The recent announcement of the Tiktok Shopify partnership marks TikTok's continued investment in social commerce. The partnership aims to help Shopify merchants, of which there are over one million, engage with TikTok's youthful audience and generate sales revenue. Ultimately, the venture will grow to encompass additional in app shopping elements too.

Early Days of Tiktok

In the past, TikTok gained notoriety for being a video platform that offered memes and entertainment. Members were not able to purchase items directly on the platform, even though it featured influencers who promoted cosmetics, clothes and domestic products. Rather, members were only able to purchase items on TikTok through adverts on the platform.

Shopify Partnership

This new arrangement permits merchants on Shopify to set up, optimize and run their TikTok advertising campaigns from Shopify's dashboard directly. To do this, they have to install the newly released channel app from TikTok that is available from Shopify's app store. After installation, merchants can take advantage of the functions offered on the 'TikTok For Business' Ads Manager.

Merchants on Shopify have come to realize the importance of discoverability, with social commerce offering the chance for independent companies to boost their brand awareness. The 2021 report from Shopify about the future of commerce revealed that fifty-four percent of younger shoppers across the world find brands through social networks. In addition, Shopify has joined forces with TikTok to introduce product links. Merchants on Shopify will use these links as product tags on TikTok, to send shoppers straight to their online stores from organic posts. Shoppers can opt to purchase from the merchants' stores directly, or click tagged products in merchants' TikTok posts.

Once merchants have set up the one click pixel in their 'TikTok For Business' account, they can activate in feed shoppable video adverts. To create these adverts, merchants simply choose the products they want to promote using templates that are designed specifically for ecommerce. These ad templates feature existing videos or imagery, so the TikTok channel is suitable for merchants of all sizes. To launch their joint venture, TikTok is offering merchants a $300 voucher to spend on their first advertising campaign.