Social commerce sales are projected to more than double to $145B by 2027 from $67B in 2023, eMarketer forecasts.
Amazon’s eager to get involved. TikTok recently announced that they’re partnering up with the marketplace giant to let shoppers buy Amazon products, without leaving the app. The impact of this is seismic. It signifies the #1 and #4 most popular online marketplaces joining forces to streamline how people shop.
How will TikTok users see Amazon ads?
TikTok says users will get Amazon recommendations on their For You pages—the main feed they see when they open the TikTok app. It’s a personalized content stream designed to showcase videos the platform’s algorithm believes will be of most interest to each user.
If they’ve not purchased an Amazon product via TikTok before, the user will be prompted to connect their Amazon account after they click on one of these ads. TikTok describes the process as a “secure, quick, easy, one-time setup”.
U.S. users who choose to link their accounts will see real-time pricing, Prime eligibility, delivery estimates, and product details on select Amazon product ads.
Amazon, in conversation with PYMNTS, confirmed that these product placements will be available for products sold by Amazon directly, and independent and third-party sellers.
The benefits of TikTok in-app purchases for Amazon sellers
In-app shopping has been on the rise, even prior to this launch. In-app purchase revenue is expected to grow by 263.5% from 2020-2026.
In terms of social apps specifically, 28% of consumers have completed a transaction on social media because it allows them to buy a product as soon as it catches their attention, and TikTok’s no exception.
TikTok Shop’s already proven itself as a lucrative marketplace, accruing $349M in revenue in December 2023, meaning there are plenty of eager buyers already present on the platform.
TikTok also already provides opportunities for creators to sell Amazon products, they’re just not as streamlined or public as this integration will make them. With a TikTok Creator profile, you can currently add your custom Amazon Storefront link to your bio, but that won’t appear unless users click through from one of your posts.
Founder of Since Tomorrow, Joanna Williams, spoke on LinkedIn about the risks for sellers who don’t embrace seamless shopping on apps, “Brands that fail to embrace this tsunami of a shift and integrate their eCommerce with content/entertainment/community experiences will cease to exist soon.”
With that in mind, let’s move on to some best practices when it comes to blending your Amazon products seamlessly into the TikTok ecosystem.
How to sell Amazon products on TikTok
Create effective TikTok promotional content
While there’s no official step-by-step guide for setting up your Amazon products to sell them directly through TikTok at time of writing, Amazon offers a range of tips for effective TikTok content including these:
- Videos should be full-screen vertical, with dimensions of 9×16.
- Content should be 11-25 seconds long for optimum performance.
- New sellers should post 3-5 times a day for 3 weeks to build momentum.
- Adding audio can increase engagement on video ads by 16%.
- Spending at least 20 minutes a day interacting with followers’ comments on your video can also boost engagement.
- You should start by testing 10 different videos focused on different product categories, measure which ones perform best, and iterate from there, according to Amazon influencer, Madi Webb.
- Lauren Nicole White, another Amazon influencer, recommends other influencers create an Amazon Favourites playlist featuring their recent purchases. As a seller, you can flip that script and create a playlist showcasing bestsellers for shoppers visiting your TikTok profile.
- Including specific branded hashtags in your TikTok posts like #amazonfinds #founditonamazon and #amazonfavorites is also recommended.
Choose suitable products and pricing for the TikTok audience
When it comes to choosing which of your Amazon products you want to offer via TikTok, it’s worth researching what’s already selling well for other businesses.
The TikTok Creative Center gives an up-to-date breakdown of the most popular product types. It also gives details about the products’ performance including the number of current ad creatives running for each product type as well as conversion rate, likes, impressions, cost per acquisition and more.
At time of writing, casual dresses, perfume, and earphones & headphones rank in the top 3 best-selling categories. In July 2024, TikTok recorded a $52 spend per customer, so it’s worth trying to keep your products to this price range, too.
How to handle increased support demands from TikTok and Amazon
The more successful you become as an online seller, the more complicated handling pre- and post-sales queries becomes. Selling through multiple channels like Amazon, TikTok and every other social channel compounds this.
Trying to keep tabs on every system, every conversation and every message can get overwhelming as you grow.
The beauty of a platform like eDesk is that it has built-in integrations for over 300 channels so, no matter where you sell, you can see all your customer communications in a single inbox. You can read more about our dedicated TikTok integration here.
Support agents can also see the full order history and all customer details in one interface so they have all the context they need to provide detailed, delightful support.
On top of all this, the platform’s packed with AI features that cut multiple steps from the support process. All in all, no matter what volume of queries come in, you can ensure your customers are happy and eager to buy again.
What’s next?
Having signed a similar deal with Pinterest—added to its existing partnerships with Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat—Amazon has made it clear that it considers social commerce to be a huge opportunity.
As you scale your online sales, don’t let increased support demands slow you down. Streamline all your support workflows with a centralized system like eDesk to guarantee smooth communications and happy customers. Start a free trial here.
