TikTok drives omnichannel sales, with sellers’ daily GMV exceeding $100,000

“When we need to build a brand, TikTok’s advantages stand out. There are few platforms that can be as comprehensive as TikTok, from user content preferences to reach ecosystems and reach tools.”

—— Shanfu, founding partner of underwear brand Jollynn and founder of Century Grow

Jollynn, a local Thai underwear brand founded in 2021, has become the top-selling underwear brand in the local TikTok Shop in just a few years . The brand's own intensive cultivation is undoubtedly the biggest secret to its success, but its ability to deeply explore and leverage the traffic and resources of the TikTok platform is also amazing and worth exploring.

During their overseas expansion, many brands like Jollynn discovered that TikTok is not only a recognized blue ocean of traffic, but its social attributes can also help brands stimulate user discussions and accelerate cross-circle dissemination; at the same time, TikTok can be used as a direct sales channel and also has a traffic-generating function, driving omni-channel growth.

The platform has significant advantages, and sellers are scrambling to catch up. TikTok has rich functions and diverse gameplay. How to use this hot blue ocean platform to successfully achieve business growth? Every question in the actual combat scenario has become a compulsory homework for every overseas merchant.

TikTok users have strong purchasing power, and cross-border sellers are rushing to establish a presence

In recent years, the calls for TikTok to expand overseas have continued to grow. Major retailers such as Aokie, Qian'an Technology, Eskimo, and Li Deming have been scrambling to recruit TikTok operations or management personnel. Oriental Selection even decisively offered a high monthly salary of 40,000 yuan to attract talents such as content operations managers.

Behind TikTok's surge in popularity in the cross-border e-commerce industry is the strong purchasing power brought by a massive number of users . TikTok covers more than 150 countries and regions, and the number of monthly active users worldwide has exceeded 1 billion in 2021. The fundamental reason why sellers are so keen on TikTok is that they are attracted by its repeatedly verified monetization capabilities . The huge number of users and promising prospects have attracted overseas merchants to go there, thus creating a myth of wealth.

In July 2023, home furnishing giant Zhiou Technology (301376.SZ) opened TikTok Shop. By cooperating with influencers and launching multiple popular videos, it quickly attracted the attention of a large number of young users on TikTok and received 220,000 likes in a short period of time.

Due to the huge traffic on the platform, newcomers can also quickly increase their sales. Last year, seller Jason opened a TikTok Shop and sold out the 100-day inventory in three days. In just a few months, sales reached 20 million US dollars, and his small store Sweet Furniture took the top spot in the furniture category. He plans to double the warehouse area in 2024 to support sales growth.

In addition, TikTok's rich resources and complete functions have also attracted sellers to increase their investment . For example, the underwear brand Jollynn has invested nearly 80% of its brand investment in TikTok. "TikTok is very suitable as an amplifier of brand voice. Its advantage lies in the 'closed loop', which is its natural advantage of social attributes . This is why more and more sellers prefer TikTok." said Shan Fu, the founding partner of Jollynn.

Jollynn offline store

TikTok 's social media platform attributes are also bringing businesses a steady stream of new customers . Businesses can use native short video content to establish effective connections with users and accelerate brand communication; at the same time, the massive number of influencers on the platform can also help brands break out of the circle, provide professional endorsements for brands, and reach precise target audiences, thereby improving brand conversion.

For example, oral FMCG brand MeToo observed that Indonesian consumers had a rigid demand for mouthwash during Ramadan, so MeToo chose to launch a new product during Ramadan. With the help of the TikTok platform and co-creation with influencers, MeToo received over 20 billion video views in the "Ramadan Mouthwash Expert Challenge", and one week later, its product ranked in the top three of TikTok's FMCG rankings.

TikTok maximizes product cost-effectiveness to meet consumers' pursuit of value

Although TikTok has brought abundant resources and functions, how to leverage TikTok to achieve efficient promotion? Sellers still need to combine consumer trends, product selling points and platform functions to follow the trend.

In recent years, some businesses have reported a decline in sales, which they attribute to consumers reducing shopping to save money, resulting in a decline in market spending power. In fact, market demand still exists, and consumers are not stopping buying, but their mentality and preferences have changed - they pay more attention to cost-effectiveness, and pursue value for money or even value for money.

The "2024 Global Consumer Trends White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper") jointly launched by TikTok for Business and 36kr shows that the vast majority of Southeast Asian consumers will choose to collect product parameters, features and prices for detailed comparison before shopping, and the factors that impress them are mainly promotions, product quality and cost-effectiveness.

However, cost-effectiveness does not mean low price. Different products have their own expected price range in the minds of consumers. Therefore, the strategy of merchants should focus on showing "great value for money".

With the help of the TikTok platform, on the one hand, a variety of forms such as live broadcasts, short videos, experts, and communities can truly display products, convey value, and achieve cross-circle dissemination.

For example, Secret Clean, an Indonesian personal care brand , has connected with more than 4,000 influencers on TikTok. Before the live broadcast, they invited influencers to post short videos in various ways to "plant grass". During the live broadcast, they used influencers to start a "factory live broadcast" from the first-person perspective, superimposed "limited-time discounts" in the live broadcast room to create a sense of urgency in shopping , and then used "on-site calculation of discounts" to intuitively convey the sense of gain of " buying and earning " . At the same time, the anchor's professional explanation and real-time display also allow users to truly perceive the value of the product.

Live broadcast room "limited time offer" and "on-site calculation discount"

On the other hand, sellers can combine TikTok's activities and resources to maximize the cost-effectiveness of products, such as participating in or launching large promotions to create a preferential atmosphere; or adding additional product value through shipping costs, gifts, and package mixes; and establishing differentiated price bands in their own product matrix to more intuitively highlight the cost-effectiveness advantage.

During the Mega Sales promotion, Indonesian menswear brand Roughneck 1991 successfully triggered a massive sales volume through the "9.9 Bargain" marketing campaign. During the warm-up phase, the brand worked with RICKYHARUN, an influencer with 1.2 million fans, and used the influencer's material as a short video shopping ad (VSA) to arouse user interest. On the day of the event, the brand used live shopping ads (LSA) to attract traffic to the live broadcast room, maximize the reach of the target user group, and provide vouchers and sample distribution activities. Ultimately, the LSA ROAS increased by 14 times, and the VSA CVR increased to 16.2%.

Roughneck launched a big promotion through the "9.9 Bargain" marketing

Leveraging TikTok to build an omnichannel marketing strategy

In the overseas market, multi-channel layout is increasingly becoming an industry consensus. The White Paper also reveals the trend of multi-channel operation. The survey shows that Southeast Asian consumers' shopping experience in direct sales channels and distribution channels in the past year is almost the same, and both channels meet consumers' daily needs. For merchants, direct sales channels can build brands and accumulate users, while distribution channels can penetrate the market and expand scale. Each has its own strengths, so most brand merchants advance in both channels.

Cleaning appliance brand Dreame is one of the businesses that promotes omni-channel marketing through TikTok. In August last year, during the first launch of Dreame L20 Ultra sweeper and H12Dual scrubber in Vietnam, it invited top Vietnamese influencers to participate in the offline press conference and simultaneously broadcast online , which made the new product launch gain greater exposure and significantly improved conversion. In early 2024, Dreame signed a brand spokesperson in Southeast Asia, Baifern Pimchamok, who is known as "Xiao Shui", and combined TikTok Super Product Day activities and influencer live broadcasts to drive product sales, increase brand omni-channel exposure, and set a record of Vietnam's highest single-day GMV of over US$100,000.

Dreame Technology promotes omnichannel marketing through TikTok

For different categories, TikTok's traffic layout can drive the influence of different channels. Makuku, a maternity and baby brand, said: "The traffic on TikTok not only overflows to online, but also greatly drives our offline sales channels. Previous surveys show that nearly 20% of consumers went to our stores after learning about our brand through TikTok."

This omni-channel deployment benefits from the new solution brought by TikTok - TikTok can serve as both a marketing "home court" and a traffic "hub".

For direct sales channels, TikTok has three ways to support merchants' marketing construction or divert direct sales channels - closed-loop purchases can be directly achieved through TikTok Shop on the site, or direct sales channels such as online independent sites can be jumped to, or offline direct sales channels can be diverted.

Sellers can divert traffic through TikTok live broadcasts, short videos, shopping malls, searches, and other scenarios. For example, sellers can make full use of creative and content-rich live shopping ads (LSA) to attract more users to the live broadcast room, and use the live broadcast room traffic to capture customers with purchasing intentions and complete sales conversions.

At the same time, Short Video Shopping Ads ( VSA ) provide native short videos with product anchors, product cards and other advertising styles, allowing users to directly enter product details and list pages to browse and shop, and the experience from discovery to purchase is very smooth.

In the scenario of product recommendation or search, users have clear consumption purposes. Sellers can use product card ads ( PSA ) to attract users to quickly understand product information in mall recommendations and search traffic through product cards, complete the jump to the product details page, and shorten the conversion link.

For distribution channels, merchants can also promote products and increase popularity through live broadcasts and promotions, leverage online brand influence, and encourage dealers to purchase and sell. The underwear brand Jollynn has a deep understanding of this: "The influence established on TikTok will naturally help us break the ice with dealers, because I don't need to introduce who I am, they have already seen our products, sales and reputation on TikTok."

Conclusion

Thanks to TikTok's high penetration rate, more and more businesses are finding new growth paths in their overseas operations , and TikTok has become a necessary way to go overseas . Focusing on the brand marketing, store management and other content of businesses, TikTok for Business and 36kr launched the "2024 Global Consumer Trend White Paper" to present the future market trends from five perspectives: track, channel, price, trend, and marketing, in order to help businesses seize the global consumer business opportunities in the midst of diversified changes. Click "Read original text" to download .