Those who attended Cannes Lions festival this year would have witnessed TikTok's impressive and engaging activations as it showed off, among other things, its new AI-generated avatars. There was little evidence of any concern about a proposed ban of the platform, even after President Biden signed a law in April giving owners, ByteDance, nine months to sell to an American organisation or face the consequences.
While the Department of Justice and TikTok continue to go back and forth, it is certain that any ban would have a huge impact on the e-commerce landscape in the US. With over 170 million Americans using the platform, retailers can be forgiven for feeling very apprehensive about the potential ban, as many look to TikTok as both a valuable marketplace and a key indicator of trends.
However, retailers shouldn't think of the ban as a threat, but rather an opportunity. Here I will explain how TikTok has moved the needle when it comes to e-commerce, what brands can learn from its approach, and how they can put these lessons into practice – ban or no ban.
TikTok's revolutionary influence
TikTok has revolutionised the social commerce experience for consumers, setting new standards for what they can expect from both social media and all other video-led digital experiences.
Not only can users easily navigate through the platform to find content and products that they are interested in, they also can interact with these videos and directly buy from them. What's more, they can add products from multiple videos into the same shopping basket and check out in an instant.
With TikTok's massive popularity among younger consumers – nearly 45% of TikTok users are Gen Z – an entire generation of consumers now expect to be able to interact with and seamlessly purchase goods within the content they’re consuming.
But this streamlined experience doesn't just appeal to the youngest groups – consumers of other ages are drawn towards these features too, with Generation X and Millennials also likely to make purchases through social media.
What retailers can learn from TikTok's success
The expectation of being able to discover and purchase products wherever they wish is now ingrained into the mind of many consumers. They aren't necessarily going to visit a retailer's online store after seeing an ad – they want to stay engaged with what they are doing.
Whether they are using social media, watching online video or connected TV, or playing a game, consumers want effortless e-commerce experiences that come to them, rather than needing to seek these experiences out.
In the age of 'retail everywhere', consistency is key and retailers that commit to being available for their customers at all times will reap the benefits.
Retailers must think about how they connect with consumers off-platform – that is, outside of their owned online properties – and, more crucially, how they enable seamless purchasing experiences without the customer having to embark on a long, multi-step journey to the checkout.
How retailers can put these learnings into action
Retailers can leverage lessons from TikTok's successful social commerce strategy to boost customer engagement and their own bottom line. To do this, they need to consider how they can incorporate these trends driven by TikTok into their own online commerce experience to maximise consumer interest.
The first step is to cater to the 'always shopping' consumer mindset through their social channels and online video. Interactive videos provide the opportunity to create content that not only showcases products, but gives consumers a choice of products to look at.
Further information about aspects such as pricing, specifications and availability can also be included. Best of all, by leveraging in-stream checkout features – where consumers can make a purchase without having to be redirected to the brand's own website – retailers can sell goods outside of their own platform and meet their customers wherever they happen to be.
Interactive video enables retailers to easily measure the impact of their content, linking views directly to conversions, while uncovering insights about consumer preferences. This includes valuable insights such as which products they're clicking on, what information they want to access and so on – enabling the retailer to tweak their content accordingly and even personalise campaigns.
There are also possibilities to create shoppable experiences within other online environments such as games and virtual reality. Amazon Anywhere is designed for interactive digital environments, and gives brands the chance to showcase physical products inside games and virtual worlds, where consumers can then discover and buy these items.
Takeaway: TikTok has paved the way for pioneering retailers to drive success
TikTok's influence on the evolution of social commerce has been huge. While any potential ban is likely to cause waves in US-Sino relations, there is a big opportunity for retailers to ride out the turbulence and make the best of a difficult situation.
By staying on top of trends around consumer preferences and making themselves available to transact at all times, e-commerce brands can reap the rewards of the new behaviours TikTok has enabled.
By Nick Morgan, Founder and CEO of Vudoo
