15-Second Shopping: The Stats Behind TikTok Shop
Is 15-second shopping on TikTok the reason people are deciding to buy faster? And with TikTok Shop growing across Southeast Asia, will this platform become more than just entertainment? How big a splash will it make in the E-Commerce market? MyCloud has some stats and a standout case study of a store to watch on TikTok to share with you.
After MyCloud previously introduced everyone to the new “TikTok Shop” feature, today we’re featuring a standout E-Commerce business on TikTok — a cat-and-pet-clothing shop from Thailand’s neighbor, Indonesia. Meet “Fredi,” the owner of a cat that went viral online back in 2020 for clips of it walking around in adorable little costumes. Those clips racked up tens of millions of views on TikTok. He normally used a marketplace platform like Shopee to sell his handmade pet clothing, and started joining TikTok, which was booming, back in November.
His main goal wasn’t really to sell products, but to show off how cute his cat looked in the outfits he made. As engagement kept growing, he realized this could be a great opportunity for craftspeople to open up a new sales channel.
In 2021, TikTok was the most downloaded app in Southeast Asia. TikTok Shop first launched in Indonesia and the UK, and after early success, expanded the feature to Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia in turn.
Even though Southeast Asia already has E-Commerce giants that dominate the market, like Lazada and Shopee, a recent Google report shows the region’s E-Commerce market is highly promising and worth watching, valued at over $1 trillion. So it’s no surprise E-Commerce platforms are eager to market to and closely watch Southeast Asian consumers. That’s why ByteDance has positioned TikTok Shop as the next evolution of online shopping.
The idea is to keep users “hooked” on the app through TikTok’s algorithm, which serves up content tailored specifically to what each person is interested in — entertainment that requires nothing more than scrolling through short videos.
That said, to become a popular shopping destination, TikTok Shop still needs to convince small business owners to create short videos to sell products, and convince app users to see the app as more than just entertainment.
Because the challenge TikTok Shop and sellers like Fredi face is that he still mainly uses TikTok as an entertainment platform, and his own friends and people around him don’t really know you can shop on TikTok — they see it as new and complicated, more so than just clicking to buy on a marketplace like Lazada or Shopee. You can see this in his own viral clips, where people still comment asking him to drop a Shopee link, even though you can buy directly through TikTok without ever leaving the app.
So, up to now, it still isn’t as popular as it could be, for both sellers and buyers, compared to its real potential. Stats from TikTok Seller, the tool used to manage stores on TikTok, show only around 18,000 uses in Indonesia — nowhere close to the activity of sellers on Lazada or Shopee. That’s why TikTok’s real global competitor is actually Instagram’s short-video feature, Reels.
That said, TikTok Shop currently only charges a 1% commission fee on orders from buyers in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia — which is very low. Sellers can also access “Seller University” to learn more about selling through short videos and how to manage logistics.
Beyond the challenge of shifting how sellers and buyers view TikTok — as more than just an entertainment platform, with real growth potential in the E-Commerce market — another challenge for business owners is needing the skill to turn product ads into short videos, a skill quite different from what’s needed for traditional online marketplaces.
Shifting from traditional marketing to digital marketing remains a tough spot for most business owners, since business owners and brands need to prepare for long-term shifts in consumer behavior, expectations, and needs, which are always changing.
Still, expanding into new sales channels, including TikTok itself, comes with the risk that sellers need to get familiar with the platform and learn more in order to plan marketing or sales strategies suited to each channel — on top of managing the back-office work of online selling, including storing, packing, and shipping, which becomes another heavy burden for sellers as order volume grows.
Connect Every Sales Channel with MyCloud
No matter how many sales channels you expand into, keeping stock in sync across a single system remains key to reducing the workload and hassle of counting inventory, managing products, and picking the right items to pack and ship to customers.
MyCloud’s customizable storage, packing, and shipping service lets you sell seamlessly both online and offline by connecting every channel together, so you can reach more customers more efficiently. Your store no longer needs to worry about juggling stock or managing enough staff for each channel — freeing up your time to focus fully on sales and growing your business. MyCloudFulfillment’s fulfillment service, powered by an Order Management System (OMS) and Warehouse Management System (WMS), lets you receive orders from every channel and pack and ship them without missing a single one.
Photo credit: laprensalatina.com and freepik.com
For inquiries or consultation about online selling, visit us at www.mycloudfulfillment.com
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