TikTok is still trying to get people to buy more things in the app, this time via a new integration with Amazon that allows TikTok users to make an Amazon purchase in-stream without having to access the Amazon app or website.
Amazon’s new partnership with TikTok will allow for more direct integration between the two apps. Pinterest has also signed a similar agreement with the e-commerce giant, but so far only TikTok has made an official announcement.
According to TikTok:
“Users can now seamlessly discover and purchase their favorite Amazon products directly within the TikTok app. This shopping experience is powered by Amazon through ads placed on TikTok and allows users to complete product purchases on Amazon within TikTok’s native environment.”
Now, when TikTok users see Amazon product recommendations in their For You feed, they can make an instant purchase. This will be made easier by linking their TikTok profile to their Amazon account, “through a secure, quick and easy one-time setup.”
Note that “safe” is the key term TikTok wants to emphasize here.
With TikTok still discredited in the U.S. due to its perceived ties to the Chinese government, at least some U.S. shoppers will be hesitant to create a direct link between their Amazon profile and their TikTok presence for fear of exposing even more of their data to the company.
But TikTok hopes that convenience will prevail:
“Once your accounts are linked, Amazon customers will be able to complete a checkout with Amazon in the product display without leaving the TikTok app – enabling a faster, smoother experience.”
When you connect your Amazon account, TikTok listings will also show you real-time prices, Prime eligibility information, and delivery estimates.
The agreement itself is nothing new, as Amazon entered into similar shopping partnerships with Meta and Snapchat late last year. Expanding to TikTok and Pinterest will give Amazon more opportunities to tap into compulsive social shopping behavior in a more streamlined way, with the benefit to the platforms being that habits will change and users will be able to buy more things in their apps.
Yet social commerce is still struggling to gain traction in Western markets, especially compared to China, where shopping on social apps, especially via live streams, has exploded in recent years.
But that’s not to say that social shopping has been a failure in the West. In fact, social shopping usage is growing by about 18% annually. However, in most regions, it is still a long way from face-to-face commerce.
This largely reflects shopping trends more broadly, isolated from social media apps, with e-commerce usage steadily increasing over time.
As you can see in this graph, the COVID pandemic logically triggered a sharp increase in online shopping, which many industry experts believe is a harbinger of things to come. This surge is likely to continue once people become more accustomed to the convenience of shopping on their phones.
Since then, however, it has largely returned to pre-COVID levels, albeit slightly higher, and now accounts for about 15% of U.S. retail sales.
So, as time goes on, more and more people are becoming accustomed to online shopping, which includes commerce via social media. And the next generation of consumers will likely be even more open to shoppable product listings in their social feeds, but that’s taking longer than many expected, which has led to many of these projects failing and disappearing as social media users continue to separate their entertainment and shopping activities.
That looks set to change, but Western consumers aren’t following the same adoption trends as those in China. That has to be frustrating for TikTok, as the Chinese version of the app now brings in billions through in-app shopping.
It is therefore safe to assume that TikTok will continue to push in-app commerce as a key opportunity in the hopes of accelerating these trends, while the other social apps will stay on top of their own similar offerings in case of a sudden change.
