TikTok , the most popular social media app of all time , officially announced on Tuesday that it is piloting a new in-app shopping experience as part of its ongoing partnership with Shopify. TikTok Shopping will allow select merchants in the United States, Canada, and UK regions to use a new shopping tab and product links to sell their products on Shopify.
The Shopping tab is basically a profile tab, just like Instagram, with a scrollable list of products you can click to go directly to a seller’s products on Shopify. Product links offer similar integrations, allowing sellers to directly link to a product from a TikTok post.
In its current form, this isn’t really a fully developed monetization opportunity for creators. New shopping features require a TikTok for Business account and a Shopify store; two things not every creator will have. This new collaboration experience is more of a progression of the advertising partnership TikTok and Shopify launched in 2020, rather than the future of monetization on the platform.
In addition to obvious similarities to the project Instagram and Facebook are working on, TikTok Shopping may look familiar as the company has tested it with a more limited user base. Earlier this year, TikTok piloted the shopping tab in the UK with streetwear brand Hype. The number of vendors that are part of this expanded Shopify pilot is unknown, but currently TikTok has Kylie Cosmetics, one of the famous brands, and is actively listing their products.
Twitter Shopping says the shopping experience and product links will be enabled for merchants in the coming weeks, with plans to expand to more regions outside the United States, United Kingdom and Canada in the coming months.
