How Retail Brands Can Win on TikTok Shop

In 2025 alone, U.S. sales on TikTok Shop jumped by 120% year-over-year, and over 83% of shoppers say they’ve discovered a new brand via the platform. TikTok Shop has elevated the platform beyond just a place for awareness or inspiration. Consumers can now discover, evaluate and buy products without ever leaving the app. This experience effectively collapses the traditional marketing funnel, blending content, consideration and conversion into a single scroll.

With millions tuning in to TikTok Shop daily, it now represents the future of “discovery commerce,” merging the appeal of influencers with instant buying capabilities. But to win on TikTok Shop, brands need a tailored, content-first strategy that aligns with the platform’s culture.

How Brands Can Excel on TikTok Shop

Focus on Visual & Authentic Content

TikTok is a visual-first, entertainment-led platform, and TikTok Shop is no different. Traditional product photos or polished ads often fall flat here. Instead, lean into short, visually compelling demo videos that show the product in real use.

• Use trending sounds and native effects to blend in seamlessly with organic content.
• Collaborate with creators who genuinely align with your product, so their endorsements feel natural, not forced.
• Avoid overproduction; authentic footage often performs better.

Crocs often features authentic, light-hearted and funny shoppable content on their page that taps into current trends and popular audios on TikTok.

Optimize for In-App Discovery

TikTok Shop is built into TikTok’s content discovery engine, not a traditional ecommerce search bar. That means your content and listings need to work with the algorithm. Start by including high-intent keywords in your product titles and descriptions. Pair those listings with relevant hashtags that align with trending topics in your niche to boost reach.

Beyond listings, your content should encourage saves and shares, which are strong engagement signals that influence TikTok’s recommendation system. Stay attuned to TikTok search trends as well, monitoring what users are actively searching for can inspire your next product video.

Leverage Micro-Influencers

Micro-influencers (10K–100K followers) may not have the reach of mega-creators, but they often boast stronger engagement and deeper community trust. By partnering with micro-influencers, you can create a more unique voice that is not as promotional and brand-centric. These partnerships can also be repurposed as UGC-style ads to drive even more engagement and push towards purchase.

Skincare brand, Naturium, often features micro-infuencers on their page alongside UGC ads featuring micro-influencers.

Harness the Power of Livestreams

Livestream shopping on TikTok is a high-impact way to connect with audiences in real time. These sessions allow brands to demo products, answer questions live and build trust, all while driving fast purchases. 

Livestreams also create urgency, especially when paired with limited-time offers or exclusive bundles. TikTok promotes live content in key discovery areas, so well-timed broadcasts can lead to major exposure.

Bath and Body Works tackled the challenge of selling fragrances online through the power of live shopping. They won a CommerceNexty Award for this feat.

Tap into Niche or Emerging Categories

Some product categories naturally perform better on TikTok because they align with how users engage with content: visually, emotionally and often impulsively.

Top-performing categories and videos to match the product:

• Beauty and skincare: before-and-after demos, morning routines, ingredient deep-dives like this before-and-after video on Topicals.
• Homeware and organization: satisfying transformations, storage hacks. This UGC video on organization products at Target is a great example.
• Fragrance: ASMR unboxings, scent descriptions using pop culture comparisons similar to this sponsored video with CYKLAR.
• Fashion: try-ons, styling tips like this UGC video on Abercrombie.

Invest in Creator-Led Paid Media

Real growth often comes from boosting top-performing creator content as paid ads. These UGC-style ads often outperform traditional creative because they feel native to the platform and maintain the authenticity users expect. When paired with TikTok’s advanced targeting, you can turn a high-performing video into a full-funnel driver, from awareness to conversion.

How to do it:

• Use TikTok Spark Ads to promote creator posts directly from their handles.
• Test different creator voices, video lengths and hooks to see what resonates.
• Monitor KPIs like click-through rate, view time and return on ad spend (ROAS).

Success on TikTok Shop comes from showing up in the feed with content that connects, creators who convert and strategies that evolve with the platform. The brands that win are the ones that treat TikTok not as a sales channel, but as a cultural playground where ecommerce meets community.

Want to stay ahead of what’s next in digital retail? Pre-register now for the 2026 CommerceNext Growth Show, happening June 23–25 in NYC. You’ll hear from top retailers, brand marketers platform experts on how to turn content into conversions and scale growth in the new era of social commerce.