents to confirm your identity and eligibility under applicable laws for selling your products/services through TikTok Seller Center.
Select your Business Type: Corporation or Individually-owned Business, and provide a Shop Name.
Following document submission, your account application will be pending approval. In case of a failed review, you will receive an email advising you how to resubmit your documents.
Link a bank account to TikTok Shop
Once TikTok Shop has verified your business documents, you will need to link a bank account to your shop to enable payment for purchases and handle returns. Navigate to the TikTok Seller Center home page, click Link Bank Account, and proceed to Link Account. Complete all mandatory fields and then click Submit.
Once these steps are completed, you are ready to start adding products to your shop. To learn more about setting up TikTok Shop Ads, refer to How to Set Up TikTok Shop Ads in Seller Center.
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What can I sell on TikTok shop?
TikTok Shop opens up a world of opportunities for selling a wide range of products, from fashion and beauty, to electronics and home decor.
While there are generally no specific certifications required to sell on this platform, certain products necessitate compliance with regulatory standards, depending on the industry and region. For instance, beauty items may need FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval in the United States, while electronic devices must comply with safety regulations. Understanding and meeting these regulations not only builds customer trust but also ensures legal compliance.
Here are some thriving product categories on TikTok Shop:
- Fashion and Apparel: Clothing, shoes, accessories, and trendy fashion items.
- Beauty and Personal Care: Skincare products, makeup, haircare items, and beauty accessories.
- Electronics and Gadgets: Smartphones, laptops, headphones, smartwatches, and other tech gadgets.
- Home and Kitchen: Decor items, kitchen appliances, home organization products, and household essentials.
- Health and Wellness: Fitness equipment, supplements, wellness products, and self-care items.
- Crafts and DIY: DIY kits, crafting supplies, handmade goods, and artistic creations..
- Gaming and Entertainment: Video games, gaming accessories, and entertainment products.
- Food and Beverages: Snacks, beverages, cooking ingredients, and specialty foods.
TikTok and your Amazon, eBay, Etsy, WooCommerce, Shopify
Some of us are active e-commerce sellers, and have been working for years on their marketplace presences. Some others, especially large brands, may have avoided marketplaces and focused on their own independent online store.
In both cases, TikTok may be for you, because it represents a change in paradigm.
For those sellers already having a mature business on marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon, or Etsy, TikTok represents a new opportunity, a new venue inhabited by buyers of a new and younger generation. They interact with shopping in a new way that must be intercepted.
You can use Nembol to simply clone and sync your existing marketplace listings to TikTok – read the paragraph below.
For those who preferred a dedicated branded presence on their store, and avoided marketplaces, TikTok can still be something to consider. Content is different from marketplace, as is product presentation, and brand associations. TikTok is the opportunity to tap on new buyers, using a new language, without diluting your brand value.
You can use Nembol to clone on TikTok shop, and sync, your current products on e-commerce platforms WooCommerce and Shopify.
Easily publish on TikTok from your e-commerce or marketplace, with Nembol
Expanding your business to TikTok Shop may be a game-changer. But migrating your listings across channels, and starting from scratch, can be daunting. That’s where Nembol steps in to make it easy.
With Nembol, you can effortlessly list your products from big e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Etsy, and eBay onto TikTok Shop. Plus, you can amplify your reach by publishing on Social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr.
Ready to use TikTok Shop’s power? Discover our simple tips, try Nembol’s multichannel platform for free, and watch your business grow.
Get a free onboarding call
Book your free call to learn how to connect TikTok Shop, through Nembol, to your eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Shopify, of WooCommerce sites. Get your existing product listings and start selling on TikTok Shop!
