sp; Currently available in the US, UK, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, it’s rumoured that the Australian market can expect the arrival of TikTok Shop by late 2024, just in time for the holiday shopping period. But this is yet to be confirmed by TikTok. With that in mind, here’s what local retailers need to know to make the most of the platform’s potential. Social commerce vs e-commerce  The shareable short-form content app has taken e-commerce to new heights and accelerated what marketing experts refer to as social commerce. Social commerce brings the store to the customer instead of redirecting them to an online store – TikTok Shop allows customers to check out within the app, streamlining the purchase process and allowing them to continue scrolling seamlessly. Social commerce is an entirely new user experience that will take some brands time to work out how to navigate.  TikTok’s tool kit TikTok provides a whole new set of tools for retail brands and content creators to leverage: Shop ads allow sellers to promote their TikTok Shops, converting app users to customers seamlessly. Affiliate programs enable creators to connect with retailers for commission-based marketing opportunities for a frictionless way to promote products and monetise their marketing efforts. Shop Tab is an online marketplace where customers can quickly search for products and compare promotions to find the best deal. In-feed video and live shopping lets sellers and influencers tag products directly for a quick checkout.  Content is still king  As expected, social commerce on TikTok Shop requires engaging, entertaining or educational content. Brands need to be willing to invest in video content in one way or another, whether that be; sending products to creators in the hopes of them reviewing the brand, sponsoring creators to share product-centred content, sharing organic user-generated content or producing content in-house to share across their pages. Vertical videos, driven in large part by the popularity of TikTok, have become the most sought-after form of content for their easy shareability and viral potential. While TikTok Shop has many pay-to-play features, brands will need to have compelling content that entices consumers to hit “add to cart”. The Australian leaderboard  TikTok has been keeping tabs on the Australian retailers that are already experiencing measurable success with the commerce features currently available to local retailers. Country Road adopted a full-funnel marketing strategy on TikTok for its “A Most Wonderful Celebration” campaign around Christmas 2023 – creating an 18 per cent lift in ad recall, 1.6 million net new brand users reached and a 28 per cent uplift in offline sales. “TikTok played an integral role in our overall Christmas campaign strategy. Creating content specifically for TikTok allowed us to extend the life of our brand campaign and reach a new engaged audience by tapping into trends,” Monique Ridley, Country Road’s marketing campaign manager, said in a statement. “Through a mix of high-fi and low-fi creative formats, we were able to drive users down the funnel and saw strong positive sentiment across the platform, as well as record-breaking conversion performance,” Ridley added. Princess Polly leveraged TikTok’s paid ads feature to find its target audience in the US – the results of its search ads resulted in a 350 per cent increase in purchase value, an 80 per cent improvement in CPA and brought in five times more purchases when compared to non-search campaigns. “From the onset, we saw incredible results with significant improvements in ROAS, increased conversions, and a lower CPA across our major markets,” Amanda Carruthers, Princess Polly’s paid social manager, said in a statement. “Search Ads have also given us a glimpse into what our customers are searching for within the app, enabling us to tailor our content accordingly,” Carruthers added. In addition to Country Road and Princess Polly, The Oodie, Adore Beauty, Leelo Active, Chemist Warehouse, Moodi, Cotton On, Lorna Jane, Frank Green and Mecca have all found success with TikTok’s available retail tools. With countless other Australian retailers looking forward to unlocking the power of TikTok Shop, the new app feature is sure to shake up the domestic shopping landscape.