TikTok has always been the trends hub. While predicting the future of social media marketing trends is always hard, you have a bit of an advantage if you mean to predict TikTok’s coming trends. Why? Because they’re already happening in China. This progression matters because TikTok’s Chinese sister app – Douyin – which is currently only at 600 million users, significantly overtakes its development.
True enough, most of TikTok’s features and algorithms are so well-formed because it has been refining them since 2016, which is also when Douyin first launched to mainland Chinese users.
Douyin See What I See?
On Douyin, live-stream commerce is pretty much the game. Sales generated via Douyin live broadcasts have risen by as much as 7x year-over-year in 2021. The number of eCommerce live broadcast users has since exceeded 384 million, which is already more than half the platform’s entire user base.
To say the least, the live-shopping trend in China is gargantuan. It has been predicted that revenue from live shopping will reach $400 billion in China alone this year, which is equivalent to nearly half of the US’ total eCommerce spending last year. The same trend also grows more popular with younger audiences, with those under the age of 27 seeing the fastest adoption of online shopping.
If you want to get a handle on what would likely be the next biggest focus for TikTok, then you need not look further than this. In fact, it’s already happening, as NBC News reports:
“Dozens of accounts on TikTok go live nearly every day to hawk stuffed animals, colored contact lenses, keychains, shoes, phone cases, faux leather purses, makeup tools, as well as a plethora of other goods. Some influencers have amassed more than 100,000 followers and regularly have hundreds or thousands of people watching their live streams concurrently.”
It’s worth noting that many of these accounts are China-based, meaning that Chinese broadcasters are expanding their market reach. The NBC also reports that TikTok is assisting some of these streamers to build their business within the app as it looks to build on its eCommerce potential. Given TikTok’s currently janky monetization system, this front will likely be a key focus for its plans, allowing it to hopefully fare a bit better when going against the likes of YouTube and Instagram.
So, how will TikTok pull this off? While we don’t see a concrete action plan just yet, we have seen a couple of inklings of this, starting with TikTok’s live-stream tests of its integrated Walmart digital shopping experience. Upgrading this will likely include a couple of options already on Douyin, including simplified live-stream purchasing via one-click buy buttons, additional landing page components, physical location and other offline-purchase components, and dynamic shopping tags and product buttons.
Some of these are already in development, with more options on their way to TikTok’s main app soon. Presently, there are also more ways to utilize the platform’s existing live-stream functions, such as co-hosting with a second screen.
The Wrap
There are essentially many tools that TikTok can add to evolve its in-stream shopping experience as the app continues to grow and develop its systems. The big question is whether or not live-stream commerce catches on in Western markets as much as it has in Eastern ones.
Some have, most haven’t, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t at all. While it may not be the best sign for TikTok’s prospects, initial indicators are there, along with a present level of interest for live-commerce by a notable portion of its total user base. Even if it doesn’t become a US Douyin, the gains would still be significant.
Subscribe to our ‘Bottoms Up!’ Newsletter. Get the latest social media blogs about news, updates, trends, and effective social media strategies to take your business to the highest level from Tristan Ahumada and Jeff Pfitzer.
Sources