Despite the ban crisis, TikTok Shop's growth rate in the US still exceeds that of Temu and SHEIN!

TikTok has been in the spotlight since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that it was subject to a "sell or ban" law.

Surprisingly, even at the risk of being banned, TikTok's e-commerce business in the United States has not been affected.

Sales surged 153% in a single month, and TikTok's US e-commerce boomed

According to Bloomberg , Bloomberg Second Measure ( BSM ) analyzed credit and debit card data and found that TikTok Shop showed rapid sales growth momentum in 2024, and this momentum continued in January 2025, even though TikTok experienced a "pause" of several hours that month.

BSM analyst Joe Hung pointed out in the report that TikTok Shop sales increased by 153% in January, while SHEIN and Temu sales increased by 26% and 28% respectively. Joe Hung also mentioned that "users bought $39 serums by watching beauty tutorials. This impulse purchase of see-now-buy is reshaping the cross-border e-commerce landscape."

The report also mentioned that TikTok Shop is grabbing some market share from SHEIN and Temu. Among them, TikTok Shop's share of transactions worth more than US$25 (which is closer to SHEIN's market) increased by 16 percentage points year-on-year in January, and in transactions worth less than US$25 (which is Temu's advantage area), it increased by 7 percentage points.

Data from the e-commerce data platform Charm.io showed that on the first day after the suspension of service (January 19th, US time), TikTok Shop's total sales reached US$32,064,590, an increase of more than US$500,000 from US$31,429,366 on January 18, and an increase of nearly US$5 million from US$27,536,680 on January 12.

In the week of January 5 alone , TikTok Shop had sales of $168,221,927, a significant increase from the average weekly sales of $139,172,005 in 2024. In the week before the ban on January 12, sales totaled $200,475,975, with sales exceeding $43 million on January 16. In addition to the sales peak during the year-end holidays, the week before the ban was the highest sales week for TikTok Shop in the past 12 months.

Charm.io believes that this phenomenon is related to consumers' concerns that they will miss purchasing opportunities after TikTok suspends its services, which shows that consumers recognize TikTok Shop.

However, even with the impressive growth in the US, TikTok still seems to think that TikTok Shop still has considerable room for development in the US. According to Jiemian News, before the US shutdown, TikTok e-commerce had set a goal of 400% growth in the US this year; LatePost also reported that the US market was highly anticipated by the TikTok e-commerce team, with a growth target of nearly 200%. TikTok has not yet responded to these news.

It is worth mentioning that Interface News also mentioned in the report that according to a meeting document of an internal TikTok e-commerce meeting, short videos are the main source of TikTok e-commerce's GMV (gross merchandise volume) in the United States, accounting for about 40%, the mall GMV accounts for about 30%, and the GMV brought by live broadcasts accounts for only about 10%.

TikTok has released many hits in the US, with one product generating sales of 24 million in a single month

The popularity of a platform will bring opportunities to many sellers, and TikTok Shop is no exception.

Take VEVOR, a leading brand in the field of MRO tools export in China , for example. TikTok Shop landed in the United States in September 2023, and VEVOR opened a store in the same month. One year after joining the American store (as of September 2024), its store GMV reached US$16.17 million (approximately RMB 117.5 million) .

With the arrival of spring, Americans have entered the peak season of planting flowers and plants and taking care of gardens. Thanks to this, sales of many gardening equipment products related to TikTok in the US have shown an upward trend, and a watering hose under VEVOR is one of them.

Data from relevant platforms show that this retractable garden watering hose, which is priced at US$58.99 (approximately RMB 428.7)-99.99 (approximately RMB 726.67), has sold 2,900 orders in the past 30 days in the VEVOR store, with a GMV of more than US$239,000 (approximately RMB 1.7369 million). It is reported that this hose can be extended up to 130 feet and is equipped with a slow rebound system. Its retractable characteristics make it extremely space-saving to store. This product was launched in September 2023. As of now, the total sales volume is 38,200, and the total GMV has reached US$3.28 million (approximately RMB 23.8372 million).

In addition to the current seasonal gardening equipment products, TikTok's US store has also seen a surge in popular products in categories such as cosmetics and personal care, health care, and small appliances.

In the beauty and personal care category, a turmeric soap from the brand Honey Glow has a total GMV of $3.84 million (about RMB 27.9069 million) and sales of 637,800 units one year after it was launched in the US TikTok store. In the past 30 days, sales have increased by 13,300 units, and sales have increased by $105,600 (about RMB 767,400). This turmeric soap is priced at only $8 (about RMB 5813).

In the health care category, a liquid multivitamin from the brand MaryRuth's that is mainly used to prevent hair loss stood out, with sales increasing by 347,000 units and sales increasing by $3.3 million (about RMB 23.9825 million) in the past 30 days . The price of this vitamin ranges from $35.96 (single bottle, about RMB 261.33) to $134.85 (4 bottles, about RMB 980.01). One year after the product was launched, the GMV reached $19.99 million (about RMB 145 million), and the total sales volume also reached 359,300 units.

Among small household appliances, a mini travel iron called "Mini Travel Iron for Clothes" sold 8,481 units on February 16, with cumulative sales exceeding US$160,000 (approximately RMB 116.27) , topping the TikTok US best-selling product list that day; another portable ultrasonic air humidifier under TONVVD also sold 13,600 units between February 10 and February 16, with a sales growth rate of 2923.95% during the period , topping the TikTok Shop US household appliance sales list.

Amid the crisis, TikTok e-commerce is also expanding into other markets

Although TikTok is quite confident in the U.S. market, it is always shrouded in the shadow of being banned. In addition, Europe, Latin America and other countries are also large markets, so TikTok's e-commerce team has not relaxed its layout in other markets.

According to foreign media reports, TikTok plans to expand its e-commerce business in five countries this year, including Italy, Germany, France, Japan and Brazil. According to people familiar with the matter, the TikTok team has begun contacting domestic sellers and invited them to prepare for the store entry in the new markets that will be opened soon.

Among the five markets, the Italian site is expected to be launched before the end of this month, and the "yellow shopping cart" icon may be activated in late March or early April; the Japanese site is expected to go online in June; and there is no definite news on the launch time for Germany, France and Brazil.

In addition, TikTok has introduced the "TikTok Delivery (FBT, Fulfilled by TikTok)" model in the German market. Under this model, TikTok will undertake the warehousing, packaging and logistics distribution of sellers, helping merchants to achieve one-stop fulfillment services. This model has been first implemented in the British market and has achieved certain success, providing more efficient supply chain support for merchants on the platform.

At present, both social e-commerce and TikTok have become an indispensable trend. According to relevant reports, the growth rate of social e-commerce will be three times that of traditional e-commerce, and the market size will reach 1.2 trillion US dollars in 2025; and in TikTok's US e-commerce business, beauty and personal care, women's clothing, health care products, etc. have also seen good growth, especially home products, which are the fastest growing category. As a seller, you can actively pay attention to relevant trends and platforms so as to layout and adjust your business in a timely manner.

TikTok Shop

US e-commerce