At Econsultancy Stay final month, TikTok’s Simon Hofmeister, head of vertical, ecommerce, shared some key traits on the platform and what they reveal about the way forward for commerce.
Hofmeister, whose earlier roles included seven and a half years in efficiency advertising at Asos, mentioned the ability of leisure in commerce and the way TikTok’s community-based, creator-driven and conversational platform is altering the standard buy journey.
The ability of leisure
In accordance with a 2020 Ofcom examine, a 3rd of our waking hours are spent watching TV and on-line video content material. That is the context for utilization of TikTok which, as Hofmeister factors out, regardless of being described by many as a social media platform, is at first an leisure platform. “It’s a sound-on platform. You don’t ‘examine’ TikTok, you watch TikTok. It doesn’t function a second display.”
Accordingly, one Kantar examine discovered that 1 in 3 folks say they spend loads much less time watching TV or streaming movies due to TikTok, highlighting once more that the platform doesn’t act as a second display however is a totally immersive expertise.
The ability of leisure is pertinent for ecommerce, which might typically be a uninteresting or unvaried expertise. Globally, 1 in 3 folks need commerce to be extra entertaining (GWI Connecting the Dots report 2021) and Hofmeister believes that places TikTok in a novel place to bridge that hole between leisure and commerce.
TikTok’s mission is to encourage creativity and produce pleasure, and its personal commissioned analysis has discovered that 39% of customers say content material that lifts their spirits is vital in making buying selections. Crucially, TikTok additionally does this by content material that’s humanised. In Hofmeister’s phrases, “It’s made by actual folks, for actual folks, about actual folks.”
Bridging the hole between leisure and commerce
“Actual folks speaking about actual issues and actual conditions are in a position to relate merchandise to different actual folks in a really private..means,” he continues.
There may be all kinds of content material on TikTok that illustrates how on a regular basis shoppers are telling the story of a selected model and its merchandise in a constructive, entertaining or amusing means.
Hofmeister shares examples starting from a client sharing their go to to an Ikea retailer, creating quick, humorous movies and creating one thing near an omnichannel expertise, to unboxing movies and critiques.
Although video critiques aren’t new inside social commerce, they’re proven to be impactful on TikTok, with 40% of individuals saying that product demos affect their buy selections, in keeping with one examine. The excessive proportion of customers on TikTok that create content material signifies that buyers returning to the platform and reviewing their purchases adjustments the standard buy journey.
The period of TikTok made me purchase it – altering the linear buy journey
“The normal linear buying journey doesn’t actually exist on the platform,” says Hofmeister. “What you’ve gotten is folks discovering merchandise by way of the hyper related algorithm, primarily based on what they like and what they’re focused on. Individuals uncover the merchandise, they think about buying, and the model can speed up this with adverts or by paying for prolonged attain and optimising for various aims. Then, [those that purchase] – it’s fairly regular for [them] to come back again, evaluate the product and take part in dialog across the product. After which once more, undergo and discover different merchandise, thus having this loop impact.”
Proof of the propensity for brief, entertaining, humanised video to promote is the success of the ‘TikTokMadeMeBuyIt’ hashtag, which had seen c. 31 billion video views at time of writing, and is a key a part of this product evaluate tradition on the platform.
“The hashtag goes past the platform, too, which is basically fascinating and thrilling,” says Hofmeister.
TikTok and the way forward for commerce
“If you consider promoting historically, it usually interrupts what you’re doing and the content material might look barely totally different from what you’ve been taking a look at earlier than or after and is mostly fairly intrusive,” says Hofmeister.
That dynamic is shifted on TikTok in 3 ways: a shift from clients to group, from influencers to creators, and from intrusive to conversational model messaging.
Prospects to group
TikTok turns solo purchasing right into a group exercise, because the platform is stuffed with what Hofmeister describes as “a number of area of interest locations for folks to search out different individuals who like what they like, and who’re speaking about what they like in brief type, snackable, entertaining, video format.”
Customers on TikTok usually tend to purchase merchandise from a model if they’ll entry the group constructed round them, with mainstream examples together with ‘#booktok’ for books, ‘#foodtok’ for meals, and ‘#gymtok’ for going to the gymnasium.
Influencers to creators
“The normal influencer mannequin is to go and discover individuals who have already got a following, those who already have interaction with them and their content material, after which get that individual to endorse your merchandise,” says Hofmeister.
“Once we speak about creators, we speak about folks that will not have a following however they’re engaged with a selected group that’s related for that model. And these are simply regular people who find themselves excellent at making content material, that’s entertaining and quick type. And tapping into these specific creators on TikTok can supercharge commerce.”
Lounge underwear was one case examine shared by Hofmeister. Lounge’s check with creator-led humanised, short-form artistic was comprehensively extra profitable on TikTok than the excessive manufacturing worth video they might usually produce in a studio. The model noticed a 72% improve in purchases and 72% discount in add-to-cart CPA (cost-per-acquisition), when utilizing TikTok’s Spark Adverts, a local advert format permitting manufacturers to spice up natural creator posts.
Intrusive to conversational
As TikTok is a platform of humanised content material, the expectation is for manufacturers to indicate up in precisely the identical means, to be genuine, and to narrate to customers. Hofmeister talks about manufacturers “being daring of their conversations with the patron, responding to their requests with movies”.
This contains responding to shoppers who ask questions but additionally arriving in ongoing conversations about their merchandise and types, to maintain folks knowledgeable in an entertaining means that’s pure on the platform.
With 2 out of three customers saying they’re possible to purchase one thing whereas utilizing TikTok, which at the moment has a billion customers, there’s little doubt the platform is seeing an natural mixture of leisure and commerce. As Hofmeister places it, “Individuals used to see TikTok as about foolish dancing movies – we’ve come a great distance since then.”
