Broghan - Hi guys, thanks so much for coming down today. I'm Broghan, I'm the Fashion Key Account Retails Lead for TikTok Shop in the UK.
Today I'm going to give you a full overview on TikTok Shop, the platform, where we're heading, what we've done so far, and then Laura's going to join me afterwards. We're going to talk about that in practice, essentially.
Cool, so the future of shopping. Maybe you'd expect the fashion lead for TikTok Shop to say that, but today we're going to start off with some platform updates; usage, average daily time spent, everything in between. And then we're gonna go on to, actually, what does TikTok Shop look like?
I'm hoping most people in here use TikTok, maybe some customers as well from a Shop perspective. We'll go through some case studies, how it kind of has been brought to life in the fashion world and then some things to look out for the year ahead. 2024 is gonna be a big one for us. Lots of changes happening in-app. Some of them have already happened, you might have seen them and noticed them yourself.
And yeah, and then afterwards we'll get into some questions and we can kind of really dive into it in practice. So to kick off, in terms of an app perspective, we are the number one app globally. That's for average daily time spent and downloads. We're gonna throw some big numbers out there today, but the first one is that our monthly active users is at 1.8 billion. Pretty ridiculous. In the UK, it's about 30 million. So we're just shy of half the population, and not slowing down.
We’re set to hit two billion at some point this year, really exciting. And yeah, truly a global proposition, much like some of the brands that you guys work with in the room today – 150 plus markets, 75 plus languages. Yeah, and really it's something for everyone. For me, it's a lot of golf videos, but for everyone in this room, it's specific to you. And we'll get into the algorithm and what that actually means in the slides to come. But it's clear that shopping is changing. The way that people are discovering and finding product is changing.
Global pandemics definitely influence that and change that a lot, right?
I don't know how many people in the room kind of bought something random during COVID and maybe exercise equipment for home or some specific trend elements from fashion, but it's really becoming an e-commerce world. It's set to hit 8.1 trillion by 2026. And for us in the UK, I'm obviously quite biased, but we're at the forefront of a lot of this growth. We're the third largest e-commerce market in the world and taking an overall share of total penetration sales in the UK.
Crucially for me, in the fashion world as well, 20% of all transactions on UK online are apparel and footwear. Fantastic. So combining all of those things together, we've got a pretty good start for TikTok Shop and bringing that whole environment into one place. I think a lot of the conversation today has been around social commerce and it's coming, it's happening. Well, to be honest, it is already here.
It's probably just here in a slightly different way than you may be envisioned. And we'll go into the different elements within TikTok Shop later. But even from a statistics point of view, four and five people are likely to buy on social media if they've watched a live or participated in a conversation on commerce. So we're gonna talk a little bit about advocacy as we get through the deck, but also one in three people globally want e-commerce to be more entertaining. And it's at this point where I always say that
Fundamentally, take TikTok Shop to one side. We are a content-first platform. TikTok is about being entertaining and fun. We can have the most amazing products, but if our content doesn't match that, then we're basically a non-starter. We are the leading destination for entertainment. And look, TikTok users, they're unique, and that's everyone from people creating content or just people who are browsing golf videos all day on their For You page. But the key message here, is TikTok users are two and a half times more likely than any other platform to create a post, tag a brand after they've bought product. So a really fantastic starting period. And the hashtag that encapsulates all of that is TikTok made me buy it. Show of hands, anyone seen TikTok made me buy it?
Good, vast majority. This backs up my next slide quite nicely because it's had 78 billion views globally. That's the other big number I was gonna throw around today. And this is our number one app on the platform. May or may not surprise you. It's everything from the coolest shoes to wear right now to the at-home exercise equipment, golf balls for me, everything in between, but it's a hashtag phenomenon. And ultimately, it's helping us bring joy back to shopping.
Another start, you know, we want users to recommend products and services to non-users. How do we drive true customer advocacy? Well, it's seeing that creator that you engage with on a semi-regular basis talk about their new top they've bought or their new gym equipment, the new gym shoes with their new health kit for the start of the year. And yeah, that's a type of convincing content that branded content can't match. We are ultimately becoming the new storefront for customers. You can see this visual is a really good way of bringing that to life. Starting on the left-hand side, family and friend recommendations. We know how powerful that is. We've all just come home from a Christmas break. Well, it's actually almost a month ago now. We might have spoken to a family or friend. They bought something that they love. They're truly driving advocacy to you because you trust them.
But TikTok content is almost competing with that and we're actually seeing that gap close more and more. And we can see how that stacks up versus more traditional forms of communication, TV ads, Instagram, Facebook, all the way down to Billboard. That like influence that a creator that you engage with regularly talking about why they've styled something a certain way, why they've taken on holiday to Barcelona for their upcoming girls trip. All of that is super powerful. And ultimately it's been brought to life by something really unique on TikTok Shop is our infinite loop. This is essentially our USP on Shop. And this is kind of the last bit of, I guess, theory before we get into the actual reality of what Tiktok Shop is. It starts on the left-hand side of this loop, right? That's discovery. Let's kind of bring that to life in a real world example with Zara, who was one of our biggest brands we launched last year on Shop. It's a branded post from Zara. It's in line with kind of what you would expect from them, right? It's product first, it's in line with their messaging. They're talking to their consumer, which they know inside out, it's driving that customer to discovery straight away. They are considering an opportunity to purchase for a shoppable lane concept shop. We know that that's not always enough to convert the customer there and then. Because you know. I know what I'm going to see when I see the Adidas TikTok video, the Puma TikTok vid, the Zara one. But what we're doing on the right hand side of the loop is where our real power comes to play. The product advocacy that we can drive with creators reviewing product, encouraging other TikTok users to participate in trends.
Things like TikTok made me buy it. That level of advocacy that's driven through a true customer styling it in their unique way is driving another purchase opportunity. And the way that TikTok algorithm works, this happens over and over and over again on the platform and it's becoming a really powerful force for us to drive and reach new customers within the app. So, enter TikTok Shop. The boring definition of what we are, we are a fully closed loop ecosystem. What does that mean?
That means that entire customer journey happens in-app. We do not take the customer off-app for any stage of the full checkout experience, and we'll kind of go into that later. Why? Well, the main reason is this is the most effective way to drive conversion. If we take that customer and push them to a website, anything could happen from that moment they leave. That scares me even talking about it. I'm sure for some of you in the room, it does too, but we want that seamless experience. We are content-first platforms, so we want to take that exciting, engaging content to a checkout experience in the most effective way that we can. And it looks like this. Here's an example of the checkout experience that we bring to Live Through Shop. It's basically 30 seconds, three clicks. Most people in here are taking pictures from their smartphone, so you're very familiar with purchasing something on it. It's Apple Pay, saved card, even Klarna available in-app. Ultimately, we're taking that content, which is exciting and engaging in the ways that I showed previously, and enabling a purchase in-app.
It's seamless, it's natural, it's also non-invasive and organic. It's in line with the purchase route that you will take and bring to life with other elements of your smart device. We know this is a really competitive space. This is why we spend a lot of time refining it. That checkout experience has to be seamless, it has to be smooth. If we want to convert that customer in the quickest and most effective way we can, this is really what's going to bring that to life. Cool. So, how to shop with TikTok Shop. Some of these might be familiar to you guys already, maybe you've engaged and bought with them already. Some of them are actually new, so we'll kind of talk through what they are and what the plan is for that kind of part of the app. I'm going to start on the left with live shopping. This is kind of what people think of straight away when they hear of TikTok Shop, main reason being our sister app, Doyen, aka TikTok in China. This is like the most exciting thing that's ever happened in that market. They are obsessed with it. Maybe you've seen some recent press and publication about creators literally just holding products and moving them through. It's amazing. Just being, I guess, realistic for us in the UK, it is a smaller piece of the overall pie, but it is growing rapidly and the global partners that we work with, I've mentioned some of them already today, they're just waiting for this to take over in the same way it has over in Southeast Asia. Second left, in-feed videos. This is really our bread and butter in the UK. This is pretty much the content that you see on your For You page 90% of the time. It could be from a brand, it could be from a creator, but it's a really natural, non-invasive way to drive a shoppable opportunity. In this example, PLT, shoppable link just above the username check out in the process I showed you previously. And we are gonna break down all of these examples in detail to give you like a real life example. The two on the right, new for ShopTab. So this has been live for us in the UK for about three months now. You might have seen the little shop icon on the bottom left of the app when you open it. This is essentially a fully integrated marketplace solution in app. Since launch, it's been a pretty significant growth driver for us. It's now taking about 20% of our weekly sales in the UK. And this is serving product selections and suggestions to consumers based on their algorithm likes. So ultimately a fully bespoke marketplace in app. It's definitely one that we're working really hard on. We're not kind of standing here now and saying, we've completely nailed this yet. But you might've seen things like the brand Pavilion come to life through it in the last week where we're putting our best showcase brands in a separate area and lots of really exciting elements coming to life.
And the product showcasing anyone I haven't mentioned so far, this is an extension of your website on your TikTok handle. We want the customer to feel like they're on your website. Same imagery, same description, same price points. They find it by just clicking that shop icon in the middle of the handle and they can browse everything you've got live on TikTok shop. I'm gonna break down all of these in a little bit more detail starting with live. So this is the boss for Winter 20 Paris Fashion Show. We've all kind of seen them on TikTok before, right? In fact, London not too long ago, its models walking up and down the catwalk. The key difference here is each full head-to-toe look is fully shoppable. So when we talk about bringing customers to the forefront of new trends in the fashion world, this really is it. But for us in the fashion key account world at the minute is serving as more of an experiential moment, but a really exciting one. And I think watch this space for lives and the big fashion brands this year because it's going to be pretty exciting for sure. Every time that next model comes out, again, fully shoppable, full head-to-toe look, you can tag up to 10 products per video and live. So that, yeah, we really are seeing customers shop more head-to-toe more frequently, which is great for us. As mentioned at the start, in feed videos, maybe you guys have even browsed a lot of this content yourself on your For You page. In this instance, we've got a makeup brand kind of reacting to a model's application of one of their best selling products. You choose your shade, it could be your color, it could be your size. You add it to your basket and you check out on the way and I showed you a few slides earlier. For us, this in the UK is generating 80% of our sales, even more so when we bring creators into the mix. It's giving that unique perspective that a brand cannot replicate through their own shoppable content. It's real customers giving their real point of view. Supporting all of that, the product showcase, as I mentioned, we want the customer to feel like they're on the brand's website here. It should be a one-to-one integration, stock, pricing, everything reflects automatically. And let's say for example, you browse that For You page video and you don't end up purchasing the product in that video, but you wanna see more. You click the username, you click the shop icon, and you can browse the full selection there and then. That's kind of the formats out the way, but what underpins all of that, and we would be lost without them, the creators.
Ultimately on TikTok they show up differently. They are more approachable, believable and authentic than any other platform. And that is mainly because we just encourage them to pick up their phone. The best content on TikTok is lo-fi, honest, speaking to camera, true customer advocacy. And ultimately this is what's revolutionizing the game for us, our affiliate program. This is a fully integrated solution through TikTok Shop that allows the brand to set custom commission levels for any creator.
These could be the biggest names they already have existing partnerships with, all the way down to those true customers who have got a couple of thousand followers and just starting out their content journey on the app. The commission is fully flexible, the payment is managed by us, it's seamless, we pay out the creator and the brand, and ultimately this is what's driven most of our success so far, especially in the UK from a fashion key account perspective. So, what does the opportunity look like for everyone in this room? Ultimately, harnessing the power of creators looks like this.
We talk to brands all the time about bringing it on board, your existing talent, but also letting us shape your new TikTok creators on our platform, the people who know how to speak and convert in-app. That enables you to talk to your already existing audience, but also those new customers. We mentioned at the start, we've got 1.8 billion people using TikTok monthly. How do we find that next customer for you in the app? How do we bring that product off the website to life in a completely unique way?
I'll also quickly nod here to the fact that there's a paid opportunity within all of this. Shop ads, spark ads, you might have heard of them or used them before. Ultimately, this is leveraging that creator content with the right approvals in-app to serve as a customer, basically. The showcase to the brand there and then. Really fundamental part of any strategy is making sure that this loop happens from organic to paid and makes the good work harder. I know this is something that will be brought to life in all forms of social strategy, but for us on TikTok, it really is no different. And before I kind of wrap up, keeping one eye on the clock, I just wanted to show some more recent case studies from Q4, mine are more fashion focused. PLT, really exciting proposition for us. Certainly from a consumer perspective, we have a lot of natural crossover there. We've kind of done everything with them so far on TikTok shop, everything from kind of creator videos, from true customers all the way through to viral jackets with Vicky Patterson. And from our perspective, seeing sell out is always a win, but when it sells out in 24 hours from a viral TikTok video, that's a huge win. 100K organic views in 24 hours just shows the potential when the content is right. And yeah, PLT creators are constantly driving unique product perspective, a completely unique angle into the product. And obviously, look, you can see on the second animation they've got the names to back it up from a total top-creator reach perspective. Now for the complete other side of the spectrum in the fashion world, Victoria Beckham. Some of you might have seen the Super Bowl ad that actually references one of the t-shirts in the animations on the slide. We worked with Victoria just after Black Friday, obviously huge success from the Netflix documentary loads of quotes to choose from, but she chose a pretty good one to put on a t-shirt that was I think £110. My dad had a Rolls Royce t-shirt, sold out in eight hours, 5.5 million organic views across her TikTok. Yeah, £110 is a pretty steep price point for a graphic tee with a quote on it, but it just shows the power when we do it at that top creator level, right? Someone who is built her audience, built her brand, leveraging a social and cultural event and bringing it to life. So big opportunities for this year and beyond. What do they look like? Well, I've kind of listed my kind of main buckets for this year, which I think are gonna be the most exciting proposition for us on TikTok and TikTok Shop. Starting with the CRM engagement tool, you will be able to retarget within TikTok Shop really soon. It's the super exciting, that customer who might have added something to the basket in TikTok shop but didn't purchase, you can then target them again. Away from that we've got a Shopify one P connection so anyone who's built their website on Shopify you'll be able to install a TikTok shop app and integrate within hours, which is really exciting for us. The big one for me in the middle is search optimization. You would have seen maybe or used the creative center in the past.
And I'm sure many of you are probably quite annoyed in the room that you can't see views for hashtags anymore. Well, the reason for that is that's coming in app. So you'll be able to basically leverage search data within the platform. And I did have a cheeky look at some of the slides that come before me talking about TikTok and the search element that's being brought to life within TikTok. We are seeing that flow through the app in a really exciting way. It's people looking for restaurant recommendations in Barcelona to, you know, viral jackets and everything in between we want to make it a possibility to leverage that through the platform and there will be the opportunity to target search specifically. Shop tab, I've mentioned it already. Keep an eye out for huge product developments in this space from us. Brand pavilions, customized banners, marketing campaigns. Ultimately, you'll soon see shop in shops within shop tab. So, a dedicated space for the likes of Zara, Puma, PLT, who are already navigating and living on our platform and European expansion. We're currently live in the UK right now, and the US, obviously outside of Europe. Ireland and Spain coming really soon. And more to come, but I'll kind of save that one for maybe next time. So ultimately, combine all this together, pretty good extension of your DTC ecosystem with the customer who's browsing your content already. Many of the people in this room will have TikTok accounts that are serving really exciting and fresh content. Let's just make it shoppable to complete that loop within the app.
Before I kind of wrap up, just quickly, this is our campaign calendar for the year. So these are the hot points of TikTok activity. Valentine's Day is set to be really big. That's literally in Scarily a few days. And then we've got a new one this year, which is TikTok Shop Day. So mark that one in your calendars. I'm over time, but thank you very much, guys. QR code is for my LinkedIn. If anyone's got any further questions, please feel free to add me.
Paul - What we're going to do is we're going to introduce the amazing Laura Mallows. Do you want to tell us who you are and a little bit about Mallow's Beauty?
Laura - Yeah. Hi guys. I'm Laura Malo's founder and CEO of Malo's Beauty. I started Malo's like four years ago. I always suffered with like body image issues my whole life and felt like the beauty industry had a lot to, a big part to play in that. And I wanted to create a beauty company that was truly real and celebrated like real bodies, real skin, and kind of broke that stigma that perfect isn't real and try and break, you know, I was always trying to be perfect myself and put the pressure on myself 24 seven. And just to celebrate bodies for who they were and be really realistic about the expectations that skincare can have on the body. And yeah, it's been an incredible journey. I started off on my own and now we've got like 20 plus employees. We've got 414,000 followers on TikTok and I feel like TikTok's a massive, I do owe a lot of my success to TikTok. I'm like TikTok's biggest advocate, like cheerleader. Sorry, I get rolled out by TikTok to do talks. But yeah, body positivity and skin positivity is not just like a marketing campaign for us, it's in every decision we make, every graphic on the top of pots, on the back of products and our blurbs, it's in every decision we make as a company and our content. And I really think the success of Mallows Beauty is really amazing products, an amazing customer base that's really loyal and really, really great content. We're constantly reinventing what we do on TikTok, always talking about something new. I mean, you might see my viral unicorn shave butter, which has changed the shaving game, or my pineapple enzyme peel mask, which changed my acne, but recently I wrapped my Defender pink, went to a car wash and washed my car. In bikini in like winter, just always kind of like celebrating my body and trying to learn to love myself a little bit more every day and make everyone love themselves a little bit more every day and that's kind of like my mission, change the world one body scrub at a time basically and that's who we are.
Verity- I've got a couple of stats here, so please tell me if these are wrong. But 500% increase last year on sales. Yeah. 10,000 affiliates posted content. Yes. 130,000 orders last year. Yeah. 150 mystery bundles sold an hour on Black Friday. Yeah. And staggering for me, can't quite get my head around this, live eight to 10 hours a day. Do you want to just, let's just start at the beginning and how, like, what was it with TikTok shops that kind of, where did it all begin?
Laura - So I'd literally just given birth to my baby girl and had like, she was like two, three weeks postpartum and someone from TikTok reached out to me and they were like, you need to do a live, you can add 10K revenue into your, like, you know, do 10K revenue a month. And I was like, sounds way too good to be true, but like, fine, I'll do a live. But grudgingly went to my warehouse, it was freezing, like my boobs are bursting, because I had a newborn and I was like, really don't want to be here. And on my first live, we made like 5,000 pounds. So I was like, right, I'm hooked now. So that was me sold. And then from that point, I went live two to three times a week religiously for the whole year. Loved it because I was like actually having conversation with my customers, getting to know everyone, they would tell me what they wanted to develop. And it was just amazing. I felt like I was talking to my friends all the time. And then it came to me trying to get investment and they were like, you have to do this massive figure. And I was like, how am I gonna do this? I thought, right, I'll go live every single day. And we did it, we smashed it. And then on Black Friday, I actually did a 12 hour live myself. I had Lou breaks, but I was literally like, had a 12 hour live and I was like, oh my God, it's not stopping. We're just keeping on selling. So I was like, there's something in this, And we had a shop in our main shopping center in Cardiff and I was doing more on a TikTok live in an hour than we were doing a day. So I was like, this is wild. So, and we were paying like an arm and a leg for that and staffing and it was a nightmare. So I was like, right, shut the shop. Let's do the shop online on TikTok shop. And let's try and go live from like eight in the morning to 11 o'clock at night. And yeah, it was hard to get the right people, but it's… Yeah, it's been amazing. And that's what we're doing now. We're striving for that all the time, to be live all, you know, more and more and more, basically. And are you, obviously you're the face of the brand and there's definitely a secret source that's there, but you can't be live all the time.
Paul - Are you using your team of the store associates that were in store now doing lives all the time? How does that work?
Laura- The issue with Mallow's, I think I did something different to what everyone else, every other brand has done. Every other brand is like, right, we'll work with affiliates, we'll use agencies, and we'll will grow that way and I was like, well, I didn't have a big pot of cash and I didn't know how the hell to reach affiliates. I was like, I'm just going to do it myself. I'm just going to figure out how to post content, go live. And to the point I was like working 24-7 with a newborn and I was like, this is mental. I'm going to break. So then I hired staff. The shop staff is a very different skill set, I would say, being live to being in a store and that confidence building. Some of the store staff did go live, but some of them weren't comfortable with it. And now I've kind of, yeah, I've got a full team that go live all the time. I mean, I have to run a company as well. So it's a bit of a juggle being the face of brand and running a company. I'd love just to be able to post content all day every day, but it's not possible. So yeah, so I've got a full team now, someone posting content, I mean, content all the time, a full team of live girls. I think there's like 10 of them. And yeah, now an affiliate manager as well. So 50% of your employees are doing live. Yeah, there's a lot of them. Yeah, there's more and more growing all the time.
Paul - Their own channels or on your own channel?
Laura - No, it's in Mallow's Beauty HQ and we have a setup and it's like a shop. They come in, do their hours, do three to four hours and then switch over. So constantly they have like hourly targets. It's run like a shop, yeah.
Paul - And your own TikTok, it's on the Mallow's TikTok channel?
Laura - I did have a Malo's Beauty flagship account to test it because I was like, I wanna just do the ones on Mallow's Beauty. But actually, yeah, we've always all on Mallow's Beauty now. If they're learning, then I keep them on the flagship and then I move them over to Mallow's main account when they're kind of up and running and confident.
Paul - Nice, that's amazing. Has anyone else got 24 hour live streaming there?
Laura - Someone's gonna go and be like, you're not live now, what's going on?
Paul - This is the future.
Laura - The amazing thing about TikTok is that anyone can discover you, right? Like when we did live shopping on Instagram, but it's just your followers. So yeah, like, oh, they're live again. But on TikTok, it's constantly new people. They're always discovering you. And there's this stigma that, oh, they only go live in the evening because everyone's not on their phone in the evening. That's a complete lie. Like we all have. Our phones are the 24 seven and we all have like 30 seconds, like people in live rooms have 30 seconds. So if you're leaving here and you're gonna get yourself a coffee or you go to the loo, you can click on in TikTok, see a live, buy something. So I feel like it's relevant to be live all the time because there's always going to be someone who can buy.
Verity - I mean, thousands of units through TikTok shop. What do you think are the kind of tactics, the strategic tactics that have kept that, kept those units flooding?
Laura - So it's three front for us, or four really. Lives are a massive portion of our sales and what we do really well at, we actually got an award from TikTok for the best live streams in November. Woo! Pretty straightforward. Thanks. And affiliate revenue is massive for us, it's like 33% of our monthly revenue. So we've got 10,000 amazing people that are posting content about Malo's Beauty. And I kind of met all of them through TikTok, like beauty talk, doing competitions, doing master classes. I made this, I did this isn't the best idea, but I made a WhatsApp group and added like 200 people to it. And then that was mental to manage. I don't recommend anyone do that. There is lark stick to lark always stick to lark TikTok like don't go on WhatsApp Laura and I do and then I regret it massively. You're managing 4000 people, did you say? How do you keep it keep on top of that? Yeah it's tough. My WhatsApp for a while was not a great place to be, but now it's kind of, we're kind of nurturing our top creators and yeah, just mass kind of announcements to everyone else versus like actual conversations with everyone, because it just wasn't manageable. Yeah.
Paul - There is some software. We can talk about that.
Laura - We'll turn on, like, don't worry about it. I know, because I had a baby, right? So I was just like the WhatsApp person, because I had a baby in one hand and people were like, can I email you? I was like, no, I will WhatsApp you, otherwise you can't do business with me.
But it's now, now my baby's in nursery. It's like, I get why everyone didn't want to do WhatsApp, you know, because there's like no lines. There's like no boundaries. Anyway, moving on. I think what would be really helpful is obviously we've heard from Bregan from the fashion point of view, but from beauty brand, what would be your one bit of advice for beauty brands getting started on TikTok shop? Just do it, I think. Just get out there like, and if you can, I think it's so much more beneficial, like gifting to as many people as possible versus paying anyone to do anything. If someone loves your brand and loves the product, so long as you've got a good product and a good brand, then people will try it on TikTok. People love to discover something new. They love it. Like TikTok is all, they're everywhere, it's like, oh, I found this on TikTok. And they feel like they've discovered something and they found this amazing thing. Like you could be that new brand waiting to go boom. So just get product in as many people's hands as possible. It's so risky paying influencers, like we've paid influencers, we've paid influencers, right? We have 500,000 followers and they've made like 60 quid and we've paid them like five grand for a video versus someone who's got 2000 followers and they've made like 20 grand and we've literally paid them nothing. It's like, and that's the best thing about TikTok is there's the data behind everything, like you can actually make really informed decisions. I'm just obviously going off another tangent, sorry. But like on Instagram, you pay people and you're not really sure where the sales are coming from, but the influencers will be like, oh, no, but I did make you loads of sales because it's had X amount of likes and blah, blah. But on TikTok, you know, you can't hide. You know how much people have made, right? And where it's gone and everything, so. I think I would just add to that as well, is we've genuinely got a solution for kind of every business and seller now, whether that's the fulfillment kind of all being managed by us or integrating with your with your system and that's definitely the big leaps that we've kind of made this year is getting the infrastructure to support all the users that we've got in the UK and globally, like how do we kind of make a solution that's right for every possibility.
Broghan- And also I'll just add to your point on the influx of creator messages, we do have a marketplace for creators within the app, you know, so they can see the opportunities presented themselves to kind of grab them and when they can have a piece of that sale through a commission link, it's a really exciting proposition. If they believe in themselves and their content and what they stand for and how it relates to an amazing brand story, it's a pretty good combination. And that's what's built a lot of this success, but it's what genuinely we all think is the future of how it's gonna move, certainly this year and beyond.
Laura - We also saw like off the back of like Sample Crest as well, people actually buy in loads of our products. So it was kind of like people who didn't, who wanted to prove themselves on TikTok, who had like a thousand followers, they were buying loads of our products as well, so it was kind of working hand in hand, but the sample request process is, I'd say amazing, really easy to manage. And we worked with FBT as well, and FBT's, we were having like 60 grand days, and like I was in the warehouse like, fuck, I can't pack, I don't know how to pack these fast enough, and we were all there, my mum, my dad, my brother, everyone I knew. I was literally like messaging anyone, like, I don't care. Get here now, I'll buy you dominoes, whatever you need. Like, and then on my warehouse manager was like, we physically don't have enough tables. I was like, I don't care, they can do it on the floor, whatever, you know? And then FBT came along and, which is TikTok's fulfillment center, and has allowed us to grow and scale even faster because we haven't had to worry about the logistics, which is not my cup of tea, like content is more me.
Paul - You don't need to use TikTok's fulfillment to use TikTok Shop. No, I can actually feel the head of FPT just like on my shoulder right now telling me to tell this stuff. But for FPT, which stands for Filled by TikTok, 98% of orders are shipped within 24 hours. So the feedback we get a lot of the time is like, I literally can't believe this is with me. And, you know, in many cases, it's taking that TikTok user from seeing that content, engaging in it, loving it, checking out and that product being with them in one to two days, which is a really exciting proposition. It's one that's growing rapidly for us. Certainly, I think last year was a real breakthrough year for FBT, but yeah, there's lots of exciting developments in that side of TikTok as well happening as we speak. So I hope I got that stat right for the FBT team.
Paul - Questions? Straight to mum's iPad.
Verity - This has come up a couple of times, that's what I feel like, not just today but in past conversations, how effective is TikTok Shop at selling premium products? And there's another one on a similar vibe, kind of marketing high price points on TikTok, i.e. jewelry, which doesn't necessarily feel like TikTok Shop price point.
Broghan - Yeah, it's a good question. And look, I'm not gonna kind of sit here and say that we've nailed premium and luxury yet. We're definitely on that journey, I think The Victoria Beckham case study is a really exciting one because it just shows that if you nail the content, nail the person, obviously she's got her proposition completely down, then that can make a success story on TikTok Shop, right? That's an expensive T-shirt for just, no offense to the slogan, it's lovely, and we all love the Netflix documentary, right? But yeah, we're definitely building into that space. A lot of the more premium luxury players on TikTok have been real adopters to the platform in general. And shop is definitely part of their long-term strategy, it's just the right time. I think it's a lot easier to kind of build up to that price point and proposition than kind of have it at the start and then kind of come down. So yeah, we're easing into that world. We're always meeting and essentially updating those big fashion houses with our proposition, what we're moving towards, what the big developments are, and essentially a lot of what you guys saw today. I think we'll get there, but yeah, right now, we're kind of building to that space. Yeah, some of the brands that you've kind of maybe seen already on Tiktok Shop are the ones that are classic kind of high street fashion teen consumer into the sort of mid 20s. I mean, 60% of our customers are Gen Z, 18 to 24 for us on the platform. So you can kind of see the brands that work already from that perspective, but it's certainly in our plans. And yeah, I'm confident we'll get there when the time is right.
Verity - Okay, this one leads on quite nicely. And Laura, this might be a good one for you.
How can brands get a real understanding of their entire community, including those on TikTok, if it's a fully closed loop experience?
Laura - I don't know, I suppose for me, something always shocks me when I have a interaction with a customer that I didn't expect. But I think, I'm not sure I'm gonna answer this right, but I'll give it a go. But going live is a really great way to kind of interact with your consumers. I actually, and then affiliates as well, I actually hosted a pizza party and invited all of the affiliates. And to see the widespread kind of creators was crazy. And then looking at tagged videos as well, I don't really think I'm answering that question right. Am I? No, I think that's helpful. It's difficult though, isn't it? Because you're on this side. To see who your consumers are, I'm sure there's loads of stats and data in the back end that will. I'm not really a data person.
Broghan - Yeah, we've got data coming out of our ears, which is a good thing. But yeah, there's a fully integrated data compass suite for any TikTok shop seller. So you can see exactly which creators are driving the most amount of success, which kind of mentioned, but also which content's performing the best, where we've seen the most conversion, where we've seen good clicks, but we're not seeing that checkout take place. So the CRM tool that will come live in hopefully this quarter, we'll just add to that. And ultimately it'll be a full e-commerce 360 environment for you to drive more sales, more reach, more customers, all within one ecosystem. So, exciting. So you can see if they're repeat customers and average baskets, yeah. That's coming with our next developments, yeah. And yeah, loads of really exciting things. And maybe I can share some more insights into the data compass side for people who are interested afterwards, because it gets quite nerdy, which I like. But yeah, it's a full integrated suite, which is great.
Verity - TikTok Shop feels very unsustainable. And obviously promotes by now, how can more sustainable slow brands leverage it?
Broghan - It's a good question. And I think when we talk about our core consumer being Gen Z, right, getting it right for them is not just a nice to have anymore. It's essential, right? What we do is we work with brands to, I guess, amplify their true messaging. So we're the marketplace, right? We can find that consumer. And ultimately, if that Gen Z customer doesn't feel that brand seller creator is standing up for the sustainable elements that we all kind of believe in now, then I don't think that's gonna be a long-term success on our platform because yeah, it's not a nice to have now, it's essential. You have to be in that world thinking that way in a way that's encouraging the right kind of behaviors. A lot of the content is about purchasing, but ultimately it's content first as well. So it's one shoppable link, it's one product, and yeah, we have pretty stringent measures in place to make sure that the product is high quality. So it's going to last you, it's going to be true to its description and everything in between. But I would kind of summarize by leaning towards our core consumer, kind of taking us on that journey because they are the ones who are really pioneering the sustainable elements that we're all kind of living and breathing now, which is great. There's so many I'm struggling to keep up.
Verity - Okay, question for you Laura. Do you feel you need to have or see more success with a discount strategy?
Laura - Difficult one. We definitely sell things without a discount. I think that it's like this idea that you have to have a discount on TikTok shop and it has to be promo driven. We do see massive success in like bundling, but then we have the same success with bundling on my website. You know, like there's loads of things like buy three or four products and you get like 10, 20% off, it's the same kind of thing on TikTok. So I would say that obviously the Gen Z consumer is kind of price sensitive and kind of wants value and drives that. But you know, we've launched our candy cane on our candy, I can't just realize they're both called candy at the start and didn't just realize until this moment. But yeah, and they were full price and they sold out within kind of a day and it's been amazing. So yes and no, I'd say. Like I do think TikTok has this stigma like you have to do discounted things. And our mystery bundles are like insane, right? It's amazing. But I do think that if someone loves your brand, loves the content, then they will buy it regardless. But yeah, on the back of that, our bundles and our sales are insane. So yeah. Does that answer? No, I'm not doing very good because the answer to the question thing.
Verity- This one's come up a couple of times. How do you find that many people to gift at scale?
Laura - TikTok helped massively. And I think if you put a lot of pressure on your account manager, they do a lot for you. And I think when I was growing my affiliate network, I was like nagging nonstop, like who can we speak to, who can we speak to? And they have like beauty creator managers who know all the beauty creators across TikTok. So if you can get in contact with them. They can literally loop you in with all of them and send announcements. And they can say, Mylo's V2 doing a sale this week, or Mylo's V2 got this new product launching. And then you'll get a flood of sample requests. It's all about utilizing TikTok. TikTok is so different to Meta. Like Meta are faceless, you can't speak to anyone. TikTok, you actually got real people. you've got their WhatsApp and you can nag them at any time of night. Help me, my affiliate sales are down or I've got this, I want to do this. And I think it's kind of just being the loudest one in the room and shouting as loud as you can. The other thing is also every brand has amazing database of all of these humans called their CRM. which they very rarely tap into to try and gift and get product in front of them. It's a lot of work. Or post a TikTok video. Yeah, or do it yourself. There's just like tons of opportunities that most parents don't barely scratch the surface of people who are out there.
Paul - Laura, I suppose it's about tapping into managing the live schedule. Like, would you recommend using creators or should they be hosted by the brands themselves?
Laura - I strongly believe it should be hosted by the brand. Creators are quite expensive, I think, as well when it comes to lives and there's a skillset in being live which we perfect, I think, with mallows. You really have to be remembering to talk about the products, educating the customer, constantly saying what the USPs are. And I always do this fun thing where I know that people are in the room for 30 seconds. So I want them to get to know me, I want them to get to know the brand, but I also want them to buy something. So I will chat about nothing for 30 seconds. And then they're like, what is this girl talking about? Okay. And then I'll talk about the products for 30 seconds and it makes people stay a little bit longer. What was the question? Should it be creators or brands? Yeah, so I think it should be you. I think it should be brands because you can get your own flow and rhythm and you know your brand the best and you can sell it and you can be passionate. People really want to know who's behind the brand these days and back you and just be your real authentic self. I would just add as well, I think a TikTok live is truly unique. I think a lot of people try and get involved and take learnings from loads of different formats that ultimately just don't work. And I think the best example is people kind of, they're worried about maybe like being silent for a bit and just like being on the camera, it might be like scrolling through your basket or just replying to comments. It's like, that's really normal on TikTok Shop. It's real, right? That happens in real life. It's not TV, it's not a production. It's just a reality of someone holding their phone, the brand talking about their product to their consumer. So that natural element is encouraged almost, I'd say. I cried once and honestly the sales when I cried were like, boom. I know it was wild, but you know, just me being me live in front of so many people. It's authenticity, but we can't say that. Yeah. Just a little test, like who here at Bioshoa Hands has watched a live stream on TikTok? That's a So fair for you about 70 80%
Paul - Okay, who here has made a purchase from a live stream? Okay, about maybe 10% or fewer than that. So, okay, we've got we've got a few things who thinks they probably would do it or would make a purchase. They just haven't yet. Anyone wouldn't make a purchase from a live stream. Yeah, we've got a couple of hands. It's quite well spread there. So people are consuming live streams. So that kind of confirms that bit and then nudging towards the purchases.
Broghan - Even this is obviously not a Gen Z demographic. But I think everything plays into each other, right? So like you see a video, you might engage with it slightly or watch it for a little bit longer and then you see the affiliate content, you see the brand content and you see the live and it's all working this like really harmonious way to make you think it's everywhere and then you can't stop thinking about it and it's all over. That's why TikTok's so clever, right? So you might not just buy it from the live. You might have watched the live for like 10 seconds. And then you might have seen a video and then the, it's the creator video that converts you. Cause like when we do loads of creator posts, we see like a massive conversion uplift. So it's like all the things working together. You might not have bought from the live, you bought from the video, but you saw the live, you know? I don't know. I don't know. Who knows? It's that the loop. Yeah. You know, you're starting on that left-hand side and you can kind of pick up the product at a variety of different stages within the app, but it's, yeah. I think the underlying theme of all of that is it should be organic, it should feel natural to the kind of user based off the algorithm. Never polished content. Definitely. Never. Paul's saying one more. How will brands entering TikTok shop combat the mass dropshipping culture in the platform and compete for that space in the shops and feeds? I think the primary message is still content first. It's kind of like what I opened with today doesn't matter kind of how good your delivery proposition is or even your product, if you don't have the content that's right for that consumer, that's what we've got to nail first. Then we'll find the e-commerce elements to support that with facilitating that through shop. The toothpick brand that's gone viral. Yeah. You know, I've seen the toothpick brand. Yeah. It's wild. Yeah. Like, it's a toothpick. I like, you know, I spent thousands of developing body products and skincare and they've got a toothpick, you know? Yeah.
Paul -It just shows the power, right? But yeah, I think that's got to be the starting point, right? To every good strategy. And so I'm really sorry if we didn't get around to asking your questions, but I'm sure Laura and Brogan will be more than happy to chat to you in the next break or over canapes and champagne. Oh yeah, end of dry January celebration later. I know there's one day to go, but let's not get pathetic.
So amazing. So thank you so much. That was awesome. Loads of learn. Massive round of applause for Broghan and Laura.
.png?width=333&name=Spotify%20Circle%20Logo%20(final).png)
.png?width=333&name=YouTube%20Circle%20Logo%20(1).png)
%20(1)%20(1).png?width=333&name=YouTube%20Circle%20Logo%20(1)%20(1)%20(1).png)
