Tiktok shopify partnership is 3 years old, do merchants actually benefit in 2024?

With the development of social media, more and more merchants are beginning to realize the importance of social e-commerce.Tiktok is undoubtedly the hottest social channel in the past two years, and most people in China believe that it is able to replicate the miracle of the domestic Jitterbug.

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TikTok, as one of the world's most popular short video platforms, is rapidly becoming a new favorite for product recommendations and purchases. 2024, Guangzhou, there are also some enterprises directly on the recruitment of short plays, screenwriters to do cross-border e-commerce, there is no doubt that in the domestic set of this directly out of the country, and the facts have proved to be really useful.

And Shopify, the world's leading e-commerce platform, has partnered with TikTok to provide merchants with unprecedented business opportunities. The two started their partnership in 2020. But have shopify merchants really profited from it so far? Probably not, or at least my experience has been rather hit and miss.

This article will detail the TikTok Shopify partnership, how merchants can combine the two, and the pros and cons of this partnership to help merchants find the optimal balance between a small TikTok store and an independent site.

I. What is TikTok?

TikTok is a short-video social app launched by ByteDance, (now separated from Byte and a purely U.S.-owned company) Since its launch in 2016, TikTok has quickly taken the world by storm. Users can create and share short videos through TikTok, covering a wide range of content including music, dance, comedy, beauty, fashion, etc. TikTok is not only an entertainment platform, but also a powerful product recommendation and discovery tool.

TikTok's partnership with Shopify

In 2020, TikTok and Shopify announced a partnership to launch the TikTok for Business advertising solution. Through this partnership, merchants can connect their Shopify stores to their TikTok accounts, create and manage ad campaigns on TikTok, and directly promote products in their Shopify stores. This move provides merchants with a powerful tool to convert social media traffic into actual sales.

I didn't follow this co-op first after it launched because I read some of my friends who went in to play and were calling the ad algorithm crap, but it's okay if the agent is subsidized, otherwise I really wouldn't want to pitch it at all.

Second, how merchants can combine TikTok and Shopify

1. Create a Shopify store and connect to TikTok

To take full advantage of the TikTok and Shopify partnership, you first need to create a Shopify store and connect it to your TikTok account. Here are the exact steps:

Create a Shopify Store::

interviewsShopify official websiteand register for an account.
on the basis ofGuidelines to complete the basic setup of the store, including store name, domain name selection and product addition.

Install the TikTok app::

In the Shopify backend, visit the Shopify App Store, search for and install the TikTok app.
Follow the instructions to connect your TikTok account to the Shopify store and complete the setup.

advertising campaign::

Use the tools within the TikTok app to create attractive advertising videos.
Setting up advertising goals, budgets and audiences and launching advertising campaigns.

2. Product promotion on TikTok

TikTok offers a variety of product promotion methods, and merchants can choose the one that suits their needs:

TikTok Live Shopping: Show your viewers your products via live streaming, answer questions in real time, and prompt them to make direct purchases.
Shoppable Video: Adding shopping links to the video allows users to purchase products without leaving the video.
Product Showcase: Showcase products in the shopping tab of your TikTok account, which users can click on to browse and buy.

Third, the advantages and disadvantages of the TikTok Shopify partnership

vantage

wide user base: TikTok has a large user base, especially the younger generation, and businesses can reach more potential customers through the platform.
Efficient traffic conversion: TikTok's entertaining and interactive nature makes ad content more engaging and conversion rates higher.
Convenient integration tools: Seamless integration of Shopify and TikTok allows merchants to manage products, inventory, and advertisements on one platform with ease of operation.

drawbacks

Content creation is demanding: TikTok content creation requires creativity and skill, and merchants may need to invest more time and resources to produce engaging videos.
Fierce market competition: Competition on TikTok is growing and merchants need to keep innovating to stand out from the crowd of brands.
Geographical limitation: TikTok Shops are currently only available in select countries and regions, and merchants will need to confirm their eligibility.

From my personal experience, the partnership between TikTok store and shopify is more like using shopify's data as a reference to train your own TikTok Shop algorithm. If you try to use TikTok shop traffic to put independent sites, that is, from TikTok diversion to independent sites, sorry, the data is very very bad, the bounce rate is almost 95%. I tried less than $100, and then gave up, this is pure garbage volume.

But the placements around me doing TikTok shop are very good and CPA is able to be under 10, which is very tempting for the cost of conversion.

Obviously, with the TikTok shopify partnership, shopify gets the fame and TikTok gets the data to train their algorithms, which is the best of both worlds. But for us merchants, it looks like we can't do both, we just have to make good tradeoffs.

IV. Merchants' tradeoffs on TikTok's small stores and standalone stations

Merchants need to weigh their options when choosing whether to use a TikTok small store or a standalone site.

Advantages of TikTok's Little Shop

direct conversion: The TikTok mini store allows users to complete purchases within the platform, reducing the conversion path and increasing sales efficiency.
Traffic Guidance: Utilizing TikTok's algorithmic recommendations and trending topics, merchants can get a lot of natural traffic.
Highly interactive: Through live streaming and video reviews, merchants can interact with users in real time and enhance user stickiness.

Advantages of independent sites

Brand independence: A stand-alone site can better showcase a brand image and enhance brand awareness.
data control: On the independent station, merchants can have full control of user data for accurate marketing analysis and strategy adjustment.
multichannel integration: Independent stations can integrate multiple sales channels, including social media, e-commerce platforms, offline stores, etc., to realize omni-channel marketing.

How to weigh

positioning (marketing): If your target customers are mainly focused on the TikTok user group, you can prioritize the TikTok mini store; if your brand needs more display space and independence, you can choose the standalone site.
Resource allocation: Consider whether your team has sufficient resources and capacity for TikTok content creation and maintenance of standalone sites, and allocate resources wisely.
comprehensive utilization: The optimal strategy is to comprehensively utilize TikTok small stores and independent stations to complement each other. Through TikTok diversion to the independent station, or on the independent station to guide users to follow the TikTok account, forming a closed-loop marketing.

1, Shopify and tiktok partnership guide:https://www.shopify.com/zh/blog/scaling-social-commerce-shopify-introduces-new-in-app-shopping-experiences-on-tiktok

2.Shopify Platform's TikTok Channel Will Be Open to Shopify's Chinese Overseas Merchants