How TikTok Shop boosts customer acquisition for D2C brands

The launch of TikTok Shop was a call out of TikTok’s aspirations to become the world’s go-to social commerce channel—and it’s succeeded.

It might have been Gen Z who fueled its initial growth in the U.S., but TikTok’s appeal has rapidly spread across age groups. As more diverse creators and consumers join, it’s getting easier for brands to connect with a wider range of audiences.

As Korina Sanchez, Performance Marketing Manager at Chomps, points out, TikTok Shop is evolving in tandem to attract established brands looking to acquire new customers:

"When we first started, it was more lower price points and maybe some newer brands that people haven't heard of. Now, watching the TikTok Shop community grow, for big brands it has been a great place to introduce new things and really have some strong backing."

- Korina Sanchez, Performance Marketing Manager at Chomps.

TikTok Shop offers a unique opportunity to engage with a diverse range of creators and  consumers, driving direct sales and completing the marketing funnel entirely within the platform. When it’s more important than ever to focus on fostering genuine connections and building a strong creator network, TikTok Shop cannot be ignored.

From mass product seeding to outreach and collaborations with thousands of creators, TikTok Shop is offering influencer marketers a level of scale in their creator partnerships that isn’t possible on any other channel.

No matter how social commerce develops, learning how to navigate creator outreach and community building on TikTok Shop will give influencer marketers and brands a significant advantage as other players join the space.

(If you haven’t already, check out our chapters on sourcing TikTok creators, vetting TikTok creators, and what to book on TikTok. These provide a great foundation for this section of the Field Guide!)

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First off: What is TikTok Shop?

Before we dive in, let’s get a few definitions out of the way.

TikTok Shop is an ecommerce feature within the broader TikTok ecosystem. It allows users to discover and purchase products directly within the platform. The TikTok Shop experience is completely embedded within the short-form UGC video format, allowing consumers to browse and shop seamlessly via creator-led content.

By leveraging TikTok Shop’s Affiliate Program, brands can discover and partner with creators with aligned audiences to promote their products. This extends your reach, while incentivizing creators to post high-quality content that converts.

TikTok is home to millions of potential customers who are already in a discovery mindset; they’re open to consuming what the algorithm throws at them, so long as it feels native to the platform. This makes TikTok—and by extension, TikTok Shop—extremely rich ground for brands to introduce their products in clever and engaging ways:

”We find 95% of the customers you're going to acquire there are going to be new to brand, and so very powerful for establishing relationships with people that have potential long term lifetime value.”

- Micah Whitehead, CEO and Co-Founder of Zeroto1.

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TikTok Shop: Collapsing the marketing funnel

To truly understand TikTok Shop as an acquisition channel, we need to frame where it fits into the broader marketing mix for brands.

As Oliver at TikTok Shop explains, TikTok Shop enables brands to meet consumers where they're already discovering products and brands in a highly organic way—and then actually drive sales:

”Brands are already participating within the TikTok ecosystem, focused on driving awareness for their various products, connecting with consumers, building their brand. Now, we've introduced the element to complete the rest of the back half of that cycle, which is the consideration, the decision making and the actual purchase behavior.”

- Oliver Silzer, Partnerships and Business Development TikTok Shop.

This is a huge departure from creator partnerships on Instagram and YouTube, which focus on driving specific actions in different stages of the customer journey. For example, you can book a series of Instagram Stories to drive direct response using unique discount codes and links.

However, the main action (the sale) requires users to navigate away from social platforms—with potentially hundreds of potential customers leaking through this gap in the funnel.

By leveraging creator partnerships in TikTok Shop, brands can take consumers from discovery to consideration to purchase with minimal friction. This collapse of the funnel not only simplifies the customer journey, but allows brands to build deeper, more meaningful connections with their audience during every stage.

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Why TikTok Shop is a powerful acquisition channel

TikTok Shop shines as a top of funnel engine for new customers, and this is thanks to some very unique features:

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Omnichannel creators

As TikTok matures, high-performing creators are no longer necessarily native to the platform. While plenty of successful influencers got their start on TikTok, established creators on other channels are following where their earning potential is the strongest.

According to Dan Albert at 456 Growth, this is leading them directly to TikTok Shop affiliate programs, where they can more easily monetize their existing audiences:

"You have several types of creators getting involved in TikTok Shop. You have creators that are historical creators with omnichannel presences, that are converting their attention to TikTok and TikTok Shop. You have creators that are strong affiliate drivers that are now integrating TikTok Shop a part of their strategy.”

- Dan Albert, Co-Founder and Partner at 456 Growth.

This opens up a lot of opportunities for brands to leverage existing creator partnerships and bring them to TikTok Shop, especially high performers who have proven success at driving direct response. TikTok Shop itself also offers the tools to source relevant creators in your vertical—but effective discovery and outreach is everything.

(Skip ahead to our TikTok Shop creator sourcing section if you like!)

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Mass outreach and collaboration opportunities

On TikTok Shop, influencer marketers can pioneer a much more expansive outbound approach with creators via messaging and collaboration invites.

Compare this with Instagram DMs, where someone has to accept a message request before you can engage or invite them to an affiliate program. TikTok Shop makes it possible to reach out to creators and initiate partnerships directly—without any existing touch points.

As Pontus Karlsson, our Product Lead at Superfiliate explains, this outbound relationship building sets the tone for a more open, collaborative culture on the platform:

“TikTok has kind of created its own culture to some extent. It almost has a different language than other channels, where jokes are moving at a different pace and formats are developing in a different way. When you look at TikTok in a media mix, allow for another type of content and let the creators create and allow it to be very organic.”

- Pontus Karlsson, Product Lead at Superfiliate.

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Product seeding on an epic scale

TikTok Shop blows all other seeding channels out of the water. Why? Because unlike other platforms, TikTok requires creators to post content whenever they accept products from a brand.

Since posting regular content is essential for creators to develop an engaged following, this gives them a powerful incentive to participate in seeding campaigns:

“We find the hit rate on posted content is about 80%. And so there's no other seeding channel out there that has that high of an output that is predictable.”

- Micah Whitehead, CEO and Co-Founder of Zeroto1.

Let’s say your brand is seeding to thousands of products to creators each month. With a hit rate of 80%, that equals millions of tagged impressions on creator content—and a minuscule CPM (cost per thousand impressions). This opens up all kinds of unique opportunities to engage creators and find ways to differentiate your brand at the point of receiving your product.

(We’re diving into everything product seeding, open vs. target collaborations, incentives, and more in our “Strategies for collaborating with creators” chapter!)

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BUT: operational readiness is key!

So, when is the right time to commit to TikTok Shop?

If your goal is to gain a competitive edge in your vertical, being an early adopter is ALWAYS in your brand’s best interest. However, influencer marketers need to make sure they have the buy-in and resources in place to execute a TikTok Shop strategy effectively.

As Molly points out, TikTok Shop is unique as a channel in how it blends together both brand marketing and social selling, which often requires a significant shift internally:

“It can be a wonderful forcing mechanism to bring Sales and Marketing teams together. It goes all the way through lifetime value and seeing how TikTok Shop introduces your product, and then how that has a halo effect in your other channels of distribution.”

- Molly O’Bryen, Senior Director of TikTok Shop at Flywheel.

As influencer marketer in an rapidly evolving landscape, now is the time to start thinking smarter, not harder. You should approach TikTok Shop not as a standalone tactic, but as a swiss army tool within your wider ecommerce and marketing arsenal. Consider how these strategies can be adapted and scaled to other platforms, ensuring longevity and resilience in your creator partnerships.

However, it all starts with identifying and building relationships with creators on who align with your brand and know how to showcase products.

Next up: Sourcing creators on TikTok Shop!