TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world. And like most social media platforms, it has recently introduced an online shopping feature!
TikTok Shop allows businesses to sell their products directly on the platform. As you can imagine, there are a host of benefits to making products immediately available in this way while marketing them.
So, if you're a business owner looking to get started with TikTok Shop, you’re on the right page. Here's a beginner's guide for you!
What is TikTok Shop?
TikTok Shop is the new e-commerce solution by short-video platform TikTok that allows businesses and creators to sell products directly to their followers. It was officially launched in Singapore around August 2022.
The feature aims to provide a seamless shopping experience for users. At the same time, it helps businesses reach a wider audience and boost their sales.
Basically, it’s a fairly logical expansion of the opportunities the platform provides for small businesses and SMEs to reach new customers and expand their online presence.
After all, through it, merchants and creators can showcase and sell products through a complete in-app experience.
The feature is also integrated within the TikTok app, so users don’t need to install another app just to use it. Note that purchases can happen through in-feed videos, LIVEs, and product showcase tabs.
Who can use TikTok shop?
TikTok Shop is specifically designed for business owners and sellers. It's not available for individual users who want to sell items on the platform. That being said, you can use TikTok Shop to sell items if you fall under the” creators”, “partners”, or “affiliates” categories. Other than that, though, individuals will need a TikTok business account to sell through the feature.
To set up a TikTok Shop, businesses also need to meet certain eligibility requirements, such as having a valid business licence and a bank account.
Once a business account is approved, businesses can upload their products to TikTok Shop and use the platform's marketing tools to reach potential customers.
Now, we can already guess what you want to know at this point: how do you start using this feature? Don’t worry, we’ll get to exactly that next in this beginner’s guide to TikTok Shop.
How to Get Started with TikTok Shop For Your Business
1. Sign up for a TikTok Seller Account
The first step for your TikTok Shop journey is to officially register at the TikTok Seller Centre.
If you don’t have a TikTok account yet, fill in the form on that page. If you already do have a TikTok account, though, choose “Sign up with TikTok account” instead on that page.
Note that if you sign up with an existing personal account, this will also switch you to a business account. You also need to choose your business type, set a shop name, and upload relevant documents required.
If you chose Individually-owned Business as your business type, the centre will ask you for images of the front and back of any of the following:
Your passport
Your national ID
Your driver's licence
If you chose Corporation as your business type, it will ask you for these:
A government-issued identification document of the legal representative, company director, or person with significant control (PSC)
A business license, registration, or similar official documents, evidencing your eligibility under applicable law to sell your products/services via the shop
Aside from that, you will need to specify warehouse or pickup and return addresses for your shop’s products. Most people use the same address for both.
2. Set up your shop
Now you can start selecting which products to sell and upload them into your TikTok Shop.
Note that your products will not be visible to customers until your documents are verified. That being said, you can get a head start on the process by starting the product uploads before that.
There’s a lot to do when uploading products to TikTok, after all. You need to provide quite a bit of content, including product names, descriptions, prices, and images.
You also need to provide a link to your website, or a third party e-commerce platform where customers can purchase your products in case they want alternative shopping options!
3. Link a bank account
Let’s say your document verification is completed and you don’t need to resubmit anything. What next?
Now you need to bind a bank account to your shop. You can do this from the TikTok Seller Centre again. Just log in, go to the home page, then find the option that says “Link Bank Account”.
From there, select “Link Account”. The centre will ask for this data, so just fill it in:
Account name (for corporation-type businesses, use your company name)
Bank name
Bank account number
Email
Address
Building number
4. Create your profile
When filling out your account’s profile, your goal is to have a clear sense of identity or branding. It’s a good way to look legitimate enough for people to buy from.
Remember that one of the main advantages TikTok business accounts have over personal ones too is that you can create a clickable link on your profile. Link to your business’s website with this.
Here’s a nice little tip if you want to link to more than one thing on your profile, by the way: link to a landing page that has the other links you want. Just make sure your chosen landing page is professional, clearly from your brand, and easy to navigate.
By the way, describe your business in your bio so that users are aware of your services/products or area of specialisation. TikTok will only give you 80 characters, though, so be short and sweet!
The idea is to limit yourself to just the most important information. Interestingly enough, we’ve seen some brands put promo codes there too (great for getting attention)!
5. Optimise your e-commerce store
This is basic shopkeeping. You don’t ask customers to walk through your doors until you’ve cleaned up the storefront!
On TikTok, that means you need to optimise your storefront before selling. It’s a good way to attract customers and maximise your sales.
How do you get to it? Choose the shopping tab in your account. Check your product images, titles, descriptions, and pricing.
Yes, you’ve already done this before, but that was just the uploading process. Now you have a chance to look them over again and see if there’s something that can be done better.
Better photos, perhaps, or better titles that actually fit on the page? Don’t be afraid to make improvements!
Bonus Step: Promote your products with content!
Technically, you should be all set up now if you’ve followed the steps we laid out. You can already start using one of the latest e-commerce solutions for small businesses.
But if you really want to make the most of it, we suggest taking this next step: do some promotion!
Get creative and start leveraging this social network for all it’s worth. Start by creating and sharing engaging content that encourages your target audience to follow you and discover what your brand offers.
Mention your shop’s products in posts, feature them in videos and live streams, and use them in your brand’s takes on the latest trending songs. Do whatever it takes to make people notice them and you should start selling things sooner or later.
And remember, if you’re still not sure how to use TikTok for business after this guide, you can always contact us. We’ll walk you through it and even manage the campaigns for you if necessary!